How to Improve Memory in Kids: What Really Works

Published November 1, 2026

The most reliable way to improve memory in kids is not a special app. It is three plain habits: ask your child to pull information out of memory instead of rereading it, spread review over several days instead of one long session, and protect their sleep. Mnemonics and memory games add fun and help with lists and facts.

Below you will find how each technique works, how to try it at home tonight, a set of memory games, and an honest look at what “memory training” can and can’t do.

Why kids forget what they learn

Forgetting is normal. Nobody’s brain keeps everything, and children are still building the habits that help adults hold on to information. When a parent says “my child forgets everything,” one of three things is usually going on:

  • It never went in. Your child was thinking about something else when the teacher explained it, so there is nothing to remember.
  • It went in once and was never used again. A fact learned on Monday and not touched until a test two weeks later fades.
  • It was studied in a way that feels good but doesn’t stick, like reading the same page over and over.

There is also working memory: the ability to hold information in mind for a short time and work with it, such as keeping a three-step instruction in your head while you carry it out. A child who struggles here may finish “put on your pajamas” and then ask what the other two steps were.

The second and third problems respond well to the techniques below. The first is about attention, which you can also practice (see the games section).

Technique 1: Practice remembering, not rereading

Researchers call this retrieval practice. Instead of looking at the material again, your child first tries to recall it: answering questions, filling a blank page, or explaining it out loud.

It is one of the best-supported study techniques. In a well-known 2006 experiment, students who took recall tests on a passage remembered more of it a week later than students who simply reread it, even though rereading made them feel more confident. Large reviews of learning research rate practice testing among the most effective ways to make learning last, and a 2021 review of studies in real classrooms found consistent benefits.

One honest caveat: most of this research involves older students and adults. Studies in elementary school classrooms are fewer and more mixed. Several found clear benefits, while at least one large study in Dutch primary schools found none. With younger children, keep the quizzing easy enough to succeed, and let them check the right answer straight away.

How to do it tonight

  • The blank page. After reading a chapter, close the book and ask your child to write or draw everything they remember. Then open the book together and see what’s missing.
  • Teach me. Ask your child to explain today’s lesson as if you were the student. Ask one or two “why” questions.
  • Flashcards, the right way. Question on the front, answer on the back. Your child says the answer out loud before flipping. Cards they get right go to a “later” pile; cards they miss come back in a few minutes.
  • Three questions at dinner. “What’s one new thing you learned in science? Which spelling word was hardest? Can you show me how you did the first math problem?”

Tip: If your child can’t recall anything, give a hint (the first letter, a picture) before giving the full answer. Mistakes during practice are fine. The point is the effort to remember, followed by checking.

Technique 2: Spread practice out over days

Cramming works for tomorrow’s quiz and fails for next month. Many studies show that the same total study time, split into shorter sessions spread over several days, leads to better long-term memory than one long session. This is called the spacing effect.

It has been seen with children too. In one classroom study, fifth graders tested five weeks later remembered far more of the vocabulary words they had reviewed a week after first learning them than of the words they had reviewed straight away. As with retrieval practice, not every classroom study finds a benefit, but spacing costs nothing and has strong support overall.

Here is one way to space out a weekly spelling list:

Day What to do Time
Monday Learn the new words 15 min
Tuesday Quiz from memory, fix mistakes 5 min
Thursday Quiz again, only the tricky words 5 min
Next Monday Mixed quiz with last week’s words 5 min

This schedule is an example, not a research formula. The idea is simple: come back to the material after a gap, and make each return a quiz rather than a reread.

Technique 3: Protect sleep

Sleep is part of how the brain stores what it learned during the day. In several studies with children and young teens, roughly ages 6 to 14, kids remembered newly learned facts (such as word pairs) better after a night’s sleep than after the same amount of time awake.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 9 to 12 hours of sleep per 24 hours for children aged 6 to 12, and links regular, sufficient sleep with better attention, learning and memory.

A few practical steps:

  • Keep the same bedtime on school nights, and close to it on weekends.
  • Finish homework and screens well before bed.
  • Skip late-night cramming. A tired child at 10 p.m. is unlikely to learn well, and the lost sleep costs more than the extra review gains.

Technique 4: Mnemonics for kids

Mnemonics are memory tricks that attach hard information to something easier: a sentence, a rhyme, a picture or a story. They are best for lists, orders and spellings that have no logic of their own. They don’t build understanding, so use them for facts after your child understands the topic, not instead of it.

Mnemonics that work well with children:

  • First-letter sentences. “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” gives the planets in order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. “Never Eat Soggy Waffles” gives the compass points clockwise.
  • Rhymes and songs. “Thirty days has September, April, June and November.” The alphabet song is a mnemonic most kids already know.
  • Chunking. Long numbers are easier in groups: 415 926 instead of 4-1-5-9-2-6. Phone numbers are already chunked this way.
  • Spelling pictures. “Necessary has one collar and two sleeves”: one c, two s’s.
  • Story chains. To remember a list (milk, keys, umbrella), make a silly story: a cow drinks milk, drops her keys, and opens an umbrella.
  • Memory palace (often easier for older children). Picture each item on a familiar route through your home: the first item at the front door, the second on the sofa, and so on. To recall, take the walk again in your head.

Tip: Let your child invent their own. Kids usually enjoy silly sentences, and making one up is itself a round of practice.

Technique 5: Make it mean something

Children hold on to what they understand and care about. You can help without any special materials:

  • Link new to known. “A peninsula is land with water on three sides, like the end of a pier.”
  • Ask why and how. “Why do you think the colonists were angry about the tax?”
  • Draw it. A quick sketch of the water cycle beats a fourth reading of the paragraph.
  • Use it in real life. Halve a recipe to practice fractions; read street signs on a trip.

Memory games for kids to play at home

These take five to fifteen minutes and need little or no equipment.

Game How to play Ages
Tray game Put 8–15 small objects on a tray. Look for one minute, cover it, and list what you saw. Or remove one object and ask what’s missing. 5+
I went to the market Each player repeats the whole list and adds one item: “I bought apples, a balloon, a cat…” 5+
Matching pairs Lay cards face down and turn over two at a time to find pairs. 4+
Repeat after me Say three numbers; your child repeats them. Add one each round. Older kids can repeat them backwards. 6+
What changed? Your child studies the room, leaves, and you change three things. Can they spot all three? 5+
Clap patterns Clap a short rhythm; your child copies it. Make it longer each round. 4+
Retell the story Read a short story, then ask your child to retell it in order. 5+

For attention practice, you can also try our free Schulte table, a classic exercise in which your child finds numbers in order as fast as possible.

These games are a fun way to practice paying attention and recalling things. Don’t expect them on their own to raise school grades. The next section explains why.

Does working memory training work? An honest answer

Many apps promise to “train” a child’s working memory. Several large reviews of the research, including one focused only on typically developing children, reached a similar conclusion. Children who practice working memory games get better at those games and at similar memory tasks. But the gains mostly don’t carry over to reading, math or general intelligence, especially in studies with a proper comparison group. A 2016 review of the evidence cited by brain-training companies came to much the same view.

What this means for you:

  • Be wary of any app or course that promises better grades from memory games alone.
  • What helps schoolwork most is using memory techniques on the real material: quizzing on this week’s spelling words, spacing out practice of the times tables.
  • Games are still worth playing for fun, focus and time together.

Our Brain Training for Kids program is an English edition of Developing the Brain by educator Shamil Ahmadullin, already taught in Russian. It covers attention, memory and thinking, along with reading, writing and mental arithmetic. In the current Russian edition, lessons run 40–45 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 11 weeks, with three progress check-ups. The English edition is in development, and you can join the waitlist on the program page.

When forgetfulness may need a professional

Forgetting a library book now and then, or needing reminders to brush teeth, is part of being a child. Talk to your child’s teacher first, and then to your pediatrician or family doctor (GP in the UK), if:

  • forgetfulness is constant, both at home and at school, and has lasted for months;
  • your child struggles much more than classmates to follow simple instructions or to learn letters, numbers or math facts, despite practice;
  • it comes with other signs, such as daydreaming, losing things often or rarely finishing tasks;
  • your child snores, wakes often or seems tired all day;
  • your child seems worried, stressed or low;
  • there is a sudden change in memory or behavior (see a doctor promptly).

Forgetting and losing things can be signs of ADHD. But sleep problems, stress or anxiety, low mood and some learning disabilities can look similar. There is no single test, which is why a proper evaluation by a qualified professional matters. This article is general information, not a diagnosis.

Sources

Brain Training for Kids 6–12: English edition coming soon

An 11-week program that works on attention, memory and thinking through daily lessons, with three progress check-ups along the way.

Try our free tools for kids →