
Serena, turned off the TV, forcefully proclaiming her boredom, making Grandad, close his Kindle, smile at Serena and say ” How would you like to play a memory game, it’s fun to play as well as good exercise for your mind”.
Grandad, asked Serena to remain seated while he searched the house for objects to use in the game, and shortly returned with a tray covered by a towel.
” This is a game we used to play in the boy scouts, it’s called Kim’s game after a book by Rudyard Kipling, I’ll give you a minute to look at seven objects and you have to try and remember them”.
” When we played this in the boy scouts, the scout leader would always include a chocolate bar, and the boy who guessed the most objects received the chocolate bar as his prize”.
Grandad, removed the towel from the tray, revealing seven objects hidden beneath, and set his phone timer for one minute.
The minute passed all too quickly for Serena, but when the objects were again covered by the towel she excitedly managed to name six of them, only forgetting to name the elastic, but still claiming the Mars bar for her prize.

Kim’s Game is a game or exercise played by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides, the military, and other groups. The game develops a person’s capacity to observe and remember details. The name is derived from Rudyard Kipling‘s 1901 novel Kim, in which the hero, Kim, plays the game during his training as a spy. Source: Wikipedia.
Excellent game! And I bet more difficult than some of us would admit, lol
It is especially nice when the “older” generation shares games and ideas perhaps left by the wayside in our techno centric society. A sweet moment of bonding between granddaughter and grandfather.
Engaging Six, Len 🙂
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My grandkids are heavily into card and board games and always want to know what games I played as a child.
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Good going, Grandad, finding a way to stretch her mind and not just entertain her!
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Thanks, Mimi. The focus is always on entertaining though.
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I LOVE this!!!
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Thanks. Have to keep those grandkids entertained. They get bored so easily.
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Do they wear you out, too? 😉
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Depends on the moment of course. But generally, I can deal with them
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A great reminder that memory games do not have to be bought in a store, but can just be played using household objects. Another twist could be using objects that had some family story to go along with them.
I haven’t eaten a Mars bar in many years.
A very enjoyable SSS.
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Thanks, Pat. I agree. I’m always explaining the games I played as a kid to the grandchildren. Simple is always the best.
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I wonder what today’s kids will share with their Grandkids? 😇
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Grandma did you have to actually live your real existence instead of virtual reality. That must have been boring.
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Ha! that’ll be the Grandies explaining how virtual reality really wasn’t!!!
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A fun SSS. Ditto on the MARS bar! I’m a Milky Way kinda guy! Great job on this.
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Thanks, Paul. We all have our own tastes in candy bars. Mine is peppermint Aero.
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what a bracing game… in terms of realizing how often we do not spend the time (or make the effort) to take note of the details in the world around us…
challenging Six this week, fun, too
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Thanks, Clark. I have a terrible memory. I have post-it notes all over my body.
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It is amazing how many things we see but can’t remember. I wonder if I could remember to name even six after looking at them for a minute.
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I remember we did a similar activity in class. Except it was a man walking into the room and talking to the teacher for five minutes. When he left we had to describe the man and his clothing etc.
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Isn’t that clever!
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Thanks, Lisa. Old games are the best.
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I’ve never played Kim’s game. Maybe that’s why my memory is so poor. Lol. Fun story, Len, and a sweet game for granddad and granddaughter.
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Thanks, Diana. My memory matches yours, especially for directions. I call it a directional learning disability. It took me about 15 minutes to drop my daughter off at her friend’s house and 60 minutes to return home.
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Oh no. Sorry for giggling. Reminds me of me.
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