Ready? 3, 2, 1...
Perfect! You did it! You remembered all 10! Well done!
That was brilliant, Sam.
Kids play loads of different kinds of memory games,
but may not think about how they store
different types of ideas in different ways.
In this activity you and your kids can investigate
the different ways we store memories.
OK, Sam, we are going to play a memory game.
I have got 10 objects, and I'm going to give you 30 seconds,
just looking, to try and remember them.
Anemone, globe, shell...
When we need to remember something quickly, we use our short term memory.
This struggles to hold more than about nine pieces of information at a time,
so these ten objects should be quite a challenge for Sam.
So, shall I count? OK you try and tell me what was under it?
umm... an anemone, a globe.. what's next?
You have to tell me!
A batman... a camera!
There's no camera!
Do you think you've got 6? OK, I think we got 6.
What do you think we can do that will help you remember them better?
Write them!
You think writing them down would help? That's a really good idea.
I'll do it!
Ask if they can think of any ways to help remember more.
That might be writing a list, or picking up the objects before they�re hidden,
but let them try whatever they think would work.
What shall we try this time?
Pick them up!
OK, let's try that.
Yeah let's pick them up and say them, that's a great idea.
Watch, batman, doll, globe...
And they're gone!
Batman, doll, watch... I can't remember any more!
OK that's fine, we remembered 7 when you got to touch them, that's really good.
Write down the results as you go.
This is a great way to get used to observing the results of an experiment
and thinking like a scientist.
We are gonna try a new thing to help you remember all ten.
So far the most you've remembered is seven.
We're going to try to make a story.
I need you to pick two objects to start out.
OK, what can an octopus do with a watch?
He can wear it!
He can wear a watch? But that would be really silly, he's got one watch on three of his
legs!
But that's octopuses wear watches!
OK, do you think we can remember that then, that can be our first pair?
An octopus is wearing a really brightly coloured superman watch and it's on three of his legs!
By connecting the ideas of the objects in pairs,
Sam will push them into his long term memory.
It�s important to make the pairs overlap,
so the second object of one pair becomes
the first object in the next part of the story.
If the octopus goes into the water, who might he meet there?
An anemone!
So that's our next pair.
We had an octopus wearing a watch, the octopus jumped into the sea and he's met an anemone.
The stranger the connections, and the sillier the kids make them,
the more unique those connections will be,
helping lead their memories from one object to the next.
This chain of ideas should help the kids remember all ten items.
Your story started with a watch. Can you tell me what happened next?
An octopus weared a watch.
There's your octopus. What happened next?
He went into the water and he met an anemone.
And he squirted ink all over him...
And then the anemone went for a shower...
And he played with his rubber duck...
...and the doll read a book!
Amazing! That was such good telling your story, I love it!
The very first one we did was when you jsut looked, wasn't it?
How many did you get then?
Six.
So you got six when we looked, you got seven when you wrote them...
In the end, how well the kids recall the objects isn't really the important thing.
It's about them thinking about how they remember things, and coming up with their
own ideas.
At the end of the activity keep asking lots of questions about what helped,
why they think that might be,
and maybe even what that tells them about how their brain works.
To find out more about the activity, and the science behind it,
download the information sheet from the Ri website.
Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and tell us how you got on.