Children's Games That Enhance Visual Processing Skills

According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), approximately 25% (1 in 4) of all children have a vision problem significant enough to impact their learning. While exact numbers vary, studies suggest around 3-4% of children have significant visual processing deficits like Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) or Nonverbal Learning Disability (NVLD), though some estimates place general vision problems affecting learning as high as 10-15%, and even higher (30-60%) in children with existing learning difficulties. These brain-based issues affect how the brain interprets visual information, impacting tasks ranging from recognizing objects to reading, writing, spelling, and math.

The best news about visual processing development is that children can strengthen these skills through play. Even without a formal deficit, all of our children can benefit from playing games that strengthen our visual processing skills. The games below are organized by the primary skills they target, though most activities naturally engage multiple visual processing abilities simultaneously. This overlap is beneficial as it mirrors how these skills work together in real-world tasks. These are just some ideas for you all. Happy Playing!

Games for Visual Scanning

These activities encourage children to systematically explore visual information and locate specific details.

• I Spy games can be played anywhere—in the car, at the grocery store, or in a waiting room. Children must scan their environment to find objects matching a given clue. This game can be made more challenging by using increasingly specific descriptions or setting time limits.

• Scavenger hunts bring scanning skills into three-dimensional space. Whether searching for items on a list around the house or looking for specific objects in nature, children practice purposeful visual exploration of their environment.

• Spot the difference puzzles require children to scan two similar images systematically, comparing details to identify discrepancies. This activity develops careful, methodical visual attention.

• Where's Waldo and similar search books require children to scan complex, crowded scenes to find specific characters or objects. The detailed illustrations demand thorough, organized scanning rather than random looking. As children become more skilled, they naturally develop more efficient scanning strategies.

• Word searches provide excellent scanning practice in a format directly related to reading. Children must scan horizontally, vertically, and diagonally while maintaining awareness of letter sequences. Starting with simple puzzles and gradually increasing difficulty helps build confidence and skill.

Games for Visual Processing Speed

These activities challenge children to process visual information quickly while maintaining accuracy.

• Blink is a card game specifically designed around the speed of visual recognition. Players race to match cards by color, shape, or number, building rapid visual discrimination.

• Simon Says with visual cues can be modified so the leader holds up pictures or makes gestures rather than giving verbal commands. Children must quickly process what they see and respond appropriately.

• Slap Jack and other fast-paced card games require children to recognize visual patterns rapidly and respond immediately. The time pressure naturally builds processing speed in an engaging, motivating context.

• Speed puzzles, where children race against a timer or compete with others, add a processing speed component to spatial tasks. Starting with simple puzzles and gradually decreasing the allowed time helps build speed without sacrificing accuracy.

• Spot It (Dobble) presents two cards that always share exactly one matching symbol. Finding the match quickly requires fast visual processing and comparison. The varied symbol sizes add an extra layer of challenge.

Games for Visual-Spatial Skills and Visual-Spatial Reasoning

These activities develop children's ability to understand and mentally manipulate spatial information.

• Building blocks, LEGO, and construction toys provide foundational spatial experiences. Children learn to visualize how pieces fit together, plan structures before building, and understand how three-dimensional objects occupy space. Following building instructions adds visual sequencing to the spatial demands.

• Jigsaw puzzles build spatial reasoning as children consider shape, color, and pattern to determine where pieces belong. The complexity can be adjusted by choosing puzzles with more or fewer pieces and more or less detailed images.

• Marble runs and ball mazes challenge children to understand how gravity and spatial positioning affect movement. Building runs that work requires spatial planning and prediction.

• Origami teaches spatial relationships through hands-on folding. Children must understand how flat paper transforms through folding and visualize the final product while working through intermediate steps.

• Rush Hour presents traffic jam puzzles where players must slide cars and trucks to free the target vehicle. Success requires visualizing how moving one piece affects the positions of others.

• Tangrams challenge children to arrange flat geometric shapes to match a target design. This classic puzzle requires mental rotation and spatial planning. Children can begin by placing pieces directly on the outline and progress to recreating designs from a picture.

• Tetris and similar video games require rapid mental rotation and spatial planning. Children must visualize how falling shapes will fit with existing structures and make quick decisions about placement and orientation.

Games for Visual Construction Skills

These activities strengthen children's ability to translate spatial understanding into physical creations.

• Copy drawing activities where children reproduce simple shapes, then pictures, and finally more complex images strengthen the connection between visual perception and motor production. Drawing from observation (still life) provides an additional challenge.

• Geoboards allow children to stretch rubber bands around pegs to create shapes and designs. This activity links visual perception with fine motor control and spatial planning.

• Magna-Tiles and magnetic building sets allow children to construct both flat designs and three-dimensional structures. The magnetic connection provides satisfying feedback about successful placement.

• Model building from kits with instructions combines visual construction with sequencing as children follow step-by-step visual guides to assemble three-dimensional products.

• Pattern blocks with design cards provide structured visual construction practice. Children replicate increasingly complex designs, coordinating what they see with the precise placement of pieces.

• Perler beads and mosaic activities require children to place small pieces according to a pattern, building both visual construction skills and fine motor control. Children can follow existing patterns or create their own designs.

Games for Visual Memory

These activities strengthen children's ability to retain and recall visual information.

• Concentration (Memory Match) is the classic visual memory game. Children turn over cards to find matching pairs, remembering the locations of previously revealed cards. Difficulty can be adjusted by changing the number of cards or the similarity between images.

• Kim's Game involves studying a tray of objects, then identifying which object has been removed or what has been added. This activity can be easily adjusted by changing the number of objects or the amount of viewing time.

• Picture study involves carefully examining an image for a set period of time, then answering questions about its details. This activity can use photographs, illustrations, or artwork, and can be adjusted for difficulty by varying the study time and the specificity of questions.

• Visual memory card games, in which children briefly view a card showing several objects and then recall them, strengthen focused visual memory in a structured format.

• What's Missing activities, where a child studies a scene or group of objects, looks away, and then identifies what has been removed, strengthen visual memory in an interactive format.

Games for Visual Sequencing

These activities develop children's ability to understand and remember visual order.

• Bead stringing with patterns combines visual sequencing with fine motor practice. Children reproduce or continue patterns using beads of different colors and shapes.

• Dance and movement sequence games like freeze dance with choreographed moves challenge children to remember and reproduce sequences of visual information translated into action.

• Following visual recipes with picture-based steps provides meaningful sequencing practice. Children learn that order matters as they follow steps to create a product.

• Number and letter sequencing games using magnetic letters or number tiles help children practice the specific sequences essential for literacy and numeracy.

• Pattern continuation activities , where children identify and extend visual patterns, build sequencing skills with colors, shapes, or objects. Patterns can progress from simple (AB, AB) to complex (AABB, ABBC).

• Story sequencing cards present pictures from a story that children must arrange in the correct order. This activity connects visual sequencing to narrative comprehension.

Games for Visual Synthesis and Visual Closure

These activities develop children's ability to perceive wholes from parts and make sense of incomplete information.

• Broken letter and word activities where children identify letters or words with missing segments provide literacy-relevant visual closure practice.

• Connect the dots activities build visual synthesis as children perceive how individual points unite to form recognizable images.

• Gestalt completion activities using pictures that are partially erased or degraded challenge children to identify the whole from incomplete parts.

• Partially hidden picture games where children identify objects when only part is visible directly build visual closure. These can be created by covering portions of familiar pictures.

• Puzzles with missing pieces can be used intentionally to practice visual closure. Children describe or draw what the missing section should contain based on the surrounding information.

• Silhouette identification games require children to recognize objects from their outlines alone, building the ability to synthesize limited visual information into meaningful wholes.

Games for Visual Reasoning

These activities challenge children to find meaning and solve problems using visual information.

• Graph and chart interpretation activities using child-friendly visual data build the ability to extract meaning from visual representations of information.

• Mazes require visual planning and reasoning as children trace paths from start to finish. Difficulty can be increased with more complex pathways or by asking children to find the shortest route.

• Sudoku and KenKen puzzles at age-appropriate difficulty levels challenge visual-logical reasoning. Picture-based versions work well for younger children.

• Visual analogy puzzles present relationships between images that children must identify and extend (A is to B as C is to ?). These puzzles build abstract visual reasoning.

Games for Visual Motor Integration

These activities strengthen the connection between visual perception and motor action.

• Ball games of all kinds—catching, throwing, kicking, and batting—develop visual-motor integration in gross-motor contexts. Starting with larger, slower balls and progressing to smaller, faster ones allows children to build skill gradually. BAL A VIS X is a formal ball program that integrates vision, coordination, spatial awareness, and auditory processing: https://bal-a-vis-x.com/

• Cooking and baking activities that involve pouring, measuring, spreading, and decorating build visual motor integration in a meaningful, rewarding context.

• Cutting activities following lines of increasing complexity (straight, curved, angular) build visual motor integration with scissors. Cutting out shapes, following mazes with scissors, and creating paper crafts all provide practice.

• Drawing and handwriting games, such as Pictionary, collaborative drawing, or copying challenges, provide visual-motor practice within the context of pencil-and-paper skills.

• Lacing cards and sewing activities require children to visually plan the path of the lace or thread and execute precise movements accordingly.

• Toss-and-throw games, including bean bag toss, ring toss, bowling, and darts (age-appropriate versions), challenge children to coordinate visual aim with motor action.

• Tracing and maze activities with a pencil or crayon require children to coordinate visual perception with fine motor control. Laminated mazes that can be used repeatedly with dry-erase markers provide low-pressure practice.

Choosing Games for Individual Children

When selecting activities, consider the child's current skill level and interests. Games should provide appropriate challenge, difficult enough to promote growth but not so frustrating that children disengage. Starting with easier versions and gradually increasing complexity allows children to experience success while continuing to develop skills.

Many children benefit from games that target multiple visual processing skills simultaneously, mirroring how these abilities work together in real tasks. A child building with LEGOs while following picture instructions, for example, practices visual scanning, spatial reasoning, visual sequencing, visual construction, and visual motor integration all at once.

Most importantly, these activities should feel like play rather than work. Children who enjoy an activity will naturally engage with it more frequently and for longer periods, creating the repeated practice that builds strong visual processing skills.

Learn More in our NEW Book Move More Learn More for the science and activities related to executive function, sensory-motor development, language, and social-relational skills in grades PreK-4.

With contributions from 12 international experts, including Stacy Fretheim, Ty Melillo, Angelo Molino, Kate Williams, Ali Golding, Mary Mounstephen, Eleonora Palmieri, Andy Vasily, Piero Crispiani, Andy Milne, Joann McFee, and Kelly Barnhart.