Short answer
The memory techniques for kids with the most research behind them are simple. Self-quizzing beats rereading, chunking splits long strings into small groups, and the memory palace places items along a familiar route. Young memory champions use the same tools, plus years of practice. Start small, keep it playful, and let your child compare only with their own first try.
In December 2024, the overall winner of the World Memory Championships in Istanbul was 14 years old: Enkhjargal Uuriintsolmon from Mongolia. All three medalists were teenagers. A year later in Ho Chi Minh City, Naranzul Otgon-Ulaan of Mongolia, competing in the Junior age category, won the overall title with 8,225 points. That score came from the Junior age category and beat every adult in the field.
Maybe you saw a clip like that and felt curiosity plus a small knot in the stomach, because your child forgets the spelling list by Thursday. Here is the calm reading. The lesson is not that kids should memorize hundreds of digits. It is that the limit is often further away than it looks when there is a method and some practice.
What young memory champions actually show
Memory is a formal mind sport, founded in 1991 by Tony Buzan and chess grandmaster Raymond Keene. Today the World Memory Sports Council runs it across 10 disciplines.
Spoken Numbers, the event that shows the method most clearly
In Spoken Numbers, a computer reads digits aloud at one per second. Competitors hear each digit once, then write the sequence down in order. Scoring is sudden death: marking stops at the first mistake. At the 2025 championships, Naranzul Otgon-Ulaan took Junior gold with a best single round of 308 digits without an error.
In the Kids category, Misheel Batzorig of Mongolia took gold with 140 points, ahead of Guamaral Purevdavaa of Australia (106) and Sitong Yu of China (62). These are championship points, not digits. Misheel also won the Kids category overall with 4,213 championship points.
For perspective, the 2024 world record in this discipline went to an adult. Hu Xue Yan of China, aged 48, recalled 660 numbers in sequence. Youth is not the secret ingredient.
| Competitor | Event | Official result |
|---|---|---|
| Enkhjargal Uuriintsolmon, 14, Mongolia | World championships 2024, Istanbul | Overall champion, 7,318 points |
| Naranzul Otgon-Ulaan, Mongolia, Junior category | World championships 2025, Ho Chi Minh City | Overall champion, 8,225 points; Spoken Numbers Junior gold |
| Misheel Batzorig, Mongolia, Kids category | World championships 2025 | Kids champion, 4,213 points; Spoken Numbers Kids gold |
| Wei Qinru, China | Asia Pacific Junior Memory Championship 2019 | Junior record: 1,100 playing cards in 30 minutes |
A common myth is that these competitors were born with a photographic memory. Psychiatrists Eugene Rubin and Charles Zorumski reviewed brain-imaging research on memory athletes. Their conclusion: elite competitors "utilize network systems that exist in all of us." Trained technique, not a rare brain.
Memory techniques for kids that have evidence behind them
1. The memory palace (method of loci)
Your child picks a route they know by heart: bedroom door, bed, desk, hallway, kitchen table. Each thing to remember sits at one stop, in order. To recall, they walk the route in their head. It has the strongest training research on this list, though that research was done with adults.
2. Silly-picture coding
Turn an abstract item into one strange, exaggerated image: a giraffe wearing the spelling word as a scarf. Competitors pair images like these with the palace. This is practitioner advice rather than a tested child method, so treat it as the fun part.
3. Chunking
Miller's 1956 paper, "The Magical Number Seven," found that short-term memory holds about seven separate items, give or take two. Later work, such as Cowan in 2001, suggests closer to four. Grouping gets around the limit: 4-1-5-2-0-7 becomes 415 and 207.
4. Self-quizzing, also called retrieval practice
Close the book, try to recall, then check. It feels harder than rereading, yet in studies it holds up better days later. Flashcards, a two-minute brain dump or "teach it back to me" all count.
5. Spacing
Review on day 1, day 3 and day 7 instead of cramming. Study guides such as the UNC Learning Center's recommend it. Treat it as sensible practice rather than a tested child method.
What the research says
- Memory palace training works in novices. A 2017 Neuron study by Dresler and colleagues split 51 untrained adult men (average age about 24) into three groups. The group that practiced the method of loci 30 minutes a day for six weeks went from about 26 to 62 words recalled out of 72. The two control groups gained roughly 11 and 7 words. The trained group's brain networks shifted toward the pattern of world-ranked memory athletes (Queensland Brain Institute summary).
- The gains lasted. Four months later, without daily practice, the group still recalled about 22 more words than at baseline. Limits: adult men only, not children, and about 17 people per group.
- Testing beats rereading. In Roediger and Karpicke (2006), students who took repeated recall tests remembered more after two days and after a week than students who reread. Rereading only looked better on a test five minutes later.
- It works in real middle schools. Roediger, Agarwal and colleagues ran low-stakes quizzes with 6th to 8th graders in an Illinois public school. Quizzed material was better retained on later exams than material that was not quizzed.
- Why memory matters for school. Susan Gathercole's group at Cambridge calls working memory "the best single predictor of a child's current and future academic achievements."
Our read
None of the memory palace research above was done with children. We think the principle carries over to kids 8 and up if you shrink it: fewer stops, sillier pictures, shorter sessions. That is a reasonable bet, not a proven result. Self-quizzing stands on firmer ground, because it was tested in real classrooms. If you bring one technique to homework time, bring that one.
How to adapt a memory palace for kids by age
Untrained memory grows on its own. Typical digit span is about 3 digits at age 4 and roughly 5 or 6 between ages 9 and 12. It reaches the adult range of around 7 in the early teens (developmental research summary). These are population averages: context, not a checklist.
| Age | Palace size | What to practice on | Your role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8–10 | 3–5 stops at home | Silly pictures, packing lists, chunks of 3 | Game partner; no formal systems |
| 11–13 | 8–10 stops or more | Vocabulary and dates, plus chunking | Set up a weekly self-quiz, then step back |
| 14–17 | Their choice | Exam subjects with self-quizzing and spacing; a peg or Major system if curious | Share the research; let them run it |
For the youngest group, people who teach memory to children suggest starting around age 7, keeping it playful and skipping adult-level systems. That is community experience, not a study.
Memory activities for kids at home: a 7-day experiment
Try this at home · 7 days
Ten minutes a day, no worksheets. Ask first: if your child says no, today or on Day 4, the experiment ends there. The only comparison that counts is your child against their own Day 1.
- Day 1, the baseline. Read a list of 10 ordinary objects once, at a calm pace. Your child writes down what they remember, in order, and keeps the paper. You say nothing about the number.
- Day 2, build the palace. Walk the house together and pick 5 stops in a fixed order: front door, shoe rack, sofa, fridge, bathtub. Walk it twice, then once with eyes closed.
- Day 3, first placement. Place 5 objects on the stops as ridiculous pictures: a banana ringing the doorbell, a fish asleep in a shoe. Your child walks the route in their head and names what they see.
- Day 4, stretch it. Add 5 more stops (younger kids can stay at 5) and try a new list. Let them invent the pictures. Theirs will be stranger and better than yours.
- Day 5, something real. Use the palace for something they actually need: spelling words, a short speech, a science list. Chunk any numbers into groups of 3.
- Day 6, recall without looking. Before anything new, ask them to walk yesterday's route and retrieve what they placed. That is self-quizzing and spacing in two minutes.
- Day 7, the rematch. Repeat Day 1 with a fresh list, this time using the palace. Put the two papers side by side and ask what felt different. The score belongs to them.
If Day 7 beats Day 1, try "You found a method that works for you," not "You're so smart." If it doesn't, that is information too. Some kids click with chunking or flashcards instead. It is the same move as breaking a big goal into small steps: something that looked out of reach, split into pieces a child can actually do.
How not to turn memory practice into pressure
Championship results are proof of what is possible, never a norm your child must meet. A few guardrails we would keep:
- The child owns the score. It lives on their paper, not on the fridge or in the family group chat.
- No comparisons with siblings, classmates or the kid in the viral video. Only with their own first try.
- No prizes for numbers. We would rather a child enjoy their own progress than chase a payoff; here is our take on visible progress versus rewards.
- No party tricks. Asking a child to recite 20 items for the grandparents turns a tool into a show.
- Stop while it's fun. Ten minutes, then done. Dropping it after a week is allowed; here is how we think about when to let a child quit.
Watch for drift. If your child avoids the game, hides a low score or asks whether a number is "good enough," it has become about you. Step back and hand it over. Our view is that interest that belongs to the child outlasts interest a parent installs, which is the core of raising a motivated child without pressure.
Method plus visible practice is also the idea behind DreamBig, our app for kids and teens, coming soon to iPhone and Android. A savings goal becomes a picture split into equal squares, and every saving reveals a piece.
What does not work, and why
- Rereading and highlighting. They feel productive, and in Roediger and Karpicke's study rereading even won a test five minutes later. After two days and after a week, it lost.
- Generic brain-training games. A randomized trial by Dunning and colleagues is described by the Cambridge group. Working memory training improved the trained tasks, but "gains did not extend to other cognitive activities or learning tasks."
- Adult systems too early. People who teach memory to children advise against competitor-level systems for young kids. A complex number code can turn a game into a chore.
- Reading the first score as a talent verdict. Adult novices in the Dresler study more than doubled their recall in six weeks. A low Day 1 is a starting point.
- Expecting memory games to fix ADHD-type forgetfulness. The Child Mind Institute notes that attention and working memory are related but not the same lever, and points to routines, single-step instructions and checklists.
Key takeaways
- Young memory champions show what method plus practice can do: proof of what is possible, not a standard for your child.
- The memory palace has the strongest training evidence (in adults); self-quizzing has evidence from real middle-school classrooms.
- Scale by age: 3–5 stops at 8–10, more at 11–13, formal systems only if a teen is curious.
- Compare only with your child's own first try, keep the score private and let them say no.
- Rereading loses to self-quizzing after a few days, and brain-game gains tend to stay on the trained task.
Frequently asked questions
Is a memory palace too advanced for kids?
Not if you shrink it: 3 to 5 stops in their own home, plus silly pictures. The training research was done with adults, and practitioners suggest starting around age 7 and keeping it playful.
How many numbers can a child remember?
Untrained, a typical child recalls about 3 digits at age 4 and 5 or 6 by ages 9 to 12, with wide variation. Trained competitors go much further: the 2025 Junior Spoken Numbers gold medalist recalled 308 digits in one round without an error.
Has a kid ever won the World Memory Championships outright?
A teenager has. The 2024 overall champion, Enkhjargal Uuriintsolmon of Mongolia, was 14. In 2025, Naranzul Otgon-Ulaan won the overall title with 8,225 points while competing in the Junior age category.
Do memory techniques for kids help with schoolwork?
Self-quizzing has the best school evidence: 6th to 8th graders retained quizzed material better on later exams. Susan Gathercole's Cambridge group also calls working memory the best single predictor of a child's academic achievement.
Will memory games help a child with ADHD?
Not by themselves. Attention and working memory are related but different. The Child Mind Institute points to routines, single-step instructions and checklists, and brain-game gains often stay on the trained task.
Are memory athletes born with a photographic memory?
No. Reviewing brain-imaging research, psychiatrists Eugene Rubin and Charles Zorumski concluded that memory athletes use "network systems that exist in all of us," built through technique and practice.
This article is general information, not medical or psychological advice. If your child's forgetfulness is affecting school or daily life, or you wonder about ADHD, talk to your pediatrician or a licensed professional.
Sources
- World Memory Sports Council (2024). WMC 2024. World Memory Championships.
- World Memory Sports Council (2025). Overall Champions – 2025. World Memory Championships.
- World Memory Sports Council (2025). Spoken Numbers Top 3 – 2025. World Memory Championships.
- Queensland Brain Institute (2017). Mnemonics help memory formation and make lasting brain changes (summary of Dresler et al., Neuron). University of Queensland.
- Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science.
- Institute of Education Sciences (n.d.). Test-enhanced learning in the classroom. U.S. Department of Education.
- Gathercole, S., research group (n.d.). Understanding how working memory problems impair classroom learning. MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge.
- Rubin, E., & Zorumski, C. (2017). Memory athletes and the rest of us. Psychology Today.
- Child Mind Institute (n.d.). How to help kids with working memory issues. Child Mind Institute.
Ilya Makarov is the founder of DreamBig, a visual savings-goal app for kids and teens. DreamBig Parenting articles separate what research shows from our interpretation and from practical experiments, and link every source. This article is general information, not medical, psychological or financial advice for a specific child.
