Dive Brief:

• The Atlantic reports that card and board games can strengthen kids' executive function skills and, in turn, produce more successful students.  
• Executive function skills help students plan, prioritize, and memorize, and according to various researchers, these skills are more telling than IQ in terms of future outcomes.  
• The article lists a number of games that can push Executive Function skills.  

Dive Insight:

According to the article's recommended games: Swish helps students with memory, concentration, and visual-spacing processing; Quatro deals with memory, processing, planning, reasoning, and concentration; Chess deals with memory, concentration, reasoning, problem solving, and impulse control; Quoridor deals with problem solving and planning; and Set helps with mental speed, sequential searching, and processing speed.

Programs like Lumosity have been marketed toward the adult set, saying that playing games increases IQ. Maybe it's not IQ that these games increase, but Executive Function skills — which in turn lead to smart decisions and successful outcomes. Giving children time to play these games at a young age can go a long way, and they can be used among families at night or at school during recess or any downtime.