6 Fun Mnemonic Devices for Kids

boy with rainbow paint_mnemonic devices for kids

You might be reading this title and thinking “what on earth is a mnemonic device??”. The truth is you’ve used them your whole life, you probably just didn’t know what it was called! A mnemonic device is a trick used to help us remember things. Many times it’s an acronym, but it can also be a play on words to jog the memory. There are a few that are great for smaller kids to help them remember the basics – here are our favorites:

ROY G BIV

A classic! This is the easy way to remember the colors of the rainbow in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos

This same mnemonic device used to end with “nine pizzas” until Pluto was demoted from planet to star! The first letter of each word represents the planets in order from the closest to the sun to the farthest: Mercury, Venus, Earth Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Righty Tighty Lefty Loosey

Let’s be honest, this one even comes in handy as an adult! When remembering how to tighten anything from a screw to a water bottle lid, it’s helpful to remember which way to turn to open or close.

Left Hand Makes an L

And speaking of left v right, the easiest way to remember which hand is which is that the left hand makes an “L” with the thumb and pointer finger.

Never Eat Soggy Waffles

This is another one where the first letter of each word represents something else. In this case, it’s directions. Working clockwise: North, East, South and West.

Knuckle Months

This one can be just a bit tricky to get the hang of, but it comes in in handy (pun intended) when working out a calendar. Make a fist and using your large knuckles closest to your hand (rather than the smaller ones on your fingers), start with your pointer finger “high” knuckle – this is January. The dip between the pointer finger knuckle and the middle finger knuckle is February. Next high knuckle is March and so on until your last knuckle, then double back to the beginning! Each high knuckle is 31 days, each low knuckle has 30 days (except February which is 28 – sometimes 29- days).