Through their school years, kids are acquainted with new, unique ideas stored away in their long- and short-term memories, employing their senses of touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste. In all this scheme of things, memory plays a key role, whether it’s letters, numbers, music or dates, and much more.
There are many ways to enable children to learn new things, but it is essential to polish the skills to retain attention and focus on whatever they are doing.
When selecting brain games for your children, be mindful of their unique personalities. Work with your child to find matches that interest them — make it fun and play together!
Below are some of the most popular techniques employed by professional educationists and counselors to help children focus, think, plan, remember, and practice controlling their impulsive reactions.
Incorporate these games into your family’s weekly schedule, promoting learning, all while encouraging more quality time with one another.
5 Brain Games for Children to Improve Focus and Attention
1. Jenga
Jenga requires slow, controlled movements that are perfect for practicing self-control. A little out-of-control movement and lack of attention can make the whole tower topple. This game is ideal for keeping children occupied indoors.
2. Freeze Dance
All you need is an open space and music. No materials are required, and even parents can play this game with their kids.
It’s a fun game that children of all ages would enjoy. It’s simple to play and understand. Dance when the music plays. Stop when the music stops. This game can be modified to be more fun with silly poses, and yoga poses to increase complexity.
3. Red Light Green Light
This is a perfect game for Montessori students. Have children (child) stand on one side of the room. The parent stays on the other side. When the adult says green light, everyone starts moving towards the caller. When the red light is called out, the kids must freeze in their places. To improve children’s motor skills, make them hop, crawl, or crab walk towards you.
4. Cooking Activities
Cooking or preparing snacks with children is a conducive way to help improve their concentration levels. Following recipes, setting the table, and putting things in alphabetical order are great activities for kids who lack concentration and control.
They learn to follow step-by-step directions. Still, their minds are also trained to register the importance of measuring all ingredients accurately, enhancing their ability to integrate this accuracy and caution of measurement in everything they do.
For kids who are a bit older, cooking or baking can be integrated as a group activity, which means they can practice their self-control when working with a team, which is even more critical. Parents can get younger kids to help decorate cookies for special occasions like Birthdays, Easter, Christmas, and more. From trail mix to mixing various ingredients, many activities can help kids focus on fun.
5. What’s Missing
Get a selection of different objects from around the home (from toys to kitchen utensils) and place them on a table. Get your child to take a look at what they can see – encourage them to pick them up, talk about them, and then cover them all over with a towel or cloth. Ask your child to look away while you remove one of the items, then ask them to tell you what’s missing.
Start with fewer items and build up as your child improves and gains confidence. For older children, you might want to choose items in the same theme (wild animals, for example) or all the same color, just to make it that little bit trickier. And why not ask them to take an item away for you to guess – children love the chance to take control, and they’ll enjoy putting you to the test!