Brain Teaser Games
Challenging your child’s brain is an important part to their cognitive development. Studies have also found it is easier to learn during childhood.
“Neuroscientists have discovered that between toddlerhood and puberty, brain metabolism, as measured by blood sugar consumption, remains very high. The synaptic net of axons and dendrites is thick and ready to absorb new experiences,” Oregon University’s Health and Science department said.
There are several brain games that will challenge your child’s brain and help them stay ahead of the learning curve in the future.
brain games
When most people hear the term ‘brain games,’ they think of crossword puzzles and Sudoku puzzles. While those are two very effective games for challenging your brain, a child may not have the skill level or the interest to work through such things at certain stages of development.
There is a Daily Sudoku for Kids that is good for younger audiences, however.
Sports and various themed brain games can prove that learning can be fun.
Sports brain games
There are many games to engage a young sports fan. Kaboose’s Baseball Word Scramble allows your child to unscramble sets of baseball themed words to find the names of ten popular players. The Web site’s bowling game helps with coordination skills and spatial skills as well.
Science brain games
Learning about the solar system and how the brain functions are two intriguing topics for children. Use Neuroscience for Kids’ Brain Hieroglyphics game to learn more about the nervous system and the brain. You can also try out some illusion puzzles to get your eyes really thinking about what they are seeing.
Number games
To challenge mathematical skills and also test memory function, number teasers are just the ticket.
Number games that begin at a young age are essential to understanding concepts in future grade levels.
“When children start early with their understanding of math facts they will have a more comprehensible ability to complete the additional concepts the teachers in each grade level present. It is like a stair step of information they must understand,” Teach Kids How said. “This basic math concept amazingly starts at recognizing numbers and flows directly into High school algebra, if you miss a concept in any grade level you will struggle to keep up.”
Word puzzles
Word puzzles are popular in elementary school classrooms. They are an excellent way to learn word association and spelling skills. These are also called Rebus games. “A REBUS is a picture representation of a name, work, or phrase. Each “rebus” puzzle box below portrays a common word or phrase,” the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences Kids’ Pages said.
Environmental Health Sciences Kids’ Pages said.
Creating a safe learning environment
It is also important to be wary of over stimulating your child with brain games.
“Too many new experiences or too much stimulation can cause stress and hinder a child’s development. Children need freedom to explore on their own terms,” North Dakota State University’s Extension Office Family Science Specialist Sean Brotherson said.
“The brain develops through hands-on experience during a lifetime, but stress can inhibit this development. Watch your children’s signals to see when they are feeling overly stressed or stimulated. They will avoid, turn away, cover their face with their hands, hiccup, cry, become upset or become frustrated. Then take steps to reduce the stimulation and calm your child,” he said.
All in all, creating a safe and supportive learning environment will inspire your child to continue seeking knowledge.
By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.
Early Childhood Development & Kids Art Activities
Children go through developmental stages in art helping them hone their budding skills and explore their creativity. Once a child figures out they can make somewhat representational squiggles, they have embarked into the Preschematic stage of art. These potato shaped figures with stick arms and legs might not seem like much, but are a child’s first representations of people. Encouraging his drawings aides in his future cognitive and creative development.
The Preschematic Stage of Art
Viktor Lowenfeld, author of Creative and Mental Growth, describes the Preschematic stage as a time when the schema (the visual idea) is developed. A child, between the ages of four and seven, creates drawings during this stage that depict what he finds most important about the objects he views, such as someone’s hair or unique clothing. A child exploring the Preschematic stage doesn’t have full understanding of the dimension and size of objects, so he may draw a person as tall as his house. Color use is also more emotional than logical, expressing a child’s desire for creativity and enjoyment in his art.Preschematic stage artwork resembles blobs or amoeba shapes with large smiling faces and short arms and legs. Don’t be alarmed with exaggerated features, such as an extremely large nose or mouth – or if the child omits features completely. In other instances, a child may draw a head representing a whole human being, because he finds the head to be the most important part of their body, which he uses to eat, talk, see and hear. When a child draws a self-portrait during the Preschematic stage he often draw himself as the largest shape, as he feels he is the most important, which displays healthy development.
During the Preschematic stage the schema (the internal representation of the world) along with cognitive development are causes the young child’s brain to develop in grand ways. Jean Piaget, a Swiss philosopher and psychologist, finds children go through fixed stages of cognitive development. During the Preschematic stage, Piaget places a child at the Preoperational stage where he is unable to yet form abstract conceptions, and must have hands-on experiences and visual representations in order to form basic conclusions.
Right-Brain/Left-Brain Development
With the right-brain in charge of creativity, but the left more dominant with control over math, rational thought, and linear thinking, the young child entering the Preschematic stage needs help to stimulate his visual cortex and promote use of his creative right-brain, developing a whole human. By introducing and discussing art with the child, he is stimulated to learn more about, and question, the world around him. Involving the child in making decisions about an art activity keeps him interested in creating art and promotes his self-esteem.Hands-On Activities
Encourage a child to explore the Preschematic stage, along with his Preoperational stage of development, through engaging in lots and lots of hands-on activities to boost cognitive development and self-confidence. Sean Brotherson, a Family Science Specialist, finds that children need simple hands-on experiences for their brains to develop. Activities such as building with blocks, organizing objects based on color or shape, or taking a nature walk along with picking leaves off the ground are wonderful ways to jump-start brain development and get both sides of the brain working together.Art Activities for the Preschematic Stage of Art
Family Portrait
- Encourage the child to create a family portrait based on a photograph, giving him a visual representation to work with. Look at a family picture together discussing the people in the picture and interesting characteristics of each person, encouraging his observational skills.
- Offer the child markers to use for drawing the family portrait so he can create strong, bold lines. Allow the child to fully explore his preschematic expression of color by using them as he wishes, even if not representational. Encourage the child’s color recognition skills by asking him about the colors he uses as he draws, further helping his cognitive development.
- Once the portrait is finished, help the child write a short paragraph about what he drew engaging the left-brain to work with his creative right-brain.
Nature Collage
- No matter the time of year, getting outside and combining science and art benefits the development of the budding young brain. Provide the child with a small basket for him to pick up items while walking discussing different plants and animals observed, benefiting his preoperative brain.
- Let the child select a large sheet of colored construction paper and invite him to glue the items he collected in any arrangement of his choosing, which gives him hands-on experience for his cognitive development.
- Once the items have been glued to the paper, offer the child a black marker to carefully outline the items in the collage, helping hone his fine-motor skills.
By Sarah Lipoff. Sarah is an art educator and parent.
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