Everyone wants a smart child. I remember riding in the car when my 18-month-old daughter spelled her name correctly. My husband and I’s jaw dropped at the same time.
Being a teacher, I had her repeat it to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. She spelled it correctly again.
I just had to try one more time but waited fifteen minutes. She was still able to spell it correctly.
Before you get too excited, I didn’t have a genius child. It was the last time she spelled it, until in school.
Hope flickered again a few months later when I discovered a number written on each finger. She actually used a pen and wrote the numbers 1-5 with one being on her thumb, proceeding to five on her little finger. Only the number 4 was reversed. I hadn’t even been showing her numbers.
We never discovered how that happened, but she didn’t’ end up being a math wizard either.
All of us want to brag and say, “My child is so smart because he/she can already do . . .” You fill in the rest of the sentence.
Regardless of how smart our kids and grandkids are, or are not, did you know there are activities that actually develop their brain? It is called activities for cognitive, or brain, development.
To me, it appears many, but not all, children who are smarter in their early years decline as time passes, instead of continuing to get smarter. They lose their love of learning.
Why?
I believe it is mostly due to technology. Kids have phones earlier, are on social media earlier, and play video games an astronomical portion of the day and night – usually more hours than they are at school.
One would believe having so much information easily acceptable would be a good thing, but I’ll let you decide as you learn the 10 activities that actually do make children smarter faster.
Remember, we have fewer doctors who are American. Is it possible other countries have better education systems at some levels?
I believe we need to implement as many of these activities I originally found on the Brain Balance website. I gleaned the concepts shared below and have added my own experiences or thoughts with it.
Please note, while cognitive development is important for any child, it can be especially crucial if your child suffersfrom any behavioral or learning challenge.
What does this mean to you as a parent, grandparent, or guardian?
This means those who don’t have children with behavior or learning troubles can apply whichever activities interest them, aiding in their child’s ability to get smarter faster.
Parents and grandparents of those with challenges must make it a priority to implement these activities this year to prevent fewer behavior problems. Success decreases fits.
10 Activities Speeding Up Brain Development
Some of these are for younger children, but now is the best time to read these to get your school year off on the right foot and have less stress.
1. Play Outside
Outdoor playtime has been shown as a particularly effective way to improve cognition in kids. Playing outdoors helps cognitive skills by stimulating multiple senses, encouraging imagination, and more.
A myriad of circumstances kept our grandchildren indoors way more than I desired but couldn’t be prevented. Since all our families have moved this spring, I have been so blessed to see them get the outdoor time they deserve and lacked before.
The transformation is unbelievable! They went from being on their phones 90% of the time to only on them during long trips or bad weather days. They love learning, family time, and have become quite the helpers.
This year, schedule intentional outdoor playtime as much as you can, over screens of any kind or indoor play. Recesses aren’t enough.
2. Go on Field Trips
Exposing your children to new environments is super important. Don’t just stick to your regular routine. Any new place in town will do, although museums, parks, zoos, aquariums, and playgrounds are the most popular.
This is easier with younger children since there are obviously more new places to explore. Use Google to discover what interests you and your family in your area. You might be surprised.
This summer, my husband and I learned that even taking our grandchildren to new stores like Atwoods and Hobby Lobby can be a learning adventure. They have enjoyed multiple parks, tasted new foods at new restaurants, and we’ve practiced categorizing by learning departments at regular stores.
3. Play Music
Music is a great tool for developing many important cognitive skills. It increases creativity, memory, word identification, and sensory perception. It also develops coordination when dancing,
My grandchildren enjoy singing along with Alexa, as well as playing “Freeze Dance”. We also like teaching them new songs in the car and sometimes action songs at our house.
4. Learn Shapes and Colors
I know, I know. Who would’ve thought shapes and colors could make us smarter?
Actually, it is the reinforcing of shapes and colors on a regular basis that develops cognitive skills. Pick out toys of different shapes, then ask your child to identify the shapes. Do the same things with toys of different colors. These help with learning information and developing memory.
For older kids, puzzles or family games are excellent cognitive reinforcers related to shapes and colors.
I must confess, I’m better at reinforcing colors than shapes. This is a good reminder for me. As a blind person, I’m constantly asking the color of clothing, objects, and even food for fun.
5. Ask a Lot of Questions
Every family should be able to do this simple activity.
As you go through your day, ask your child a lot of questions and wait for them to answer. Being asked questions encourages your child to think for themselves, form thoughts, and having to answer promotes communication skills, or as a special education teacher would say “language development.”
I must make another confession. This is my favorite, next to outdoor play. I love digging into children’s minds and learning how they think. It’s amazing what you can learn. It’s also a great way of bonding, in my opinion. I think it could be classified as quality time.
I love hearing every child form new sentences and use new words. It is also a good way to laugh.
6. Encourage participation in Chores
By the age of three, if not before for some, children can assist at some level in doing chores with you. Before long, they will be able to do simple ones by themselves.
Chores promote cognitive development by boosting hand-eye coordination and helping develop problem-solving skills – not to mention teaching responsibility to boot.
One of the first ways my grandkids wanted to help me was to put new trash bags in the trash can. They went from going to get the trash bag and bringing it to me, to tearing it apart, then learning how to shake it open to fit in the trash can, within of each other days.
7. Do Art Projects
Art projects help boost kids’ imagination and ability to come up with ideas. They also help children simultaneously develop their fine motor skills.
Trust me, the projects don’t have to be elaborate ones. Cutting, gluing, and coloring are a good start, as exhibited by my grandkids this summer. Watercolor and paints are nice. Play-doh or modeling clay are fun ways to sculpture also.
I hope to have mine doing nature prints next summer.
8. Look in the Mirror
Surprise, surprise! Who could’ve guessed our little tikes looking into mirrors was making them smarter?
Playing with mirrors can help children develop their own self-image. This will also help a child identify and express emotions appropriately. I wonder if my cats are learning the same thing when they look into my closet door mirror.
Encourage your kiddos to make faces for emotions you suggest.
I confess. I haven’t done this one, but I have listened to my grandkids move around like they are dancing in front of the mirror. Maybe this develops some part of their brain (fingers crossed).
9. Play Pretend
Playing pretend is a great way to encourage cognitive development in kids. Not only does this encourage the use of imagination, it can also be a powerful tool for developing social skills in kids.
Pretending could be my granddaughter’s middle name. No encouragement necessary from this grandparent. I do interject some outcomes or redirect if going down a negative trail.
When student teaching at a school at a mental health facility, I learned A benefit to pretend play. When a child demonstrated inappropriate behavior, we were able to suggest other outcomes and they simply repeated it in their play. Talk about easy teaching!
10. Play Sports
Sports might develop strong bodies, but they also help develop strong minds in kids. Sports, especially extracurricular team sports, help with concentration and cooperation. Now that is important!
Some of my kids and grandkids responded well to sports while others failed. Please know the difference with your child. Sometimes, the coach can make a huge difference.
I pray you are able to implement at least some of these tips so your child can become smarter faster . . . and forever!
© 2023, Jena Fellers. All rights reserved.
Leave a Reply