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The Editor's Desk - From Beneath the Clutter
Feature Article - 6 Brain Exercises For Children
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Lately I've been working on being more productive. LIfe's been pretty crazy lately, mostly in good ways, such as my daughter getting a lot of playtime with friends. But all that does make it harder for me to get things done, and so I put a little extra emphasis over the past few days on getting things done.
It feels good to get on a good schedule. Much less frustrating than wishing I had gotten other things done.
As children are growing up they are developing thinking, as well as behavioral, patterns. Using these 6 brain exercises for children is one way to help them develop these skills for better functioning and mental abilities for life.
Word Searches/Crosswords
They make many books for kids that contain word searches and crosswords. These are great activities for children to exercise their brains by using the focus and thinking that they require. Crossword puzzles are also a great family activity, where one person can read off the clue and tell how many letters are involved and everyone else can guess.
Memory Exercises
Working with memory exercises can be one of the easiest brain exercises for children, since it can be done in the car while driving or almost anywhere else. Starting when they are young we naturally do these exercises by teaching them how to spell their names, and what their phone numbers and addresses are. We can expand on this by having them work on remembering poems, songs, and the names from family trees.
Memorizing helps children use their brain to focus and retain the information. It also is a very useful skill since a lot of education is based on memorizing, such as learning the number facts for math or learning a list of spelling words.
Obstacle Courses For The Brain
We all have heard of obstacle courses that require physical exercises, but we can also set up ones that include brain exercises for children. An obstacle course for the brain can combine both physical and brain exercises, or focus exclusively on the latter. You can make stations along a physical obstacle course where they can only proceed to the next station after they complete a mental task, such as a short crossword puzzle or word problem. You can also set is up where they have stations throughout the house where they have to complete a series of mental tasks all lined up along the floor or a table.
Write Or Draw Left-Handed (Or Right-Handed)
A great way to exercise the brain is to use the non-dominant hand for writing or drawing. This can be fun to see who can tell what was written or drawn afterwards. Another option is to draw a picture where one-half is done with the dominant hand and then afterwards it is copied onto the other half by the non-dominant hand. These are brain exercises for children that encourage both sides of their brain to work together.
While brain exercises for children can be simple and fun the payoffs can be huge. By using these brain exercises the children are learning to exercise an important part of the body.
Sarah Holt writes for IncreaseBrainpower.com. For more Math Games, and to get the Brain Power Newsletter and other free gifts, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com
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