5 Kid-Friendly Cognitive Exercises
Ask any parent on the planet and they’ll tell you that physical exercise is vital for kids. Whether it’s playing a sport, riding a bike or just making time for movement, regular exercise helps keep the body healthy. But what about the brain? Cognitive exercises help kids and teens boost the fundamental skills needed to think, learn, remember, reason and pay attention.
Known as cognitive skills, these underlying brain skills include attention, memory, processing speed, logic & reasoning, visual processing and auditory processing. Because these brain skills work together to grasp, retain and use information at school, work and life in general, learning can be impacted if even one skill is weak. This also explains why even very smart kids can have a learning struggle.
Just imagine a very intelligent kid whose cognitive skills are all strong except processing speed. The student may get good grades but need longer than their peers to complete quizzes and tests. Or consider the bright student who struggles with attention deficits, causing them to “space out” during class when the teacher is giving directions to a project. Or the smart student whose memory struggles leave them scratching their head about homework because they’ve forgotten what the assignment was. These are just a few scenarios in which one weak brain skill can hold a student back from their full potential.
So how can you help your student boost their brain skills at home?
Consider these 5 kid-friendly cognitive exercises, none of which require any games, toys or workbooks.
1. Concentration
What it builds: attention and memory
Gather a bunch of interesting and recognizable items from around the house (e.g., an ice cream scoop, a sock with dinosaurs on it, a can of carrots) and display them together on a tray or table for 30 seconds before covering them with a towel. Ask your child to list as many objects as they can remember. Depending on your child’s age and memory skills, you can gradually increase the number of items on the tray or reduce the time allowed to memorize them.
2. 20 Questions
What it builds: logic & reasoning, memory
This childhood favorite works well on the ride to/from school, while sitting in a waiting room or on road trips. Think of an object or living creature and allow your child 20 yes-or-no questions to narrow down their guess. This is a good time to teach them how to narrow down broader categories by asking questions like, “Is it alive?” and “Would it fit in our car?”
3. Going on a Picnic
What it builds: memory and visual processing
Another childhood classic that can be played in the car or even while waiting in line is “Going on a Picnic.” Working your way through the alphabet, the first person names something that begins with the letter A. (The items don’t have to be edible, although that can make the game more challenging for older kids.) For example, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m taking an aardvark.” The next person repeats the string of items and adds their own, beginning with the next letter of the alphabet: “I’m going on a picnic and I’m taking an aardvark and a baseball.” The game continues until someone forgets one of the items.
4. Simon Says
What it builds: attention, processing speed and auditory processing
This game can easily provide some physical exercise as well as instruct your child to “do as you say, not as you do.” For example, you may want to give several instructions at rapid-fire speed in an effort to work on your child’s listening skills, focus and processing speed. Try something like, “Turn around. Touch the ground. Simon says do jumping jacks. Stop. Hop forward three steps” – all while you’re completing all the motions yourself to distract them from listening for “Simon says.”
5. Change a Letter
What it builds: sound blending, segmenting, visual processing
Choose a simple word to spell aloud, then have the next player change one letter and spell the new word aloud. Continue playing until someone can’t come up with a word that hasn’t been used yet. For example: “S-A-N-D” could become “S-E-N-D” or “H-A-N-D.” For an extra challenge, allow the letters to be rearranged as well, as with “S-A-N-D” becoming “E-N-D-S.”
Targeted Cognitive Exercises for Learning Struggles
Looking for a more intense brain training program? At LearningRx, we’ll start with a Brain Skills Assessment to identify which cognitive skills are already strong and which skills can benefit from training. The test only takes about an hour and the results will help us develop an individualized learning plan to target and strengthen the brain skills that need a boost through our one-on-one brain training program.
