Screen-Free Activities to Keep Your Child’s Brain Sharp This Summer

Summer is here, and with it comes more free time for your kids. This is a great opportunity to use this time to strengthen brain skills and have some screen-free activities without it feeling like “school”! 

Next time your child complains about being bored, check out these independent games and puzzles they can use to pass time (and stay sharp)!

Screen-Free Activities for Preschoolers and Younger Kids

Cup Stacking

This classic activity builds spatial awareness, processing speed, and motor skills! You can grab an official set with a timer, or you can just pick up a set of plastic cups at the dollar store and have them experiment with how fast they can go, how big they can make the tower, or even build their own structures by thinking outside the box!

Jigsaw Puzzles

This classic is great for all ages, but especially for younger kids as they’re developing their visual processing and logic skills. Grab some puzzles of varying difficulty levels so your child can practice these skills at home.

Mazes

Maze books are a fun way to build visual processing, logic & reasoning, planning, and executive functioning skills. You can even grab a maze book and put pages in page protector sleeves so your child can do them over and over again with a dry erase marker!

DIY challenge: Have your child draw their own maze on a piece of paper and then try to retrace it with their eyes closed! This is a great exercise for visual memory.

Shape Blocks (like these)

A different take on jigsaw puzzles, the options are endless with these shape blocks! Build visual processing while copying the included designs, or use your imagination to create your own patterns and shapes.

Travel Memory Game

This one is a favorite for car trips or flights! Your child can play independently or with a sibling (or parent) and exercise some memory skills while you’re traveling.

Hidden Pictures

Hidden pictures books are great for building focus, visual discrimination, and other cognitive processes. There are lots of different levels of these, so you can grab some for your kids of all ages!

Screen-Free Activities for Elementary Students

Logic Puzzle Books

Logic puzzle books require your child to think outside the box, solve a problem, detect a pattern, or do some creative work to answer questions. These are great for independent brain work that doesn’t feel like school! Here are some that we found that look like great options:

• This one is designed for younger kids, BUT If your child struggles with logic & reasoning, it may be a great place to start
• This one is designed for 8-12 year olds and even includes some history and science facts with the puzzle clues
• If your child enjoys these types of things, check out this book for a wide variety of activities that are great for elementary students!

Word Search

Another classic, word searches are great for building spelling skills, visual processing, and focus. 

DIY Challenge: Newspaper Spot-It. Grab a newspaper and have them go through one page circling as many occurrences of a single letter or word as they can, as fast as possible!

Rubik’s Cube

Many kids enjoy fidgeting with this classic toy, but it is a great tool to strengthen your brain, too! You can grab a 2×2 cube, the classic 3×3, or even go crazy with a larger one for a bigger challenge. It’s small, easy to bring along in the car, and great for keeping your child’s brain active!

Travel Games

There are lots of independent travel games on the market that are a great tool for car trips or boredom-busters at home. Games like Rush Hour and SmartGames XOXO strengthen problem-solving and logic skills in a way that’s fun!

Screen-Free Activities for Tweens and Teens

Logic Puzzle Books, Crosswords, and Sudoku

These are great tools for your teens to use to pass time screen-free and activate their brain during the slower days this summer! Check out this one geared for teens or this one for adults for some ideas on types of puzzles to look for.

Solitaire

Nothing says independent games like the classic solitaire! Teach your child how to play with a real deck of cards for a screen-free way to pass time and build skills like planning, problem-solving, attention, and processing speed this summer.

Learn a new skill!

Whether it’s knitting, macrame, woodburning, auto mechanics, or some other hobby, learning something new is one of the best ways to keep your brain sharp! Brainstorm with your teen what they would like to learn how to do, and then help them plot a course to figure it out!

For Everyone: READ!

Reading is the ultimate screen-free activity. No matter the age of your child, reading over the summer is critical for brain growth and mental sharpness. Studies find that kids who read over the summer perform better in school all year long!

Check out this post for some of our tips to make summer reading more enjoyable for your family.

Targeted Brain Skill Strengthening This Summer

Doing games and puzzles at home is a great way to keep your child’s brain active this summer. But if your child struggles with school, can’t work independently, or gets easily frustrated by some of these tasks, it may be a sign that their cognitive skills need a more targeted approach.

Brain training works like a personal trainer, but for your brain. We discuss things that are hard and your goals so we can create a plan to help you succeed.

If you want your child to feel more confident and successful at reading, math, or school in general, we would be happy to share more about how brain training may be able to help!

Contact our center today to learn more.