If a child is distracted while studying and cannot remember new material, this is a sign that he has trouble concentrating. How to help an inattentive child? Below is a plan of action and attention games for children from preschool age.
Normally, a preschooler focuses on an action from three to five minutes, and a seven-year-old student for at least 15 minutes, which is exactly how much time is required to complete a simple task or teacher’s request. According to experts, concentration of attention is a habit, without which it is difficult to memorize information. Therefore, the development of attention in children requires systematic exercises.
The lack of ability to focus on action can be related to health conditions, as well as factors such as stress, unwillingness to study, unhealthy diet and fatigue (lack of sleep). However, in most cases, there is a lack of skill, namely, exercises for developing attention.
How to develop mindfulness in a preschooler
The best way to help is, of course, games for attention and logic. Introduce a five-year-old child to chess, they perfectly improve logical thinking, teach consistency and concentration. Books in paper and audio versions will not be superfluous. After reading aloud or listening to audio, ask questions, discuss events. Over time, the preschooler will learn to give complete answers without missing details. Include board games, puzzles, morning exercises in the life of a preschooler.
Attention games for preschool children
- Laying out pasta. Suitable for children from three years old, ask your child to spread the spaghetti at an equal distance from each other. Another option is to lay out pasta along the lines of a large pattern, these can be geometric shapes or letters. Exercise develops concentration and perseverance.
- Creation. Offer to take a pen in both hands and start drawing with both hands at the same time, as in a mirror image.
- Labyrinths. You should start “from simple to complex”, the most interesting option is to create your own labyrinths and go through them.
- Copy. One column of the table contains a set of letters or numbers that are copied into the second column.
- Search for differences. Offer to find the differences between the pictures, another version of the game is to search for a common concept between images that go in a row – what unites them, which picture is superfluous.
- Focus on the subject. Ask your child to sit still and look at a chosen object for five minutes, the next day, increase the time by two minutes. For a preschooler of six years, you can stop at 15 minutes. Exercise teaches patience.
- Attention game “guess who it is?”. Each of the participants mentally thinks of a character from the cartoon and pronounces common features aloud. The one who answers correctly wins.
- The game “guess the shape.” A blindfolded child guesses an object by touching it with his hands.
- Memories. A fun game that trains memory and attention. Ask interesting questions, such as “which neighbor wears glasses”, “what is the name of the neighbor from the first floor, third, fifth”, “on which shelf is your favorite book?”
- Detective. Take a photo and ask them to remember all the details for three minutes, after which, turn the photo over and ask questions about the content.
- Surrounding sounds. The child closes his eyes, and the adult asks to focus on the sounds of the environment. After a while, ask a question – what was the quietest, loudest, beautiful, annoying, what aroused curiosity.
Attention games for schoolchildren
Before starting games for attention, inspect the student’s workplace. Remove all unnecessary items from the table – a mobile phone, toys, key chains, etc. In addition, school supplies with any characters and bright pictures can be distracting, try not to purchase such things for a child who is easily distracted, otherwise, he will imagine a fairy-tale world to himself, instead of focusing on the task. Another important point is nutrition, which must be present during the educational process.
The duration of one home lesson cannot exceed 40 minutes for 10 years old and 20 minutes for a first grader. The break between classes lasts 10 minutes, this time is enough for a light snack with an apple, banana, kiwi, orange, a handful of nuts. On your next break, offer a piece of dark chocolate or cocoa. Thus, you supply the student’s brain with additional energy that maintains attention at the proper level.
Whenever possible, check the lessons during breaks. There is nothing more motivating than praise for a lesson well done.
For children who work slowly, you can use the rule – a break is possible only when a pre-planned task is completed, that is, you agree with the child how many examples he must solve in 40 minutes. Did not have time? The break is postponed. This method promotes self-control and reduces the time for completing lessons.
Attention games for schoolchildren
- Eight. The child draws the number eight in the air, it can also be drawn on paper or sand – the main thing is to use both hands, perform simultaneous movements and follow with your eyes. The exercise integrates the work of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, activates the intellect at the auditory, visual and motor levels, strengthens the muscles of the eyes. Regular classes, in addition to concentration, improve reading and writing skills.
- Underlining letters. Print any text or use an old book. Ask the child to underline only the letters you specify, for example, only “v” for two minutes. When the texts are the same, you can do the task together and check the result “who has more”.
- The numbers are the opposite. The student writes numbers from 1 to 20, but at the same time, he thinks “on the contrary”, when he writes “1”, he mentally pronounces “20”.
- Number search. Print out a page with three digits, ask your child to find the ones with only “3”.
- Copy. Make a table with 10*10 cells and arrange the letters/symbols in any order. The child must accurately copy their location.
- Attention games with coins. You will need a dozen coins of various names and a stopwatch. Line up chains of several coins in a different order and ask the student to memorize the location in one minute, and then, cover and ask them to build the same chain from memory in a certain time. In each next “round” the task becomes more difficult by adding new coins, reducing the time depending on the abilities.
- Association game. The adult calls the word, and the child says the words associated with it, if it is ice cream, then the association is cold, milk, sweetness, chocolate, shop, etc.
- Juggling. Two to three light balls are enough, if they are not available, replace them with small bags of peas. The game helps the hemispheres of the brain to cooperate, which contributes to the construction of new connections between them, naturally maintaining the quality of brain activity.
- Stereograms. Viewing images like this makes you focus, and it’s also a great exercise for the eye muscles.
- Sequences. The child must repeat the sentence and add a new word. For example, the mother says “we are going on a trip and we are taking…” the child continues “we are going on a trip and we are taking a tent with us”. The number of connected words is unlimited, it is important that the student memorize the sequence of words. The game can be diversified with other sentences “we go to the store and buy …”, “we are in the car and see …”.
If a child is under stress all the time, the listed attention games for children will not bring a positive result, since a nervous state blocks mental abilities. Teach him to relax and rest properly, especially before important test papers.
Breathing techniques, physical exercises, rest with closed eyes and a conversation with a psychologist. There are many ways to relax. Make sure that the student feels safe and confident at home, try not to scold for bad grades, point out that mistakes can always be corrected.