10 Best Tips to Improve Children's Cognitive Skills

Children are a powerhouse of potential. But in order for them to tap into their capabilities, they’ll need full, 100% support from you, moms and dads. And that support goes beyond providing them with food, shelter, and quality education. It also revolves around showering them abundantly with love, attention, care, time, encouragement, resources, and the like, every moment of every day.🤗❤️

For today’s read, we’re tackling children’s innate brain power and what you can do to guide them in reaching their fullest potential.✨

1. Play Outside. Play Inside.

Although the pandemic made outdoor restrictions a bit restrictive (redundancy intended), bring the fam and your kids outside every once in a while. Nature stimulates multiple cognitive skills, from processing and association to hand-eye coordination, alongside ease of learning and independence. 

Kids become much more creative when they spend ample time under the sun. Literally. There’s something about being surrounded by Mother Earth’s beauty that expands their capacity for comprehension.

Let playtime settings be both “outdoors” and “indoors”. Alternating between the two environments will strengthen their ability to adjust to changing surroundings, objects within their reach, etc.

2. Put On Some Tunes

There are dozens of research by neuroscientists across the globe regarding the link between music and brain power. That the first is a definite booster of the latter. Music instruction belongs to one of several factors that aid with language development, speech enhancement, and auditory processing. Plus, it positively contributes to reading skills, too! 

It’s said that the complexity of classical music readies the brain for all areas of neural expansion and advancement. Interestingly, related studies also show similar results when it comes to letting babies listen to complex jazz music.🎶💿💽🎧🧠

3. Eye-Spy Games for Younger Tots

This beloved game isn’t only a solution for calming down restless kids whenever the family’s on the road.🤭 It’s a fun little exercise that actually heightens cognitive speed and response. 

In fact, just to up the ante and add a bit of a challenge to the seemingly simple game, set a time limit per “eye-spy/ I spy” round. That’ll really get gears a’ turnin’ on hyperspeed.⚡

4. Go Crazy With Blocks, Puzzles, and Legos

These must-have toys for kids increase mental speed and reinforce brain cell connections. The piecing-together of colorful blocks and puzzle pieces sharpens memory, hand-eye coordination, critical thinking, strategizing, and problem-solving skills. 

(Stay tuned for our upcoming article on 12 Brain-Enhancing Games To Play With Your Kids!)

Children themselves won’t be aware that they’re sharpening their skill sets. All the better! But you will notice positive changes, i.e. an increase in attention span, concentration, and patience (as opposed to being super moody and irritable).😁

5. Create Works of Art

Prepare your children’s desk sets and unbox those tubes and packs of paint, watercolor, crayons, and pens! There’s nothing like learning how to be creative by being creative, via creating art. Arts and crafts let children compose, design, and mold ideas, almost without limit. Art creation engages kids and allows them to express themselves and be confident. Other added benefits are color association, patterning, and blending (of course💯).

But did you know that immersing in art-making also builds up problem-solving skills and math skills? Yep. Boom. Math-boom.🤯😎✖️➗ 🔢📏

6. Read A Whole Lot

There’s boundless value in reading. So having a true knack for it starting at a young age will most definitely push child development into Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Cognitive strength and speed, language skills, listening skills, focus, expanded vocabulary, social and emotional development, etc. - all acquired and enriched through the written word.

Apart from these, reading is an exciting child-friendly source of entertainment and even aids in reducing symptoms of anxiety. Pair reading with SingBee’s ergonomic chair and desk series and your kids will be good to… read.📚⭐

7. Ask Questions (and let your kids ask you back)

Kids learn about the world around them by throwing mom and dad question upon question. On the other hand, you doing the asking is a direct approach to checking their understanding of anything previously discussed. Win-win.👍

Besides that, it’s a great way for honing your child’s curiosity and wide-eyed knack for knowledge, objective reasoning, and analysis. The National Center for Biotechnology Information supports this by stating how asking questions instills in them the “scientific process” in a very no-pressure space. 

8. Do Chores

Encourage your kids to help you do chores. Assign specific ones to each child, and on particular days of the week. They’re a direct avenue for learning about responsibility, completing tasks instead of leaving them half-done, organization, and being team players. 

Not to mention, doing chores boosts self-esteem as it fosters independence and imparts a genuine sense of fulfillment after getting the job done. 

9. Theater-ize Books

Shine the spotlight on your fam in some live-action re-enactment of your kids’ favorite books! It’s said that children are natural storytellers. Giving them the opportunity to set the stage and act out scenes from their favorite books will further their understanding of said books and inspire them to be imaginative.

10. Socialize With Other Kids Their Age

Lev Vygotsky, one of the notable pioneers in the study of child development, tells us that a part of a child’s growth process is dynamic interactions between one and one’s society. On that note, introduce your tots to other children who are relatively the same age. Daycare centers, pre-preschool classes, playgrounds, and the like are safe places for nurturing children’s social skills.

You may have noticed that many of the tips for powering up cognitive skills are more action-based and less page-turning. They go beyond attending school-lead classes and doing homework (though these are just as important). That said, these 10 recommended tips from experts? They’re totally practical and fun once done than when merely read!🤗

Start with 1 tomorrow and distribute the rest in the upcoming days. If it’s possible for 2-3 to be accomplished within the same day, that’s okay, too (e.g. chores + arts time + playtime). Remember, child development is a process. It requires time, much attention + effort, love, and care from you, moms and dads.❤️ So let your kids go through it at their own pace, with you right there at the helm and behind, supporting them along the way.

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