Where do smart children come from? Why does one child do better at school than another? Psychologist Anna Bykova, author of the book “Developmental Activities for a Lazy Mom,” knows the exact answer to this question. The whole point is how often the simplest games were played with a child at 1-2 years old, which forced him to keep his attention. Try it - and in 5-6 years we will evaluate the result! In addition, these attention games will help you keep your child occupied on the go and during unplanned waits.
What determines a child's learning ability? It is clear that heredity plays a role - and this is a factor that parents can no longer influence; what has come has come. But there are other factors that directly depend on the efforts of parents and grandparents. What can you offer your baby to help him be successful in school? Is it possible to influence this?
These questions concern not only parents, but also scientists. As usual, studies were conducted in which a direct relationship was established between the intelligence of children at 5 years old and at 10 years old. That is, children who showed high results in intelligence tests at the age of five showed the same high results at ten years.
But no such relationship was found with intelligence indicators at the age of 1–2 years: assessments of the baby’s intelligence did not correlate in any way with assessments at other ages. Why? Maybe they measured something wrong?
After lengthy research, scientists came to the conclusion that the development of intelligence is mainly influenced by the ability to maintain attention. Moreover, endogenous attention. That is, one that arises from within, through one’s own activity and will, and not just as a response to external stimuli.
Why is it important for children to play outside of the computer?
Knowing how to use a computer makes our life easier. Children now learn it early, initially as a means of play. There are many good computer games that help develop memory, logic, and thinking. In moderation, such games improve concentration, reaction speed, and ability to analyze.
But the child cannot control the time spent at the computer. Spending a long time in front of a monitor is harmful to health: vision and posture suffer. If you are very addicted to the computer, your nervous system is at risk. Prolonged contact with gadgets is fraught with increased excitability, sleep disturbances, memory problems, sudden mood swings, and fatigue.
Then comes the stage of computer addiction, which requires medical intervention and is characterized by the following symptoms:
- replacing your own life with the virtual world;
- loss of communication abilities;
- reluctance to contact others;
- apathy, lack of any initiatives;
- deterioration of appetite and sleep;
- aggressive resistance to attempts to limit computer use.
It is important for parents to instill in their children an understanding that the computer is only a technical assistant in work and in the exchange of information. It is necessary to demonstrate to children how rich leisure time can be: walks, playing in the fresh air, playing sports, art, attending clubs.
Without going outside, you can read, play board and outdoor games with your children at home. And parents should be ready to spend time with the child, teach him to enjoy playing together. During it, the child’s mental processes are formed, conditions are created for the development of intelligence and knowledge of the surrounding world, and mastery of life skills. And it’s good when the partner in the game is a loving parent, and not a computer.
Games on the go
Choir in a car
S. Feldcher, S. Lieberman
Since you are riding in your own 'chariot', you can sing while swaying to the tune. Everyone chooses a popular song that everyone can sing together. If there are several people in the car, then the 'choir' can be divided into two or three groups. The car is a great place to teach children songs from their childhood or for parents to become familiar with songs sung at school. If you like songs from musical films, listen to recordings of them and learn the words together. Hum tunes from your favorite TV shows. Teach your child the songs you love and, in turn, memorize his favorite songs.
Advice for music lovers
If you have a stereo in your car, play recordings of children's songs or your favorite folk songs and sing along to them. Of course, you can do it on your own, and it will be even more interesting if you take an empty cassette into the car and record your family choral performance.
Pick a tune
Try using your favorite tunes for your family songs. If, for example, you are visiting Aunt Bonnie, who has a fat, fluffy cat named Delilah, you can borrow the melody from the song 'A Christmas Tree Was Born in the Woods' with the words:
And Delilah the cat has good stripes, Fleas live in the stripes. Scratch it, scratch it!
Take any song and change the words however you want to make it your own song. You will probably find some of them funny and will become favorites in your family. Record the most successful ones on a tape recorder so as not to forget them.
Games with a child from 1 to 3 years old
A one-year-old child is able to play only with toys that are in his field of vision. At 2-3 years old, a preliminary plan appears in the game, the child himself selects objects for play activities. At 3 years old, role-playing games become favorites.
During the first year and in the second year of life, a child’s play is short-lived. Together with his mother, he can put toys to bed, wake them up in the morning, and feed them. At this time, all kinds of pyramids, inserts, and cubes are useful for development.
With a 3-year-old child, you can use games to develop memory, attention, and hearing:
- Alarm. The child leaves the room. At this time, you need to set an alarm clock so that it rings in 2-3 minutes and hide it. When the child returns to the room, he will need to find the ringing alarm clock.
- Auditory lotto. You need to prepare a recording with various sounds (the creaking of a door, the sound of dripping water, the sound of train wheels) and pictures with corresponding images. When the sound is played, the child will have to point to the desired picture.
- Memorizing colors. An adult builds a pyramid (a tower of cubes) and asks the child to give him a piece of the desired color.
- Taste recognition. The little player is blindfolded and asked to identify the food according to his taste. You can put pieces of something sweet, sour, salty, etc. on a plate.
- Guess what's in the bag. Various small items should be placed in an opaque bag. The child puts his hand into the bag and by touch determines what object he came across.
Games with a child from 4 to 6 years old
At the age of 4 years, 5-6 years, role-playing play is of particular importance, and children begin to independently come up with a plot, change roles, and improvise. They also like active and educational games.
For role-playing games, you can offer children various situations: “Fashion show”, “Beauty salon”, “Visiting a doctor”, “Visiting a veterinary hospital”, “Pharmacy”, “Shop”, etc. Both girls and boys will like this game. It would be desirable to have more participants.
Active games that will help diversify your leisure time:
- hide and seek;
- blind man's buff;
- twister;
- home bowling;
- “The sea is agitated once...”;
- “Edible-inedible”;
- "Cold-hot."
If your family has a camping tent, you can play camping and set up camp right on the floor. On a hike, you can bring provisions and board games, and sing songs around an impromptu fire.
An equally exciting activity is building houses from scrap materials. Pillows, bedspreads, and ottomans are suitable for this. It is easy to build a house under the table, hanging a blanket from it to the floor. You can visit from one house to another. And if the house is converted into a fortress, then military operations can be carried out against the enemy.
For this age, you can choose many exciting board games:
- adventure games;
- designers;
- domino;
- mosaic;
- puzzles;
- lotto;
- cubes.
There are many activities that help develop fine motor skills and are also fun for your child. These are finger games, making appliques, origami. Particularly worth highlighting are modeling and drawing.
Drawing
Children aged 4-6 years already have a well-developed imagination. Drawing helps them realize their imagination and experiences, calms and pacifies them. The child gets the opportunity to develop his taste, get acquainted with colors and their interaction. Children are of genuine interest in testing various creative materials: watercolors, felt-tip pens, pencils, crayons, finger paints.
The very first drawings are a tree, a house, the sun. Then comes the desire to draw my parents and myself. It is important for the child that the parents are interested in the drawings and ask what is happening in them.
Colorize finished images
It is better to start coloring with your child at home. When he gets carried away, you can leave him alone with the coloring book. This simple activity brings tangible benefits. Children learn to hold a pencil correctly, combine colors, and paint carefully without going beyond the boundaries. By filling out the coloring book, the child gets used to finishing the task.
Modeling with plasticine
Modeling, like drawing, develops observation, creativity, and perseverance. In addition, sculpting requires some physical effort, which contributes to the development of the muscular system. The main tool for this is the hands. By doing modeling, the child learns to better control his own hands. Defects in modeling can be easily eliminated, and the material can also be given a second life. Another type of fine art accessible to preschoolers is plasticineography, the creation of stucco paintings on a horizontal surface.
Good advice
After waiting for the baby to be one year old, parents can begin to study with him and introduce him to interesting games.
But the main thing is not to overdo it, so as not to discourage the baby from continuing to study. To do this, pay attention to the following tips:
- You need to work with your child only when he is in a good mood and nothing bothers him.
- In the schedule, you should select the time at which games and activities will be held.
- When choosing the next entertainment for your baby, you should take into account the fact that their excessive duration will most likely tire the baby, and he will lose interest in what is happening.
The maximum time during which you can hold the attention of a child of one and a half years is 10 minutes.
- In order for the game to be interesting and for the baby to learn something new, parents must clearly show what exactly he should do.
- During the lesson, there is no need to skimp on words of praise, because they encourage the child and are an incentive to do something even better next time.
Despite the busyness of parents, you need to spend as much time as possible with your 1-year-old child. After all, at this age he needs a team.
Even if the game is replaced with ordinary communication, this will have a positive effect on the emotional state of the baby.
Games with a child from 7 to 10 years old
Children 7 years old, 8 years old and older are classified as junior schoolchildren. For them, play continues to occupy a large place, but there is a transition from games associated with external actions to games in the imagination, in the mind. The child gets acquainted with intellectual games. Home games that the whole family can play are already suitable for this age:
- Uno.
- Scrabus.
- Jenga.
- Sea battle.
- Tic-tac-toe.
- Crosswords.
- Checkers.
There are other games with a child together for this age.
Record a story
The child should be offered a topic for a story related, for example, to the characters of his favorite cartoon. Let him fantasize out loud, and mom or dad write down and then read the story. You can limit the volume of the story to a few sentences, then the writer will be interested in keeping it within the given volume.
Shoot a plasticine cartoon on your phone
You need to mold scenery and several characters out of plasticine, come up with movements for them and, according to the script, change their position in space. Every change must be photographed. Even without the use of special programs, by simply flipping through frames, a mesmerizing action is created on the phone screen.
You can make frames using the plasticineography technique. Or draw and cut out characters from paper and transfer them onto planes. And you can also choose a soundtrack. For children, this is an unforgettable experience of creating magic with their own hands.
Guessing riddles
A useful exercise for the mind is solving riddles. Since this game does not require any physical activity or playing field, it can be played even before bed. It is better to prepare for the game in advance and choose riddles about items that interest the child, for example, household appliances, power tools, etc. You can deepen the game by offering to compose a riddle about the hero of your favorite cartoon or comic book. Rhyme does not have to be present, but its presence is encouraged.
Reading the encyclopedia
Reading is the most accessible and useful activity for the intellectual formation of a child’s personality. It is advisable to choose a regular time for reading books every day, for example before bed. Until the child learns to read on his own, his parents do this for him. You should definitely discuss what you read with your daughter or son. It brings us closer together. Let one of your child's reference books be an encyclopedia on a topic that interests him. He will be pleased to learn facts from the book and look at the illustrations accompanying the text with dad or mom.
Reading poems and fairy tales
Books that will never lose their value for children should be included in the joint reading program: fairy tales, works by Agnia Barto, Korney Chukovsky, Sergei Mikhalkov, Boris Zakhoder, etc.
Fun racing
If the family has several radio-controlled cars, you can arrange fun races with prizes. A track for cars can be built from different types of construction sets. Nano-insects can also participate in the races: bugs, cockroaches.
Role-playing games
Simulation of travel or exploration. Such games require more detailed preparation than in preschool age: you need to think about what to take on a trip, learn the peculiarities of the country.
You can play school. Let parents play both the role of teacher and student. Children love to check homework and correct mistakes.
Sport games
Dress up game . The ball is thrown against the wall, and while it flies back, the player pretends that he is getting dressed. After the second throw, it’s as if he’s putting on his shoes. After the third, it’s like putting on a hat. You have to catch the ball. Whoever gets lost or does not have time to catch the ball gives way to another player.
Get into the bucket . Place several buckets at different distances and throw balls into them. The task is to throw as many balls as possible. You can draw numbers on the buckets, like on a target. Then the game will be about gaining more points.
Five steps . Hang a toy on a rope on a tree branch or other high place. Then blindfold the child. Blindfolded, he must move 5 steps away from the toy, then turn around, take 5 steps to the toy and take it.
A space flight . For this game you will need a children's light blanket or blanket and a soft toy. Take the blanket by the corners, you take two corners, and your child takes two. If there are more players, distribute yourself so that everyone gets a corner. Place a soft toy - a bear or a bunny - in the middle of the blanket. On the count of one, two, three, shake the blanket sharply so that the toy jumps as high as possible. You can take several toys and hold a competition for the best astronaut, i.e. Which toy will fly higher?
Games for coordination of movements. Offer your baby different ways to walk: like a bear, with his arms and legs spread wide; like a bunny, bouncing; like a horse, raising its legs; like a soldier, marching. Walk on your toes, run, jump, imitate the movement of birds, waving your outstretched arms. When playing, talk to your baby in different animal voices: like a bird, like a cat, like a bear.
Top, top, stop . This game will help develop coordination and strength of large muscles. Take the child by the hand and walk, saying: top, top, top, top, top, stop. Stop at the word “stop.” Next, go skipping: gop, gop, gop, gop, gop, stop. Stop again on the word “stop.” Continue changing the pattern of movements, stopping at the word “stop.” You will find that your child will soon begin to guess when you are going to stop.
Roll the car through the “tunnel” . This game requires several people or chairs. Of course, it’s more interesting with people. Adults stand one after another, legs apart. If you are alone with your baby, put up chairs. The kid carries a truck with toys through the tunnel, unloads them, and at the other end of the tunnel other toys are placed in the truck. Instead of a toy machine, you can use a ball. Then the task is somewhat different - you need to roll the ball through the tunnel.
Colored path. Using tape, stick several sheets of thick paper in two or three colors onto the floor to create a path. As you move along this path with your child, sing some song. Stop singing from time to time and stop at the same moment. If your child already recognizes colors, ask him which color sheet you stopped on. Develop your child’s spatial perception by asking him to “step over the leaf,” “walk along the leaf,” or “go around the leaf.” For variety, you can not just walk, but jump on one or two legs or walk on tiptoe.
Baby basketball . The game teaches you to coordinate movements. Take a large waste paper basket and choose a ball that your child can comfortably hold in his hands. To begin, the child must simply drop the ball into the basket. Gradually move back so that the child has to throw the ball into the basket. If the child still cannot throw the ball, show him several times how to do it, but remember that it is easier for children to throw the ball “from the bottom up.”
Games at home with a teenager from 11 to 14 years old
A teenager needs the attention and sensitivity of his parents just as much as younger children. Spending time with teenagers can even be fun for parents. For example, conducting various experiments and experiments. Now you can purchase manuals for performing simple but effective physical and chemical experiments at home. This will allow you to spend time usefully and understand some of the patterns of nature.
We speak a foreign language
If you use foreign words in everyday life, this will help your child quickly and easily expand their vocabulary or consolidate vocabulary studied at school. You can use a foreign language in relation to familiar games. For example, play “Edible-Inedible” with English words. Or in "Hot-cold" (Hot-cold).
Deciphering Morse code
A good form of entertainment would be sending encrypted messages to each other. They can be composed using Morse code or you can create your own unique cipher. You can encrypt anything, for example, the place where a treasure is hidden (a holiday gift).
Board games
Board games are becoming more meaningful:
- Monopoly.
- Crocodile.
- Carcassonne.
- Chess.
- Backgammon.
Tricks
Children love watching magic tricks. Penetration into the mechanism of illusion will be even more interesting for them. You can buy a ready-made set to demonstrate magic tricks. Or you can watch several videos and use them to learn spectacular tricks from scrap materials. The main quality that needs to be trained to perform tricks is dexterity. In addition, the child learns to speak in front of an audience, demonstrate confidence and equanimity.
Making a family tree
A necessary activity for a family is drawing up a family tree. It's never too late to do this. To do this, you need to ask grandparents about those generations of ancestors whom they still remember. Everything heard must be carefully recorded, supported, if possible, with photographs.
Researching the history of your own family is a fascinating and unifying activity. The collected information can be structured and formatted using special online services. The family tree can be printed as a document. You can be more creative and place it in the interior by drawing or sticking it on the wall and adding photographs.
Making a movie on your phone
Anyone can shoot video on a mobile phone. At 11-14 years old, a child is already old enough to be able to use special shooting applications and editing programs. You can make, for example, a video about pets, about cooking dinner, or other family chronicles. Over the years, it will be valuable to the whole family.
Making crafts
If the child does not like to draw, you can offer to make various crafts. For example, you can make many animals, birds, and a snowman from cotton pads, glue and colored paper. Such an activity will not be difficult, but will bring joy and delight from the crafts made.
Turn on your imagination, cut out pictures from different magazines and make a postcard or collage, stick on funny scenes and come up with a story, spend every minute of your child’s childhood together in a fun and useful way.
How to play correctly with children of different ages
If a child is bored with a once-favorite game, it means that it has become too simple for him. It's time to increase the difficulty of the game. Every new skill, even a small one, gives the developmental effect that is expected from most games. Games that are too complex and not appropriate for your age will also not bring the expected benefits. The child must be a full participant in the process and realize that in the game a lot depends on him.
When choosing a new toy or play set, it is better not to impose your vision and your own unrealized childhood dreams on your child, but to trust him. Any toy and book, even those chosen by the child independently, must first go through the stage of joint play between an adult and a child. And then they will have to mutually share their impressions of the new game. This establishes trust and common ground between parents and children.
Rule #1: Play only when you feel like it
This means that you don't have to play hard. If now you only have enough time to read a book, and you are not ready to organize battles and turn into a fire-breathing dragon guarding the tower of a beautiful princess, and the next moment you will already play the role of a brave knight, then don’t! The child senses your mood. Honestly tell your baby that you are not in the mood. Offer to do something else, and then return to the game.
