Your child’s ability to think, make decisions and solve problems are all part of their core cognitive skills. We use them all the time to complete essential tasks, but we weren’t born with the skills, we have to be taught them. To support children through mental health and wellbeing in schools, we recommend a series of activities that can help with their continual brain development.
1. Play board games
Board games are going to help your child with their understanding of problem solving skills in real time. Your child has to carefully think about their next move, which will make or break the next stage in the game. These kinds of games also keep your child on their toes.
2. Read books together
A lot of analyses will be found from reading books together. You can take apart a story and build on the many experiences your child will learn about as they get older, as well as identify moments in a story where a life lesson can be explored. Ask your child plenty of questions when they are reading these sorts of stories with you, to get them thinking of creative answers and options.
3. Explore riddles
Riddles have a child thinking about all kinds of answers. A lot of them may not be that complicated for children to answer, but others could take a lot longer to think about. They might have to ask a lot of questions to see what could be the right answer, which will give your child the opportunity to think about things in a different way.
4. Explore cooking
From a safe distance your child can still help you with the cooking. This is a good chance to get your child involved in everyday activities that still require them to think about the next step and how they can help. Measuring out ingredients, naming the vegetables and the utensils you will use can help them with their memory skills.
5. Play games that combine two core areas
A popular way to do this is through games that allow your child to sing and clap, or dance or move in some way. Pass the parcel and musical chairs are great examples you could use in bigger groups of children, or you could find sing-along songs to try out and follow the beat to.
However you want to approach cognitive development it’s important to explore multiple areas so that they can truly build on new skills. A child’s cognitive abilities will be essential to their future development which will be strongly tested in their later years – starting early can help with their progress.
