3 Mind Power Games: Teaching Kids to Pay Attention

Mind Power Games Help Kids Pay Attention

If  you want 3 Mind Power Games that teach kids to pay attention, stay right here. Our parenting expert, Ellen Galinsky, will share 3 games you may already know. Perhaps you'll play them with your children more often.

"Promote Focus-Play Games That Require Children To Pay Attention"

"1. Red Light/Green Light

In this game, one person plays the stoplight and the other children try to touch him or her. The child playing the stoplight stands about fifteen feet away from the other children, who are positioned at a starting line. The stoplight child turns his or her back to the other children and says, "Green light!" 

The other children move as fast as they can toward the stoplight child, who at any time can say, "Red light!" and turn to face the other children. Any child who is spotted moving by the stoplight child after a reed light is called  is out of the game. The game continues in this way. The stoplight child wins if all the children are out before anyone is able to touch him or her. If someone succeeds in touching the stoplight child, then that child becomes the stoplight for the next game.

2. Musical Chairs

Make a circle of chairs and have each child line up behind a chair. Then put on some music and remove one chair. The children cirle around the chairs while the music is playing, but when you stop the music, each child must sit down on a chair. 

The child without a chair is out. Keep playing, removing one more chair each time. Continue until you have only two children and one chair left. The child who sits down on that last chair when the music stops is the winner.

You can also play this game using pieces of construction paper instead of chairs. The object of the game is to stand on the paper.

3. Bell Game

(Adele) Diamond suggests a game used in Montessori programs. You give a bell to each member of the family:

The game is that you're all to walk. It doesn't matter what the formation is-you can walk in a circle or in a line-but the goal is that nobody should make a sound with the bell.

As the children get better at the game, you can up the ante: have the children walk faster or move in more complicated patterns. Diamond notes that this game is a good one to calm children down before bed." page 45

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Teaching kids to pay attention through fun games is an excellent way to build mind power. Ellen Galinsky, in her book, Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs shares countless ways to enhance your child's mind. 

 

Let's give a BIG HAND to Ellen Galinsky for her outstanding ideas in Mind in the Making.
 

   
   Ellen Galinsky
   
What are your opinions about this blog post or your suggestions for fun ways to teach kids to pay attention? Please answer in the comment link below.

With warm wishes,

Jean Tracy, MSS

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Comments

[Jean Tracy, MSS]

Dear Sage,

Your comments zeroed in on some very real problems. Helping children learn to pay attention, listen, and regulate themselves has so much to do with success.

Thank you for your wise comments.

Jean Tracy, MSS
www.KidsDiscuss.com

[sage stationery]

When I talk with parents or teachers these days, I can be sure that one of their first questions will have to do with getting kids to pay attention — and for good reason. Attention and its partner, self-regulation, are the foundations of learning, but these so-called "executive skills" are an increasing problem in our multitasking society. More and more children each year are diagnosed with "attention deficit disorder," and teachers describe increasing difficulties with students' self-control and concentration — causing problems with everything from math tests to social relationships to motivation for learning.