family matters
RA ISIN G KIDS
The great Greek
philosopher
Plato once
mused, "You
can discover
more about a
person in an
hour of play
than in a year
of conversation"
Mind Games
Game time can be an ideal—and very fun—opportunity to help kids
exercise their mental muscles to the max.
BY JA C K FEERICK
a
s anyone who has ever watched a child
absorbed in a video game knows, game play
can demand intense focus, observation,
recall, problem-solving, and spatial relation
skills. In fact, researchers are discovering
that the benefits from such fun are quite serious.
That’s also the finding of a recent study conducted by
Geetha Ramani and Bob Siegler of Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh. In the study, a group of
preschool children who played a simple number board
game over a period of two weeks showed significant
improvement in counting, numeral recognition, and
value estimation compared to children who played a
different, non-numeral-based game.
"Play is a very important way for children to learn about
their world,” says Ramani, now an assistant professor of
human development at the University of Maryland. "There
are many games and activities in our everyday lives where
their purpose may not be to convey cognitive skills, but they
do. Even playing a board game can be an inexpensive and
effective way to promote children’s learning,” she says. Here
are some other ways to put play to work.
IT ’S IN T H E D ETA ILS
Here’s a classic brainteaser. Let’s say you’re driving a bus. At
the first stop, 10 people board the bus; at the second stop,
three riders get off and seven more get on; at the third stop,
five more depart and two come aboard. Now, the question:
What is the bus driver’s name?
If you gave the correct answer right off the bat, it’s
because you caught on to a detail that, at first, seems
inconsequential. But that’s the kind of active listening and
observation that you want to promote in your children.
Riddles are a great way to do that and as easy to incorporate
in your family routine as borrowing a book from the library.
(Did you get it, by the way? Re-read the question:
You
are
driving the bus.)
You can also foster your youngster’s attention to detail
with activities that reward her observation skills. Try
hidden-picture puzzles, such as the
I Spy
books (play an
online version at
scholastic.com/ispy),
or the mazes found
on the backs of virtually every kids’ menu. These activities
not only promote a vital skill called spatial awareness but
also encourage perception of both fine details and the
so-called "big picture.”
232 MAY 2009 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
PHOTO: VEER.
