8 BRAIN DEVELOpMENT GAMES FOR BABIES

Brain development games for babies is the top concern of many parents. How can children approach and develop in the most natural way through daily activities?

Parents are always worried that their children are drawn to electronic devices or spend too much time on the internet instead of more useful recreational and active activities.

So the solution for you is games and activities that keep your baby away from the screen, helping him develop his brain and thinking while entertaining and stimulating his mind.

There are many different skills that children can acquire when participating in brain games for children such as creativity, quick reaction, analytical thinking, problem solving, language development, etc.

Here is a list of great brain development games for you to play with your child:

1. ASSEMBLY GAMES

Suitable for children from 2 to 4 years old. Building blocks is the most basic brain game for children since its inception and still maintains a stable place in popular toys around the world.

Effect: All aspects of your child’s brain development including shape recognition, color recognition, baby’s creativity, spatial awareness and many more. Building blocks is the most basic brain game for kids from very early on.

How to play

• Show your child the different color blocks and sizes. Then you let your child explore the building blocks and let her imagination run wild.
• You can start with basic shapes and color blocks for younger children and then progress to Lego building blocks or abstract things for older children.
• Create simple patterns with blocks, let your toddler try to imitate assembling the patterns. This is a simple way to help your child observe patterns.

2. OBJECTS SEARCHING IS ALSO BRAIN DEVELOPMENT GAMES FOR BABIES

Suitable for children 5 from 12 years old. Classic games and jungle hunting are fun games for brain training and development.

Effect: Hunting games are easily adjustable and help keep your baby focused for hours on end. These types of games help your child follow instructions, enhance attention, develop language, and increase spatial awareness.

How to play: Here is an example of a themed hunting game:

• You can tell your child to look in nature for things like a flower, 3 rocks, water, green leaves, brown leaves, plants, roses…
• An effective way for your baby to practice is to look for books. Finding a goal in a messy environment through play will help improve your child’s cognitive system as well as support early brain development.

3. PUZZLE GAMES

Suitable for children from 2 to 8 years old. Puzzles can be a very fun game for your whole family during picnics or weekend get-togethers.

Effect: Puzzle solving is a game that helps develop spatial awareness, coordination, problem solving, fine motor and cognitive skills. This is a very simple brain development activity so you can play with your child whenever you want.

How to play

• There are different types of puzzles for you to choose from, such as tangrams and puzzles for children.
• For older kids and adults you can try Scrabble, Sudoku, crosswords, logic puzzles and even Rubik’s cubes. Puzzles are definitely a brain test for any age.
• You can make your own puzzle pieces by arranging the wooden slats in a row, pasting a family photo on the stick.
• Use a cutter to separate the wooden slats. Work together with your child to put the puzzle pieces together and make a complete picture.

4. OBSTACLES LESSONS

Suitable for children from 2 to 5 years old. These lessons are easy to set up and can be placed right in your living room. Create simple obstacles using household items, increase complexity with creative obstacles for older children.

Effects: Helps children improve motivation, visual perception, planning, coordination, problem solving, critical thinking and language skills.

How to play

• There are many ways to create obstacles. It can be some items right in your home: pillows, chairs, tables, pillows, back cushions, sofas, storage boxes, strings, paper, etc.
• Typical obstacles have the following properties: something to step on, crawl, roll over, jump on, throw away, the list goes on.
• You can also adjust obstacles for older children by adding puzzles and jigsaw puzzles that, if done correctly, pass.

5. BLOCKS GAMES

Suitable for children from 2 to 4 years old. Simple, but these toys are key to the very early learning development of toddlers.

Effect: Although very simple, this game acts as an effective brain stimulant for toddlers. With stacking and building movements, it helps to practice finesse, spatial and visual awareness, balance, sequencing, early math skills, and coordination and brain development.

How to play

• Start with some basic jigsaw puzzles and work your way up by adjusting textures, prints, or sizes. These are two types of toys that are quite compatible and complement each other.
• It’s important to keep the conversation going while your baby plays to keep them motivated.

6. TAPE REMOVAL GAMES

Suitable for children from 2 to 4 years old. Concentration is key to most games aimed at developing important brain building activity. However, children are easily distracted.

Effect: This is a fun game to help your baby develop brain and enhance concentration.

How to play:

• You need some masking tape and a flat surface. This brain game enhances toddler’s concentration. Toddlers love the feeling of peel, remove, and pull, and this activity uses all of those actions.
• On a flat surface, table or laptop, stick the tape strip. Make sure the tapes overlap. Show your toddler how to remove the bandage one at a time using your fingernails.

7. TELLING STORY GAMES

Suitable for children from 6 to 12 years old. Retelling a story can help promote brain development that is different than what children get from listening to the story or reading a picture book.

Effect:

• The ability to retell a story requires your child’s attention and concentration over an extended period of time. This also helps with the child’s memory, as they will have to keep track of the characters of the story, the sequence of events and what will happen next.
• Storytelling also helps develop your child’s language, vocabulary and confidence. Each story requires children to know how to connect and express. This is also an effective way to stimulate the brain for creative people.
• Children as young as six can develop confidence and independent thinking. Trying to rephrase the story in your own language is a great way to express your child’s feelings and emotions in a positive way.

How to play

• The magazine can be used as a story. Choose a page with many elements, your child will have to be creative to tell a story using the same elements on the page.
• Another fun idea is to try writing suggestions for filling a jar with lots of scraps of paper with topics like “green monster in the castle”, “astronaut lost in rocket” , “a ladybug with a green spot”. The more creative you are with the suggestions, the more fun stories will come.

8. PHONETICS GAMES

Suitable for children from 6 to 12 years old. This game is simple but very fun. A simple motor game that you can play in your car until you get bored.

Effects: This activity helps children and friends think quickly, develop their brains through communication, improve decision-making skills, and help children become more confident.

How to play

• Players take turns choosing consecutive letters of the alphabet and fill in the following blanks: “I will choose … to… with me.”
• For example: “I will choose my second brother [the letter A] to eat cake [the letter A] with me. I will choose grandma [the letter B] to crawl out into the garden [the letter B] with me. I will choose the cat [the letter C] to play skipping rope [the letter C] with me… The more silly the sentences read out, the more fun the game is! You can let your child change the sentence structure more creatively, but always follow the principle of filling in pairs of words with letters starting in alphabetical order.

Children cannot naturally have skills of ingenuity, flexibility, sensitivity and excellent intelligence, but need to be trained from a young age, gradually through mother’s parenting, through children’s games and activities. Every days, giving children access to brain development games from an early age is the best way to unleash children’s potential and help parents spend more time with their children and understand them better.