Stimulating Cognitive Abilities In Childhood: 12 Tips

Would you like to know how you can promote your child’s cognitive abilities? The brain works 24 hours a day and needs stimulation to develop properly. Discover what you can do for your child today!

Brain health is essential  for children to develop according to their age. Cognitive skills can be stimulated to promote healthy physical and emotional development in children. Find out more about this topic today.

Well-developed cognitive skills are important for the child to develop social skills and perform well in school. Therefore, today we present you with various ideas that will help you to promote your child’s brain health. 

Promote cognitive skills in childhood

To stimulate the brain, we recommend “neurobics”,  also known as brain aerobics or brain gymnastics. It is a series of exercises designed to train both hemispheres of the brain using physical and mental strategies.

The following physical and mental exercises are excellent for strengthening  cognitive skills in childhood by stimulating new neural connections. 

1. Parallel drawing

Encourage your child to take a pencil in each hand. Let him draw on a piece of paper with both hands at the same time. It can perform different movements: bottom-up, circles, etc.  This stimulating and fun task improves fine motor skills and also improves writing skills.

2. Cross-coordinatory movement patterns

For example, you can play being babies for a while: crawling crossed is a lot of fun  and improves coordination. This activates the brain and improves kinaesthesia. 

The child moves one arm and the opposite leg when crawling, just like a baby. If they are well practiced at this, you can incorporate different variations or let the child crawl backwards. For example, you can turn on music to make your child move and if you turn off, they will stop. 

3. Memory exercises to train cognitive skills

Memory games are great fun for the whole family and  help children improve this cognitive capacity. A classic memory game, for example, is memory.

4. Puzzles

Puzzles are also very entertaining and also promote logic and the ability to concentrate. Once your child is practiced, you can give them bigger puzzles that are truly challenging. The recommended age on the packaging is purely indicative.

5. Sudokus

Older children can do sudokus. Maybe they still need your help in the beginning, but very quickly they will be able to solve these number puzzles on their own. They are excellent for better concentration, for promoting logical thinking and alertness. 

6. Painting to develop cognitive skills

Read a story to your child,  then invite them to draw a picture. You help him to develop his creativity and promote his memory, his understanding and the expression of his emotions.

7. Musical activities to develop cognitive skills

Learning an instrument is highly recommended  for stimulating children’s brain health. For example, in order to learn to play the piano, it must also learn the notes. It also requires both hands at the same time, which promotes coordination and dexterity.

8. Play with plasticine

Plasticine is excellent for improving fine motor skills and promoting hand-eye coordination. You can play with your child and shape all  sorts of plasticine animals with them. At the same time, you can make up stories to stimulate understanding and representational skills.

More tips to develop cognitive skills

Mental gymnastics isn’t the only way to stimulate cognitive skills. The following tips are also very important and helpful:

1. Have conversations with your child, even if they are just a baby:  if they hear language very early, it will be easier for them to develop language comprehension and to integrate their mother tongue and cultural components.
2. Avoid prolonged periods of stress:  Stress has a very negative effect on children’s cognitive development over a longer period of time.
3. Read to your child:  Reading is also very important in developing your child’s linguistic and social skills.
4. Look your children in the eye when you talk to them: Face-to-face  contact is essential for your child to develop social skills and express their feelings.
5. Encourage exercise in your child’s life: Outdoor activities are great  for stimulating emotions, fine motor skills, and social skills.

You can also seek advice from an expert to develop your child’s cognitive skills. He can give you individual tips to do the best for your child.