Fun Ways To Help Your Kids Build Important Brain Skills

We all develop new skills on a daily basis, whether you’re a 3 year old or a 43 year old! And when you’re a parent, you have to learn as many new skills as possible at an accelerated rate because those kids have questions, lots of questions! 

There’s a lot to learn when you’ve got kids in the house, whether that’s patience, time management, reading your baby’s body language, breathing techniques, how to enjoy the quiet moments, or how to grow a pair of eyes in the back of your head! But just as much as toddlers can help you gain skills, you can help them gain just as many in return – if not more. 

After all, kids are on a learning curve 24/7, and their brains are soaking up as much information as they can lay their neural pathways on. It’s part of being a child, and even though school can sometimes be a boring and stuffy place, it’s good for them to have that kind of routine and structure around learning in their lives. 

It’s also a great idea to bring that energy into your home too. There are loads of different ways a parent can help their kids build those big brain skills they’ll need for later on in life, and the best part is that it won’t feel like learning at all! 

With all that in mind, here are some fun ways to keep your kids learning the kind of important skills that make life all the more easy. 

Have Both Structured and Unstructured Art Sessions

Structured art time is for those moments when you want to show the kids how to do something. Remember, they’re learning just as much as they’re having fun here. Letting them know how best to hold a paintbrush, or how to use watercolours without ruining the palette, will prevent mess and waste later on! 

But once these structured lessons are over, you can let the kids create whatever they want in whatever way they want. Remind them to apply the knowledge you’ve taught them, but then let them know that art is simply about creating something they like the look of. 

If they’re painting a portrait of something else, it doesn’t have to be a perfect recreation; it doesn’t even have to be done in the same colours! As long as they’ve done their best to put paint to paper and they’re happy with the result, that’s all that matters. 

Art sessions like these are great for developing creativity skills, but they’re also important for encouraging self expression. When kids know they can make art without being art experts, they’re never going to take criticism of their creations to heart. That’s an important skill to have as an adult. 

Show Them Your Own Hobbies

Kids are curious – every parent knows that. It’s why telling them not to do something usually guarantees they’ll go ahead and do that thing! You’ve made them curious about it by letting them know it’s bad to try, so now they want to be sure about that. Remember, kids have a lot of world to discover, and that sometimes includes finding out the consequences for themselves. 

But you can also use this principle to help them learn in a positive way too. Because aside from being curious, there’s another thing all kids have in common: they love to spend time with their parents. Moreover, they love to spend time doing things that feel ‘grown up’, which is why so many kids love having the responsibility of reading the items on the shopping list as you go round the supermarket. 

As such, be sure to show them your own hobbies and pastimes too. Let them get a little bit involved with the things you like doing, whether that’s creating your own rugs and cushions, writing fictional adventure novels, or doing a spot of gourmet cooking. You don’t have to let them run ragged with your tools and materials, or make a big mess from expensive things that will be hard to replace – absolutely not. 

But if they want to sit on your lap as you storyboard your next plot point, why not walk them through your own creative process? Or let them name the next character that’ll be added to your book? If you’re in the kitchen preparing something amazing to eat, let them wash one of the ingredients, or tell them they need to watch the clock and let you know when certain numbers show up? 

Letting your kids get involved with your hobbies teaches them the incredible life skill of socialisation. It shows them how they can share with others, and how multiple people can have fun carrying out the same activity. 

Play Some Simple Puzzles with Them

Kids usually like a puzzle or two. Infants and toddlers respond quite well to simple jigsaws, whereas kids of school age and above will start to complete puzzles like word searches and equation tables. All of these can be very fun, and they’re great for building problem solving, deductive reasoning, and logical thinking skills. 

Depending on the age of your child, some of these puzzles may need to be very simple. If you’d like to show them how to complete a word search, make sure it’s a small grid of letters with only two or three words to find. If they pick it up quickly, let them solve bigger and bigger word searches at their own pace; that sometimes means pulling out ‘mega grids’ by the end of the first week! 

But otherwise, sit down for 5 to 10 minutes a few times a week and solve these kinds of puzzles together. Get the kids involved by walking them through the puzzle type a few times over, then ask them what they think should go in the boxes, or where they think they can see a word. 

Play Some Memory Games

Memory games are a lot more fun than they might sound! There are plenty of imagination games out there you can get the kids to play together that primarily rely on memory. Trying out a few more of these will build your children’s short term memory skills. Doing this at a young age can often be more effective due to neural plasticity, but you don’t have to worry too much about that. Just make sure these games are fun! 

And the sillier the better! If you’re going to play a game that involves recalling a long list of shopping items, and you have to add a new item whenever each player takes a turn, let the kids’ imaginations run wild. Not only are these items going to be more memorable – which is a great way to get younger children to use their memories without even thinking about it – but it makes the game more enjoyable too. 

Fun is the Best Thing for Building Lifelong Skills

When something is fun, you’re going to want to try it again. And when you’re a child, you only really want to have fun! Speak to this side of childhood and let the kids indulge in it. Fun makes things stick in the brain, and they’re more likely to remember something they enjoyed doing than they are something that was super boring. 

Even if they do remember the boring things, they’re not going to remember them positively! So don’t let the option for that crop up; keep things fun when you can, and supplement the lifetime of learning ahead with plenty of enjoyment right now.