Top 5 Activities to Improve Attention and Concentration in Kids 2023
Attention and Concentration
You must have commonly observed your child completely engrossed for hours in his favorite cartoon or a TV program. But, how often is this the case when it comes to homework or studies?
School-age children often face difficulty concentrating on tasks if they are not engaged enough. And, this is why parents are always looking for activities to improve attention and concentration in children.
It is a well-known fact that children can improve their skills only when they focus and practice the skills again and again. However, in this era of distractions, fostering the power of concentration in children can be a backbreaking exercise for parents.
Kids with short attention spans often face difficulty in focusing on a specific task. This leads to various negative effects like poor academic performance, missing out on important information, making careless mistakes, etc. This can significantly impact their learning ability.
Thus, it is a challenge for parents to look for ways to improve concentration in children without making it feel like a chore for them. And to help you with this, we have come up with tips to increase concentration for your child.
Effective ways to improve concentration and attention
Before we proceed further, it is also noteworthy to mention that concentration and attention span are two different terms. Concentration is about focussing on a particular task or work at hand. Whereas attention span is the length of time for which you can concentrate.
The average attention span will differ for different children based on their age. Experts suggest that if you want to calculate the attention span of your child, then just multiply the age of your child by 2 or 3. Please bear in mind that this is just for reference purposes.
So according to the above formula, the average attention span by age would be:
Based on the above information, you must have commonly observed that some children can easily concentrate while others struggle a lot. However, you will be relieved to know that there are innumerable ways to improve concentration. And some of the most effective ones are mentioned below for your easy reference.
1. Meditation
Meditation is about practicing mindfulness where you concentrate by eliminating unwanted thoughts. It is a practice where you focus on being present at the moment thereby bringing in self-awareness.
In today’s fast-paced world, kids are burdened with so many activities apart from their studies. They hardly get to slow down and this may lead to stress. In such a scenario, it can be a bit tricky to introduce meditation to kids. But, with practice, even kids can benefit from it.
Children of all ages need time to relax and unwind leaving behind all their worries and fears. Meditation offers this opportunity which is highly beneficial for mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
1.1 Meditation tips to increase concentration in children
There is no set rule when it comes to practicing meditation. Similarly, while introducing it to children, the frequency and length of time will vary from one child to another. It is also important to understand that adults can stay focused for a longer period compared to young kids. Thus, it is essential to keep it short with kids at the beginning and then to go on increasing the time as they master the art of concentration.
Even experts suggest that preschool children can start for a few minutes a day, while elementary-age children can continue from 3 to 10 minutes, twice a day. Whereas for teens, it could start from 5 to 45 minutes or more based on their capacity.
Deep breathing is another important way of improving concentration that you can try incorporating into your child’s routine. This is especially true in the case of small kids who are just starting.
Thus, with the help of the below-mentioned information, you can start using meditation as a way to improve concentration in kids.
1.2 Tips for Preschoolers
It is commonly observed that children around the age of 4-5 start understanding the thought process better. So, this is the best time to start with mediation. However, if your toddler shows interest, you can start earlier.
To encourage preschoolers and small kids, parents must make it a family norm and include it in the daily routine. With young children, you can start simple breathing exercises where you can ask them to concentrate on their belly moving up and down as they breathe in and out. Ensure that you make the kids aware of the benefits that come with meditation.
1.3 Tips for School-age children
The same goes true for school-age children. They can start with meditation for 5 minutes initially and then gradually increase the time. Introducing meditation at this age establishes a strong foundation for critical skills in children. In the case of young children, if sitting for long hours seems to be a problem, then you can consider introducing them to movement-based meditation like yoga as a way to improve concentration.
1.4 Tips for Teens
With teens, meditation is more of a tool that helps in screening out the ‘unnecessary noise’. It instead assists in connecting with their body, mind, and soul. It helps them manage their emotions better by adapting to stressful situations, thereby proving to be one of the most beneficial tips to improve concentration.
Teens can be encouraged to start with 5-10 minutes every day and increase the frequency with time. Along with deep breathing, they can also try exploring their senses. It can also be beneficial to know that there are various apps, books, online training, videos, etc available that help children learn to meditate.
Thus, meditation can be started from or before the preschool age and parents can help them with it by guiding and joining them in this journey of calmness and self-awareness.
2. Exercise
Research suggests that exercise is one of the most effective activities to improve attention and concentration in children. Students who are physically fit tend to have better concentration compared to those that are less active. However, exercise is effective only when children get frequent opportunities to stay active physically.
Due to this, many schools these days are consciously putting in efforts to encourage their students to participate in various extracurricular activities. If you check out Buzzapp, a school search platform, you can easily explore and find the schools that lay equal emphasis on academic and extra-academic achievements.
2.1 How does exercise act as a way of improving concentration?
Many times children find it difficult to concentrate on their studies due to a lack of oxygen levels in the blood. This leads to decreased ability to learn and retain new information causing hindrance in learning.
However, when kids are exposed to physical activity or exercise, the oxygen flow to the brain increases leading to improved concentration and focus. In fact, it is also observed that intense aerobics or cardio exercise assists in the growth of new brain cells, proving to be advantageous activities for concentration and memory.
3. Solving crossword puzzles
Concentration increases with practice. And, solving crossword puzzles is one of the best activities to improve attention and concentration as they can be significantly good for brain health.
Many experts believe that crosswords can strengthen memory to the point that they can be even beneficial for people suffering from or at risk for Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Children who constantly challenge themselves while solving crossword puzzles are exposed to various cognitive benefits. To maximize the benefits, you increase the difficulty level of the puzzle and ask your child to keep reducing the time required to solve these puzzles.
Thus, solving crossword puzzles can be a highly beneficial way of improving concentration and the overall strength of your child’s brain.
4. Reading long books
Like any other muscle of the body, your brain requires a workout too. Reading long books works as a good workout for the brain. It stimulates important areas of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.
These areas have a direct impact on the concentration, attention, and decision-making ability of a person. This is especially true when reading long books, mostly fiction as it requires a person to remain focussed on the story and its various characters with names.
To remain connected with the story, one is also expected to remember all details and sequences of events and plots. And, when the brain tries to retain new information or make a new memory, it creates new synapses making itself more powerful.
Thus, while reading long books, the brain is trained to remain focused for a long period. And, this is what is required for concentrating on studies.
Experts suggest that short reading sessions every day is one of the most helpful ways to improve concentration and memory in children. Rather than spending long hours just once or twice a week, children must opt for short sessions of 20-30 minutes daily to improve concentration.
5. Pattern Activities
Patterns are one of the most engaging and fun-filled activities for improving concentration and attention in children. This game helps in developing observation skills and maths skills in children by identifying and creating patterns.
Patterns are everywhere. And, once your child starts recognizing patterns, they can easily predict what comes next in the sequence. If your child is a beginner, you can start with simple patterns. And once he masters this, you can proceed to more intricate patterns.
Teaching patterns helps children develop their reasoning skills and make logical connections. When kids are allowed to create their own patterns, it enriches their understanding of various areas like arts and design, communication and language, and how the world works around them.
Conclusion
Some kids are indeed born with an exceptional memory and pass with flying colors even after putting in very little effort. However, with the above-mentioned activities to improve attention and concentration, you can also help your child train their brain to memorize more and learn better.