Activities to Help Kids Focus

Are you looking for activities to help kids focus?

Great ways to help kids focus

In a world full of constant distractions and endless activity, how do we help our children to intentionally develop

the ability to focus? Focus is like a muscle that needs to be nurtured and used in order to become stronger.

Our kids have various demands in their daily lives that require focus and concentration skills – school is the main activity that requires both short term and long term focus. At the same time, there are so many outside influences that distract children and encourage a lack of focus.

Social media, excessive screen time and activity can all contribute to short attention spans and a lack of concentration or focus. These activities train the brain to seek constant stimulation and do not support “down time” in a child’s mind.

There are a few simple things we can do to provide opportunities for our children to develop strong focus skills and counteract some of the over-stimulation they are exposed to in everyday life.

6 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Attention

1. Plan for nothing! Yep, that’s what I said…have time in your week to do nothing. Unplanned and unscheduled free time. Let children develop their creative thinking skills to find a way to use free time that does not involve electronic devices.

2. Minimize multi-tasking – In a world that constantly rewards doing multiple tasks at once, try to encourage your child to focus on one task at a time. Give them the space and time to focus on a single activity, chore or project. Try to avoid giving a list of multiple tasks at the same time.

3. Practice mindfulness and breathing – encourage your child to be in the moment and to focus on what’s around them. Take a few minutes to be “quiet” and to observe their surroundings – sound, sight and touch.Incorporate taking a few deep breaths, feeling the air fill their lungs and exhaling all of the stressors of the day!

4. Build concentration skills – using games is a great way to build concentration skills. Kids think they are just having fun but you are actually helping them build a valuable (and much needed) skill.Concentration games such as board games, puzzles, memory games, word searches, and crosswords are excellent ways to build concentration and focus while being disguised as fun!

5. Build in breaks – use the concept of “chunking” time when doing activities that require focus. Make an intentional effort to insert breaks into activities that require focus. Don’t expect that kids will immediately be able to focus for long periods of time.Start small and build on your child’s ability to concentrate for a longer stretch of time. Dance, stretch, make a healthy snack – break up activities that require concentration into smaller chunks of time by providing breaks every so often.

Every child is different, so paying attention to their initial focus or attention span threshold is important. For some children it may be 5 minutes while others may focus for 20-30 minutes without needing a break.

6. Take note of the level of challenge in an activity – be sure to take note of activities that are challenging for your child. Difficult activities may require time limits or a balance with easy activities so your child doesn’t get frustrated.Frustration will lead to a lack of interest and focus, so ensuring that your child doesn’t experience too much difficulty or find activities too easy will help to keep them engaged and focused.

Helpful Tools To Improve Your Child’s Focus and Attention

Helping your child improve their focus does not have to be a daunting task, it can be fun and easy! Below are some tools we recommend to help you.

Magnetic Activity Chart – keep track of the number of activities your child is involved in. Are there too many or too little activities going on? Get your child involved in using the activity chart to help plan and stay focused on the priorities of the day/week.

Chore Charts – keep your child focused on one activity at a time and minimize multi-tasking using these colorful and Chore Charts. These Chore Charts are digital and can be downloaded and printed on demand, keeping your children organized, focused and feeling accomplished!

Positive Mindset Pack for Kids – provide opportunities to reflect, practice mindfulness, rest your mind and body and de-stress.

Focus Stamina-building Activities – build stamina by introducing activities that are fun but also require focus and attention.

• Perler Beads – check out the Perler Bead craft projects
• Activity Packs – check out the holiday-themed activity packs that include coloring pages, crossword puzzles, word searches, memory games and more!

Supporting our children in developing their focus and attention requires us to counteract many of the influences and distractions in their daily lives.

Still, we can find ways to infuse the practice of focus and concentration in fun and creative play or activities.