Before doing activities to support children’s intelligence, you should create a comfortable environment for children during their development.
In a sense, create a close and positive relationship with children, especially toddlers.
They tend to feel comfortable when they can get love from their parents through reassurance and positive responses to their needs, one of which is food.
Quoting from Keys to Enhancing Brain Development in Young Children, children’s development will increase when parents respond when children give cues asking for support and attention.
Now, after you can build a comfortable environment for children, the following activities can help stimulate children’s brain intelligence more deeply, especially for those aged 1-5 years.
Reading books to improve children’s brain intelligence
Reading is one of the best ways to enhance a child’s brain development.
Even before children can recognize letters or words, reading can stimulate language and communication skills in them.
When you read a book to a toddler, choose a book with pictures that he likes.
Then, only read a book if your child seems interested in it. Don’t forget to involve children by asking open-ended questions while reading.
If necessary, repeat reading the same book to increase the vocabulary collection in children.
For older children, you can ask them to point to a specific picture, such as a house or a cat.
Research also shows that children whose parents read a book for 10 minutes a day from the age of 6 months received more than 300 hours of the type of brain stimulation found in kindergarten.
Play peek-a-boo with children
One of the best games that can build children’s intelligence in their growing period is peek-a-boo.
According to Professor of Pediatrics Jack Shonkoff, without realizing it, by covering your face while playing peek-a-boo, your child is learning.
Repeating the game of peek-a-boo a few times teaches your child that even if you are invisible, you are still there for them.
This game can stimulate the senses in children, build gross motor skills, encourage social development as well as stimulate a sense of humor.
Singing the same song can improve children’s intelligence
A toddler’s brain can be more stimulated by learning from the consistent repetition of an activity.
For example, reading a book as described in the first point and singing the same song over and over again.
It may be boring for an adult or an older child, telling the same thing or sing the same song. However, this is not boring for toddlers.
The reason is, children aged 1-5 years learn through repetition, and this tends to regulate the brain’s neural connections.
In addition, children’s brains tend to be programmed in terms of repeating sounds, patterns, or experiences that provide a sense of comfort.
As a result, repetition activities such as singing are good for helping children’s brain development and are a practical and easy approach to children’s learning.
Involve children in physical activities
According to Northwestern College research findings, a child’s brain development depends on the health of the body, so toddlers need to be involved in sufficient physical activity to keep their bodies fit.
When children are physically active, they unconsciously develop a neurological foundation that can build the structural components of the brain.
The NHS recommends that children under five should spend at least 180 minutes (3 hours) for physical activity, including playing outdoors.
Some physical activities you can try include:
- play with blocks and other objects
- jump
- walk
- dance
- swimming
- play in the park
- climb
- active play, like hide and seek
- throw and catch
- run fast
- ride a bike, and
- skipping.
Involve children in creative art activities to hone creativity
Doing creative arts activities is one of the sensory experiences for toddlers that must be tried.
The reason is, it can hone creativity which is very important for children’s brain development.
These activities will make children explore various existing materials and trigger creativity in developing what can be done with these materials.
Early Learning Instructor Bronwyn Dean provides examples of art activities that parents should avoid giving their children, such as:
- give coloring book,
- provide a pattern or model for children to imitate,
- tell the child what to draw or make,
- expect children to produce something recognizable or make imitations of real objects,
- complete the child’s work so that the results look better.
Instead, some of the sensory art activities that parents should provide include:
- paint directly with fingers,
- draw using jumbo crayons, large chalk, or other tools,
- play plasticine or playdough,
- drawing with a brush, and
- Make a collage by sticking edible ingredients onto a surface such as paper.