Brain Gym exercises for children play a vital role in their cognitive and physical development. Just like a body needs physical engagement to grow and develop so does the brain. Your baby might not need to exercise physically, but he surely needs some brain exercises for mental growth. Brain gym exercises at an early age can help your child tremendously.
These activities stimulate various regions of the brain, enhancing concentration, memory, and coordination. By incorporating movement, they promote active learning, reduce stress, and improve academic performance. Brain Gym exercises also foster social skills, creativity, and overall brain health, setting children up for success in their educational journey.
In This Article
What Are Brain Gym Exercises?
Brain gym exercises are simple tasks that help to stimulate brain activity and keep the mind engaged. Just like when you exercise you engage and strengthen core muscles, brain exercises stimulate blood flow to the brain and increase oxygen supply to the brain. Brain gym exercises release stress, and enhance learning and development, while effectively engaging the brain. Not only younger kids, but even older kids and adults can benefit from these effective yet simple brain gym exercises.
Here, we bring you 10 simple brain gym exercises for your child that will help your child develop good motor skills, memory and ensure effective brain development.
Top 10 Brain Gym Exercises For Children?
Children gain greatly from Brain Gym Exercises. These activities strengthen memory, attention, and information processing, improving academic achievement. They enhance balance, coordination, and fine motor abilities. Brain Gym activities soothe students and alleviate tension. They increase creativity and problem-solving by activating both hemispheres. These activities boost self-confidence, social skills, and collaboration. Brain Gym improves brain health by increasing blood flow, oxygen, and synaptic connections. These advantages promote children’s overall growth and achievement.
Following are the top 10 brain gym exercises for children:
1. Cross Crawl
Cross crawl is a simple exercise that can be done while sitting or standing. Ask the child to touch his left elbow to his right knee and then the right elbow to his left knee. This exercise is most effective when done slowly. Cross crawls help with the bilateral integration of the left and right brain and also energize the body.
2. Number 8
This is one of the simplest brain exercises for your kid but effective nonetheless. Ask your child to draw the number 8 on a book or a piece of paper repeatedly. It should be drawn with a loose hand and freely. Drawing this figure relaxes the mind and loosens up tense muscles.
3. Draw With The Other Hand
Another simpler brain exercise is to ask the child to draw with his non-dominant hand. If the child is right-handed ask him to draw with his left and if the child is left-handed ask him to draw with his right. Remember this has to be a fun activity so let the child draw whatever he wants and however he can.
4. Brain Buttons
Ask the child to lightly press his head (between the hairline and the eyebrows) and then close their eyes and breathe. You can instruct the child to breathe in deeply and then breathe out. In between also ask the child to take a 5-second pause and then breathe in deeply. This is a rejuvenating exercise that even adults can do occasionally.
5. Hook-ups
For hook-ups ask the child to sit in a comfortable position and then ask him to cross his left ankle over his right. Stretch the arms and cross them and interlace the fingers. Then ask the child to bring his hand to his chest and keep still and breathe deeply for a minute. Hooks up help the nervous system to calm down and relax.
6. Memory Games
Simple games like memory games can serve as an effective brain exercise. You can bring out all the toys your kids have lay them on the floor, ask the child to close his eyes and remove a couple of toys and ask the child to find out which toy is missing. This will stimulate memory function and brain activity.
7. Board Games
Board games such as checkers, monopoly, etc can be quite stimulating as well. You can bring out the good old ludo, carom, or even the chess board and can play with the kids. A competitive atmosphere and a challenging game can be great brain gym exercises for all the members of the family, kids included.
8. Scissor Jumps
Jumping exercises are quite effective to promote brain functions. If you have access to a trampoline ask your kid to jump on it and while jumping ask him to cross his arms and legs. You can even do it without a trampoline just ask your kids to jump a little higher. This exercise promotes sensory development and good motor skills.
9. Puzzles
Another great exercise would be to solve puzzles. Buy a puzzle that is suitable for your child’s age and sit down with the kid and help him or her solve it. It could be as simple as matching objects and as tricky as creating a picture. Choose the puzzle appropriate for your child’s age, do not tax the child by undertaking difficult puzzles.
10. Nesting And Block Pattern Toys
Nesting toys and building blocks are easily available in the market. Encourage your child to build block patterns like making a pyramid or a cubicle this will stimulate their brain and encourage them to come up with different patterns on their own. You can also buy come nesting toys that fit inside each other, dismantle them and ask the child to put them back together. This might look simple but is an excellent exercise for kids.
In summary, Brain Gym exercises offer a wide range of benefits that positively impact children’s cognitive abilities, physical coordination, emotional well-being, and social skills.
FAQ’s
1. What Is The Brain Gym Technique?
Simple exercises that increase cognitive function are known as brain gym techniques. These techniques assist children to improve their learning, communication skills, attention, memory, academic achievement, and overall health.
2. Which Brain Gym Technique Do You Use To Calm Children Down?
Hook-Ups is a brain gym technique that aims to soothe children’s nervous systems and ease their bodies. By connecting the body’s electrical circuits, these exercises can help release blocked energy caused by tension.
