Young students playing Simon Says
Playing for success
Several parents believe that early reading, flash cards and language tapes make children successful in the future by boosting their learning. However, ongoing research reveals that childhood games such as Freeze Tag, and Simon Says are the ones that will actually make children successful.
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These games need a high amount of attention, rules to be remembered and applied, and they also require self control. These qualities are considered to be a stepping stone to success. By encouraging your child to play childhood games, it would help in leading them towards a more productive and meaningful future.
Making it work
Oregon State University researchers discovered that the key to making games a tool for education is to start off with a simple game, and to add on rules every now and then to make it more complicated. This specific use of childhood games make children successful. This method allows the mind to increase its capacity to remember certain things and focus on more things at the same time. This slow build up of rules is what makes children use their minds at higher levels.
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The New York Times gives us an example: “Oregon researchers have developed a game called Head-to-Toes, which they use to assess preschool children’s development. Initially, the child copies the teacher’s movements, touching her head or toes. But later, the child is expected to do the opposite, touching her toes when the teacher touches her head.” With this use of memory, and rules, it is obvious how games make children successful.
Childhood games boost learning
How to learn
Ellen Galinsky, a child development researcher says that parents often put too much focus on what a child knows, and how many facts a child can memorize rather than teaching their child how to learn. Focusing on how to learn, and what skills to use to learn is the most important tool your child can have. This will make learning easy and fun for your child in the future. Being able to remember rules, having self control and longer attention span will be essential to your child.
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Do you agree with this article about childhood games? What is your opinion about childhood games compared to other methods? We’d love to hear from you! Here is a related video on how to make your baby a genius:
