Brain Games for Students

 Educators that are well seasoned take advantage of building curiosity and the willingness to perform or being called the smart one from a very early age.

Fun games that keep students brains engaged and busy do not exist for teachers to catch a breath while the students solve puzzles, but it is an added bonus.

The main reason and importance of having such activities go beyond surface level information we had before.

The brain begins to mature even before birth. Although it continues to mature throughout most of life, the brain does not mature at the same rate in each individual.

This should not be surprising. After all, our bodies grow at different rates, we reach puberty at different ages and our emotional maturity at different times as well. Why should our brains be any different?

Just because you have a classroom full of students who are about the same age doesn't mean they are equally ready to learn a particular topic, concept, skill, or idea. It is important for teachers and parents to understand that maturation of the brain influences learning readiness. For teachers, this is especially important when designing lessons and selecting which strategies to use.

As a teacher, all children need to be challenged and nurtured in order to profit from your instruction. Instruction that is above or below the maturity level of a child's brain is not only inappropriate; it can also lead to behavior problems in your classroom. Inappropriate behaviors such as avoidance, challenging authority and aggression towards other students can be explained by a failure to match instruction to brain maturity of your students.

You should also know that all brain functions do not mature at the same rate. A young child with highly advanced verbal skills may develop gross and fine motor control more slowly and have trouble learning to write clearly. Another child may be advanced physically but not know how to manage his/her social skills. Others may be cognitively advanced but show emotional immaturity.

For all of these reasons, it is important to understand how our brains mature as well as the differences that may be present at each stage of "normal" development.

But let us veer away from the text book for a minute and gauge the realistic advantages educators and teachers will have if they add challenging brain games into the curriculum without taking away the essence of them being just a game for the children.

Number 1:    They offer opportunities for early learning.

Even simple games help young players identify colors, count spaces, and develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity in moving cards and pieces around the board. Plus, learning to wait your turn and follow the rules are important lessons that serve kids far beyond the living room floor.

Number 2: They get older kids' brains buzzing, too.

Board games are an easy way to encourage healthy brain development in older kids and teens. “Strategy games are useful in helping the frontal lobes of the brain develop,” says Beatrice Tauber Prior, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist, author, and owner of the private practice Harborside Wellbeing. Those frontal lobes are responsible for executive function skills, which include planning, organizing, and making good decisions.

Number 3: They boost their language skills.

Board games can be a sneaky way of helping school-aged kids work on skills they’re struggling with. Have a reluctant reader? A round of BOB Books Happy Hats Beginning Reading Game will help them expand their vocabulary and flex their spelling skills.

Meanwhile, games in which players have to remember several pieces of information at once who did what, and where might help a child who’s having trouble with reading comprehension all while still having fun.

Number 4: They sharpen your child's focus.

Board games, when played without interruptions, can help lengthen a child's attention span. But to reap the benefits, everyone needs to commit to seeing the game through to the end.

If your family sits down for a game of Chinese checkers, be sure to complete a full game without everyone checking their phone, asking Alexa to play a song, or turning on the TV for the latest football scores, adds Prior. Finishing a board game without interruptions will help lengthen the declining attention span of kids in a world filled with digital distractions.

Number 5: They teach the value of teamwork.

Board games often offer kids meta-messages about life: Your luck can change in an instant, for better or for worse. But in addition to teaching them that nothing is guaranteed, board games are a good way to encourage kids of different ages to team up and work together something they'll need to do throughout life. Form teams of older kids working with their younger siblings, or choose a game like The Brainiac Game or Race Across the USA, which have questions tailored to grades 1-6, so everyone’s challenged fairly.

Number 6: Board games are an alternative to time out.

The next time you find yourself going through a rough patch with one of your kids, consider playing a board game together instead of sending them to their room. “I often use board games as a mechanism to work on the parent-child relationship,” explains Regine Galanti, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and professor at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in New York City. They can also be used to increase frustration tolerance in a child.

In other words, taking turns and practicing patience during a game  even when things don't go their way can help little ones practice more respectful responses than stomping off and slamming their bedroom door shut.

Number 7: Board games soothe anxiety.

They may help anxious kids learn how to navigate friendships more easily. “Because they're structured, board games can provide an easier way to build interpersonal relationships with peers, since the child knows what's expected of them, says Galanti. For kids who struggle with striking up conversations with others, Galanti recommends games that promote structured opportunities for chatter, such as guessing games.

Number 8: They show kids how to be a good loser.

If you're playing with a child who has low frustration tolerance, and losing is really difficult for them, allowing them to break the rules at first can make the game more tolerable and fun for them.

But your goal should be to purposely play by the rules and encourage them to use coping skills and promote resilience when things don't go their way.

For instance, you might say: "I'm so proud of you for staying calm even though you picked a card you didn't like. I hope next time you pick a good one!"

Number 9: Board games are a great way to unplug.

The lack of technology required to play board games makes them special. They are a simple way to get quality, screen-free time with the kids and you might be surprised by how much they love playing.

Families are struggling to find the balance between digital and real-life connections, but board games provide a tool for that emotional connection to each other. Order pizza and make it a way to celebrate the start of the weekend together!

Now that we know what the real benefits brain games hold, here is a list of some of the most effective brain games not only for teachers but even parents can try at home.

1: Blocks

Blocks have been the most basic brain games for kids since the beginning of time and have remained a constant in the ‘toy-sphere’  and there’s a good reason why.

Expose your child to blocks of different colours and sizes and that’s it! Let your child explore the blocks and let their imagination run wild.

All aspects of your child’s development are exposed including shape/colour recognition, creativity, spatial awareness, and so much more.

2: I spy games

Classic games such as ‘I spy with my little eye…’, ‘Simon Says’ and scavenger hunts are fun brain sharpening games.

These types of brain development games help your children to follow instructions, enhance attention, develop language and increases their spatial awareness. Books like “Where’s Waldo?” are great for children and adults, finding a targeted item in a cluttered environment helps enhance your child’s cognitive systems.

Scavenger hunts can be easily customized and can keep your children occupied for hours!

 3:        Brain teasing Puzzles

Puzzles can be fun for the whole family! They are a great way to develop your child’s spatial perception, coordination, problem-solving, cognitive skills and fine motor skills proving puzzles to be awesome games for brain development.

There are many different kinds of puzzles to choose from, tangrams and board puzzles for younger children, and older children and adults can indulge in Scrabble, Sudoku, crosswords, logic puzzles and even Rubik’s cubes! At any age, puzzles are sure-fire brain teasers!

4:        Obstacle Courses — Jump, skip, run and hop!

Obstacle courses are easy to set up and one of the best mind games for kids. You can set one up right in your living room.

Create simple obstacle courses using household supplies, increase the complexity with creative obstacles for older kids.

Obstacle courses help enhance your child’s gross motor, visual perception, motor planning, coordination, problem-solving, critical thinking and language skills.

There are so many versions of obstacle courses! Here are some items you can use to create an obstacle course indoors: pillows, chairs, tables, cushions, sofa, tables, storage boxes, string, paper, balls, hula hoops.

5:        Storytelling – Once upon a time…

Storytelling helps prompt a different brain development compared to what children gain when listening to a story or reading a picture book.

Storytelling requires for your child to pay attention and focus for a long period of time.

They also help their memory, as they have to keep track of the story characters, the sequence of events and what’s going to happen next.

Storytelling also helps develop your child’s language, vocabulary and confidence! Each story requires them to make connections and articulate them.

Children at the age of six are developing self-confidence and independence; stories are a great way for them to express their feelings and emotions in a positive manner.

Teacher RockStar Academy

After nearly a year I am proud to announce Teacher RockStar Academy. It is a course that I created to enhance the training of new teachers, it's ideal for student teachers as well, and perfect for the teacher returning back to the classroom after an extended absence. This course will supercharge your classroom management skills and establish your credibility among your students, parents and peers. Click HERE to take advantage of this presale opportunity and grab your FREE gift today! 

Community Building Activities for Children in Grades K-8

The biggest achievement for any teacher is when they have every student in their class involved in collaborative group activities and perform as a team when given a challenge.

While new teachers struggle with these practices and ways to get every student in the class on the same page. Having such harmony has everlasting benefits as well, it teaches students the value of teamwork, they learn to respect the differences and understand their abilities as well as the strong points of their peers.

The problem presents a big question mark and leaves many teachers with a headache. And here’s why.

The resources allocated by schools for extracurricular activities that make a huge part of this practice, also play a vital role, and the permission by school administration to teachers on how much they can add or take from their instruction to make time for collaborative activities. But these should not stop teachers from fostering student collaboration and teamwork, thus making the future of their students better.

Now that we understand the issues we’re addressing today, let us take a moment to discuss the benefits in detail and why these practices should be considered important for a classroom setting.

As students learn more about each other through team builders, their trust and comfort level with their classmates will improve. This can help make each student more vested in group projects and tasks since they not only want to do well themselves, but they want to help their classmates succeed as well.

Another big benefit in my opinion and experience is the ability to communicate, and it is a skill that can make or break you in your adult life; the more you excel at communication, chances of success also elevate. At an early age, when students practice the skill of communication the environment of the class gets better, they get better at delivering ideas and develop the ability to understand other’s point of view.

Now that we have established the idea let us move towards the fun and engaging community-building exercises you can perform even in a virtual classroom. I’m going to discuss several things that you can do, it’s by no means an exhaustive list, but should get you on your way.

Let’s start with the classic techniques that work every time and move towards best practices you can use in your virtual classroom these days.

The human knot:

The Human Knot is a classic team-building game, to practice this game, Have your students stand in a circle, holding hands. Now, students have to untangle themselves by walking in between students in front of them, going over or under locked hands. They can also go between other students’ legs. They have to make a knot keeping their hands locked to the other students. Now, two other students need to work together and give instructions to the human knot. They have to find a way to untangle it.

Such a challenge will make your students think before they act, they will have to share their ideas and have to listen to their peers to solve the puzzle. The best part is, they can not rush their way out of it, and a single student cannot free themselves while others maintain the position.

Escape the classroom:

Create an “escape the classroom” game. Students will have to work together in groups to escape the classroom. They have to look for clues and codes on their computer and in the classroom. Scavenger hunts, breakout games, or escape the classroom games encourage students to work together: planning a strategy, divvying up tasks, and communicating progress.

Story Time:

Gather your students in a circle and give each student a picture of an animal, object, place; you could also give each student a certain emoji, such as a snail, a church, skis, a dancer, a baby, and so on.

Now, start a story by creating an introduction of your own. The next student goes further on the previous storyline and adds an extra narrative with the picture they’re holding. This process continues until you reach the last student. Together, you created a very complex and creative story. Every student took part in the story. This game is ideal for promoting communication, as well as creative collaboration.

This activity also promotes their creative thinking and imagination to create scenarios and think outside the box; it starts to reflect in their creative writing and speech assignments soon.

Get on the chair: (only after really knowing your kids)

For this classroom team-building game, students need to be flexible and balanced. Provide a chair for every student. All the chairs should be lined up on one single line. Every student stands on a chair. Now, the teacher asks them to go stand in a certain order. For example: “I want you to organize yourselves from old to young.” The students now have to change places without touching the ground.

With this team-building exercise, the students get to know each other better in an interactive way. The teacher can give other directions like: “from tall to small.” or “from A to Z.” Every time, the students have to change their positions without pushing someone off the chairs. Working together is crucial. If you want to make it more challenging, you can set a time limit.

It should be performed in complete supervision and should only be done once students are comfortable being close to each other and have the physical characteristics to perform the task.

The Ball Game:

It is a simple yet effective community building game for students in a new class, all you need is a tennis ball, ask your students to stand in a circle and give the tennis ball to one student; their task is to throw it to another person in the circle and say their name as they throw it. The person they throw it to then needs to throw it to another person in the circle, also saying their name as they throw it. Once all students have learned everyone’s name and mastered this step, it is time to up the difficulty of this task.

Now, instead of saying the name of the person they are throwing the ball to, students need to say the name of the person that should get the ball next. For example, if Student A throws the ball to Student B, they would say the name of Student C, the person Student B needs to throw the ball to.

It promotes teamwork since there is no individual winning; if the ball drops on the ground or a student says the wrong name, the team loses, so they will have to work as a team to win as a team.

Crossing the Line:

To start this activity, you will need colored tape to mark a line in the center of the classroom. This team builder is designed to help students learn more about their classmates and feel more comfortable sharing personal information about themselves. To start the activity, create a line using a tape down the center of the room. You can have students pick some topics/categories they are curious to learn about each other, or you may select the topics yourself.

For each topic, ask a related question to students that they can answer by crossing the line or staying on one side of it. For example, if the topic is video games, you can ask students if they play more than 4 hours of video games each week. If students answered yes to that question, they would cross the line. You or the other students in the class can ask questions to the students who crossed the line, such as “What is your favorite game?” or “What gaming system do you have?”

As students begin to get more comfortable with the activity, the questions asked should begin to get deeper and more personal. One question you might ask could be, “Do you ever doubt yourself?” When asking deeper questions, you want to be sure to give students more time to process the question and decide if they want to cross the line.

With the deeper questions, encourage other students to ask a question that works towards helping all the students in the class feel more comfortable with one another and developing solutions for potential problems. For example, with the question above, another student may ask someone who crossed the line what they could do to help them improve their self-confidence.

Virtual Classroom Jobs:

In distant learning as we have today and I speculate it will continue to be around for a time even after we get back to normal.

We can also develop a virtual classroom community by creating online student jobs, ways for students who are helpers to contribute. They can be voluntary roles, and not all students would have to take a job, but we could at least make sure the jobs are offered to all students at some point.

Online classroom jobs are best when they enhance what we are already doing but when they are not completely essential to the way the class runs. Because! Kids can forget. A few other things to consider would be, How will you assign the jobs? How long will students have them? Where will you display the jobs?

Here is an example, maybe a classroom librarian helps to organize the digital classroom bookshelf. A motivation leader could post weekly inspiration for the class on your daily agenda or learning management system. A discussion director could help to keep conversations building productively. A book talker could share first lines or snippets from high-interest books during classroom meetings. A vocabulary master could be in charge of making sure at least one of the week’s vocabulary words is used in conversation.

Think about things you would ideally like to do, but if they don’t get done, the world won’t end. Things that would enhance learning and extend students’ leadership or academic skills.

Promote Kindness:

When we take time to do something kind for someone else, it helps us to deal with any pain we are currently experiencing. Loneliness, depression, anxiety – during COVID-19, people are experiencing a wide range of emotions. When we don’t regularly interact with other people in person, it can leave a void.

In order to build a virtual classroom community and lift some spirits, we can pose kindness challenges. Students can complete these via email, during meetings, or on a learning management system. Schoology, Seesaw, Google Classroom, and many other technology platforms have features that allow students to post and view content.

Students can complement a classmate by writing a thank you letter or email, share an inspirational quote or uplifting paragraph from a book.

smile and laugh during meetings – it’s contagious!

They can contribute an idea that will help solve a problem or make e-Learning more efficient, make Play-Doh presents, have students mold a gift they would give to their peers if they could see them in person.

Include Parents in your virtual learning community

A virtual classroom community is healthier when parents are involved. We want parents to be our partners, our cheerleaders, and our reinforcers. Including parents in the learning process doesn’t have to be hard!

Consider Using a program like Remind, Class Dojo, or Seesaw in which parents can create an account and see all of the assignments, due dates, and notifications from you.

Sending home a weekly newsletter or posting updates on your website so that parents are aware of the big learning goals and executive functioning tasks for the week.

Inviting parents to listen to recorded lessons so they can help their children at home

Asking parents to be guest speakers to talk about how they use reading and/or writing in the workplace. Send home a Google Form with questions that will help to give parents a voice in their child’s learning process.

Of course, some students don’t have parents at home who have time to be a large part of their child’s educational experience. So, whatever we do to include parents, we need to be mindful of those students who don’t have unlimited support at home as well as those parents who are already stretched thin and can’t add another thing on their plates.

Remember, building community in a classroom is not an affair that stays in the class after your students head home; it’s a practice that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

How to create an engaging lesson for students

It is very likely that you have found yourself in the middle of a discussion where people are not being completely attentive, it makes us cringe almost and when we know we are telling something important we want their attention.

Kids aren't a whole lot different than adults: If they aren't absorbed by what's going on, they'll find something else that interests them.

As a teacher, Getting all your students focused, eager, and on task at the beginning of class is challenging enough. Equally problematic, once you have them locked in to the lesson, is watching them zone out. There's nothing unusual about that. After all, anyone who has to sit through a long routine is bound to drift off at some point.

Still, unless you manage to capture and keep students' focus, whether at the beginning of or midway through class, the engine of student learning that you are trying to drive simply isn't even in gear.

I often see teachers with the same question and yet no exact answer about how they can get their students to pay attention or, for the sake of discussion, how teachers can make their lessons more engaging for students.

If you are a primary grade teacher, you must have asked this question or might be looking for an answer right now. But do you know where this and all the other questions are answered?

I have listed 10 ways your learning methods can become more fun and engaging for your class.

Number 1. Start Class with a Brain Warm-Up

A classic warm-up is to ask students to find the mistakes planted in material written on the board. You can use this idea in any subject area. But instead of asking them to work silently and alone, and then debrief in a classic question-and-answer session with one student at a time while many sit inattentively, use a mix of collaboration and competition to eliminate what could potentially become dead time.

Organize teams of three students and ask them to work together quietly and raise their hands when they think they have found all the mistakes. After the first team signals it's done, give a bit more time and then have teams indicate with their fingers together on the count of three the number of mistakes they found in the work. The team that found the most describes its answers until another team disagrees politely or until they are finished.

Number 2. Use Movement to Get Kids Focused

Ask all students to stand behind their desks and join in simple choreographed physical movement. Because most kids find it invigorating and it's easy to monitor full participation, it may become one of your favorite ways to get kids focused and kill dead time.

For the primary grades: Teach hand-clapping patterns to accompany a chanted verse or a set of math facts. Add foot stomping or hand clapping with a partner to create variety.

For the middle grades: Create a rhythm with finger snapping and hand clapping, which you model and they echo back. Vary the rhythm and pattern in intervals of 15-20 seconds to challenge them to pay attention and join in.

For any grade, including high school: Offer a seventh-inning stretch, or the cross crawl. To do the cross crawl, stand up and begin marching in place, raising the knees really high. As you raise the left knee, reach across your body with your right hand and touch the left knee.

Then do the same for the left hand on the right knee. Continue this pattern for a minute or more. You can also vary it by, say, having kids clap their hands over their heads between each set of knee touches.

Number 3. Teach Students How to Collaborate Before Expecting Success

Doing project learning and other team-based work without prior training / modeling can lead to lots of dead time. You can nip much of it in the bud by teaching collaboration skills before projects get started. You don't need to use an activity related to your subject area to teach teamwork.

One way is to give teams of students a pair of scissors, two sheets of paper, ten paper clips, and a 10-inch piece of tape, and ask them to build the tallest free-standing tower in 20 minutes.

Prior to the activity, create a teamwork rubric with students, which reviews descriptions of desired norms and behaviors. While half of the teams are building the towers, have the other half of the students stand around them in a circular "fishbowl" as silent observers.

Debrief afterward, and train the observers to give a positive comment before a critical one: "I liked that they [blank], and I wonder if they could have also [blank]." Switch the observers with the tower builders and see if they can do better, then debrief again.

Number 4. Use Quickwrites When You Want Quiet Time and Student Reflection

When interest is waning in your presentations, or you want to settle students down after a noisy teamwork activity, ask them to do a quickwrite, or short journal-writing assignment.

For primary-grade students: Ask, "What was most interesting about today’s science lesson? Or what was confusing about the math lesson?

For intermediate-grade students and above: Try prompts such as Summarize what you have heard? Predict an exam or quiz question I could ask based on this material. Defend one of the positions taken during the prior discussion. Or you can come up with your on depending on the class and subject you are teaching.

Teachers often avoid giving this type of assignment because assessing them regularly can be overwhelming. Manage this load by having students use a green or other color pen to circle one entry from the week you guarantee you will read.

Occasionally, have them write a few sentences next to their entry explaining why they want you to read that particular one. Let them know that you will read the passages marked in green and that, time permitting, you might read the rest.

Number 5. Run a Tight Ship When Giving Instructions

Preventing dead time is especially important when giving instructions. There are a lot of great ways to ask for your students' attention, but many succeed or fail based on how demanding you are of the final outcome.

Whichever method you use, before you begin speaking, it is critical to require (1) total silence, (2) complete attention, and (3) all eyes on you.

When you introduce this routine to students, do it five times in a row: Announce that in a moment, you will briefly let them talk among themselves, and then you'll give them a signal you can count out loud from one to three, ring a bell, and so on and wait until they are perfectly ready for you to speak.

In the first two weeks after starting this routine, remind students often what's expected. To hold everyone accountable for listening the entire time, make it clear that you will never repeat your instructions after you have finished going over them.

Number 6. Use a Fairness Cup to Keep Students Thinking

The more you can manage your classroom to be a supportive environment, where students are encouraged to take risks without fear of being put down or teased, the easier it will be to use your fairness cup regularly, without feeling that you are setting students up for failure.

Write each student's name on a Popsicle stick and put the sticks in a cup. To keep students on their toes, pull a random stick to choose someone to speak or answer a question. Important: When you begin using your fairness cup, prepare a range of questions, some of which all your students can successfully answer. This strategy allows the bottom third of your class to get involved and answer questions without being put on the spot.

Number 7. Use Signaling to Allow Everyone to Answer Your Question

To help ensure that all students are actively thinking, regularly ask questions to which everyone must prepare at least one answer -- letting them know you expect an answer. Then wait for all students to signal they are ready.

For example, in math, you could ask, "How many ways can you figure out 54-17 in your head? or, to review a presentation, ask, "How many key points of this presentation are you prepared to describe?"

By asking questions that allow for multiple answers or explanations, you are differentiating instruction; everyone is expected to come up with at least one answer, but some may come up with more.

To convey the number of answers, students can use sign language, such as holding a hand to the chest so their hands aren't visible to their neighbors and displaying one or more fingers to represent how many answers they have. This technique precludes students from bragging about how many ideas they thought of or how quickly they are ready. You can then call on volunteers who want to share their answers with the rest of the class.

Number 8. Use Minimal-Supervision Tasks to Squeeze Dead Time out of Regular Routines

Tasks that require minimal supervision add purposeful activity during moments that might normally revert to dead time. They come in handy when passing out papers, working with a small group of students, handling an unforeseen interruption, addressing students who didn't do their homework, or providing work to those who have finished an assignment before others.

While you pass out papers, ask students to do a quickwrite or to pair up and quiz each other on vocabulary words. Also, train students to fess up if they didn't do their homework. That way, during class homework review, these students won't automatically be wasting time. Instead, they'll immediately move to these prearranged minimal supervision tasks.

For example, you can ask them to study a review sheet, summarize a reading passage, read the day's assignment ahead of time, or create and study vocabulary words or other content. You might find students suddenly doing their homework more often rather than face this extra work. 

Number 9. Mix up Your Teaching Styles

To keep students involved and on their toes, try to move from teacher-centered learning to student-centered active learning, and vice versa.

Here's how: Introduce a presentation by having students pair up, talk to each other about their prior knowledge of the presentation, and generate a list of four questions for which they'll want to know the answers. Make quick rounds to remind all students to stay on task.

To encourage active listening, provide students with a list of important questions in advance. Interrupt the presentation with a quickwrite, and then have students "pair-share" by asking them to compare their entries with a neighbor. Pull sticks from your fairness cup to choose pairs of students to present their thoughts to the class.

Number 10. Create Teamwork Tactics That Emphasize Accountability

By insisting that students "ask three before me," you make it clear that they are expected to seek assistance from all members of their team before they turn to you.

Here's how: To reinforce this rule, when a student on a team wants to ask you a question, you, the teacher, always ask another person on the team whether she knows what the question is. If she doesn't, politely walk away, and the team will quickly understand what you expect.

Another way to emphasize accountability might be to say, "When you think your team is done with the task, find me within 30 seconds and tell me." This strategy shifts the accountability to the team for being on task.