Children are facing the havoc of low concentration these days. Because of so many activities surrounding them, so many distractions, children find it difficult to concentrate on one single thought or activity. This in-turn affects their life and their ability to perform. Concentration is a high attribute in an individual’s personality. It helps in observing things around you sharply and enhances your memory. A good concentration level is needed in all the spheres of life. An individual with low concentration problem suffers from bad memory, which leads to under-performance. The capacity to understand, pick up from the environment, retain facts; everything is affected, which ultimately leads to below average results. Concentration levels can be improved from the childhood. If you involve your child into the kind of activities that enhances concentration, then he will grow up to be sharp and quick. These days, children are distracted because of the presence of a lot of technology around them. They play games on i-pads and tablets, instead of actually going out and playing in the parks. They prefer to sit and watch kid’s television than playing the solitary games with blocks and lego. Although, this technology and highly educational television is good for them in more than one way but, there are no doubts in the fact that it is killing their natural instinct to observe and practice concentration. Everything is readily available for them, they do not have to work for it; everything is just a click away, which means that there is absolutely no need for their minds to work hard or think hard over anything. This leads to the mind losing its capacity to comprehend and come up with solutions. This is why scientists and psychologists say that, spending more time on television and computers leads to a dumb child. It also makes children non-social and lethargic. Parents are very concerned about this situation with their children. It is an important concern as it affects the quality of rest of their life. Here are some things you can do to improve the concentration for your children:
Board games improve concentration and are fun to play with. Children love to play them too. So, the best way to make them learn something is to teach them through games. Card games also help in increasing concentration levels. You can teach them to play chess, if they find it to their liking then there is nothing like it that improves mental sharpness and concentration levels.
Story telling also helps improve concentration. You can read a story to your children. Just before reading it, ask them a few questions. This would enhance their attention towards the story, thereby increasing the concentration levels. Once you read something that is also the answer for the question you asked, they will immediately recognize it. What you are doing is helping your kids become active listeners and thereby, improving their concentration.
Missing Numbers is a great concentration game for any child who knows how to count. You count from one to ten, leaving out numbers every so often. When you leave out a number, the child should call out the number you left out. For example, you might go "One, two, three, five," and by the time you're saying "six", your child should have called out "four". This would enhance learning as well attentiveness.
A tricky variation of missing numbers particular game, for older children, involves counting by multiples for example, three, six, nine, twelve, etc and occasionally leaving out one of the multiples. This is also beneficial in improving the attention of the child.
A game of opposites is great for preschool kids. You call out a word and let the child give you the opposite. With young children especially, be sure to pick words they know. It would not only improve their word power, but would also increase their concentration.
Nothing can improve concentration better than a round of tongue twisters. They have a dual purpose. While they enhance the clarity of your voice, with each word spoken clearly, they also improve your concentration. This is because it requires a lot of attention to speak them out clearly.
You can involve your children into observing things around them. Ask them questions about the things they see, the activities happening around them. These questions will help them to connect with the environment around them and they will not feel oblivious to the things, people and spaces surrounding them. By the end of the day, pick something interesting from the whole day’s event, for example some special place you went to and ask questions about it. They will exercise their minds and will get habitual of memorizing their environment form the next time, which will improve their memory sharpness and concentration levels.
Other activities that build concentration include: doing puzzles, drawing pictures, making models, learning karate, and helping with family chores. Your child's teacher will have even more suggestions.