5 Brain Boosting Activities & Challenges for Toddlers & Juniors

Nurturing your baby’s brain is one of the most important things you must focus on as they grow up. Studies have shown that more than 65% of brain growth and development occurs during the first three years of a baby’s life. This is the time when parents should introduce their kids to some brain boosting activities. And in this blog post, we will discuss 10 simple activities your child can do to boost brain development.

Let’s get started.

Brain Boosting Activities for Toddlers

Looking Straight in the Mirror

By having your baby look in the mirror, they will be able to be aware of how they look. Whenever they gaze in the mirror, they start to bond emotionally with what they’re seeing. It won’t take too long before they know that the cute reflection in the mirror is their own!

Also, tell your baby about what they see in the mirror, and encourage them to smile and wave a hand at the cute baby in the mirror.

Exploring a Baby PlayMat

Toddlers love moving objects, as seeing a moving object arouses their curiosity and fascination. Parents can get their babies a baby play mat which can positively encourage hand-eye coordination and develop sensory skills. A play mat helps to make the vision better. Moreover, the moving objects, such as fish inside the water play mat, make the baby use their brain to move the objects where they want by applying pressure through hand movement.

Also Read: Sensory Play and Its Role in Child Development

Creating a Mess While Eating

Babies are not aware of what to do. They will pat and squash their food. This happens because the baby is trying to communicate and build a connection with what’s around them in the form of touch, taste and smell. By making a mess at their little food table, the baby is naturally building the neural connections in the brain for understanding different textured surfaces. Different things, such as what’s rigid, what’s rough, what’s gummy, and so forth.

Learning to Climb

Another best brain development activity that most babies aged two years and above naturally do is trying to climb. Yes! When you see your little one trying to climb up a short stool or a coffee table, remember that they are naturally trying to learn to balance. 

This way, a baby’s brain learns to balance and coordinate between hands and toes - an essential physical skill that helps them walk. As a parent, you should ensure a safe climbing experience so that your baby stays safe while playing.

Also Read: Toddler Developmental Milestones: What to Expect at 1 to 3 Years Age

Repeating After Someone

This is a type of game or activity that can be done anywhere - no matter if it is inside or outside. Mostly, the repeat-after-me approach is used by teachers and instructors in kindergarten, but parents can also do this activity at home with young children.

For instance, you can have your child repeat an action after you, such as standing on one toe, making a clap, jumping etc. This way, children learn to follow commands and become better at learning through non-verbal cues. Moreover, you can use a talking duck toy to help toddlers learn how to talk.

Brain Boosting Activities for Juniors

Playing with Jigsaw Puzzle

Puzzles have long been the favorite game for kids. Solving a puzzle requires a young child to push their mental reasoning and place puzzles exactly where they should be. This way, they learn to arrange and collaborate with parents until the puzzle is solved. You can get several different types of puzzle toys for your child - so they can build their mental capacity.

Also Read: 5 STEM Activities Kids Can Do At Home

Solving Arrangement Patterns

Children above 4 years of age start taking an interest in more complex brain-boosting activities. Parents can give their children a Rubik’s cube and show them how this interesting puzzle of colors can be solved.

Fixing a Rubik’s cube develops your child’s brain for logical reasoning and cognitive abilities. It also helps teach your child patience and encourages short-term memory, hand-eye coordination, creativity and concentration.

Building Forts

Various supplies available at home are ideal for young children to make houses and forts. Things such as pillows, sticks, blankets, stools etc. are superb supplies with which your kids bring out their creativity and make cute forts to live in and have fun.

The main goal for encouraging such activity is to teach the child to be creative in making a copy of a real fort. This way, the brain memory of children gets sharpened and they become creative.

 

Doing Some Reading

This is where the parents are responsible for instilling a keen liking for reading in a child. The love for reading developed in early childhood goes a long way toward better brain development in a child. One of the best ways to do this is to get your baby a phonetic learning book to boost learning with interactive sounds. 

With reading, young children can make better neural connections in their brain - helping them better understand language and start using it in their daily communication. There is no fixed time to introduce reading to a child. The earlier you start reading to a child, the better it gets in their early language communication.

Choosing the Right Colors

Another great activity for better brain development in children above three years of age is color selection. This is a great way to teach children who have just started to know about colors. The way to take a start is you can get a stack of primary and secondary colors. 

Speak out the name of a color loudly to your child, and let them choose from various colors to touch. Touching colors not only becomes a fun activity but also helps the child memorize names associated with each color.

Also Read: Colour Learning & Sorting Games for Toddlers

Concluding Remarks

Building the capacity in a young child to think, analyze, memorize, and be creative are all things associated with brain development. There is no magic in the activities mentioned above. These activities are natural ways to help a child be mentally strong and intelligent. Brain power in a child naturally develops - but by introducing such activities we discussed above, parents can help their child learn quickly.