5 Fun Games to Increase Focus and Concentration

The power to concentrate was the most important thing. Living without this power would be like opening one’s eyes without seeing anything.

― Haruki Murakami

There is one sentence that most parents say almost everyday to their children. Can you guess what it is?

“Can’t you just concentrate and finish your work on time?”

The tone might vary, the ‘work’ might change from homework to some household chores, but the problem that parents see is same – lack of focus on the task at hand.

This usually happens when the ‘task’ is something which is not very enjoyable for the kid ex doing homework when he wants to play, loading the dishwasher or cleaning his room.

Signs of Low Concentration

• Lack of interest
• Inability to sit still
• Daydreaming when they are supposed to work
• Easily distracted
• Difficulty in remembering and learning

The first thing that we need to understand is that it is normal. This is how kids are. Their attention span is much lower in comparison to adults. While adults have been trained to do tasks and complete them on time whether they like it or not, children have not been trained to do so.

The second thing is that concentration can be improved. A nutritious diet, lower screen time, proper sleep and adequate relaxation or ‘doing nothing’ helps in the process.

Read the article here on How to Improve Concentration in Kids.

Below are some fun games and activities that you can do at home to improve your child’s concentration levels.

1. Statue

We all must have played this game as a child. This helps in training the mind to be less distracted and remain still.

How to Play: Turn on some music. While the music is on, the child can do whatever they want. As soon as you turn off the music, they have to become like a statue. They can’t move or laugh or talk till the time the music remains off. If they do, then they lose a point.

2. Memory

This is a very simple game for which you don’t need anything. This will help in improving concentration and memory.

How to Play: Choose a category, for example colours. The first player (the child) says a colour, for example Red. The second player (you for example) has to repeats what he said and add a colour. So you say ‘Red, Blue’. Now the child has to say both the colours and add one more. “Red, Blue, Black.”

The list goes on and the person who can’t think of a new colour or can’t remember the sequence in the correct order loses the round.

You can do this with any category like countries, adjectives, animals etc.

3. Just Sit

This is similar to the Statue game, except that in this the child has to simple sit, without talking or doing anything for a specified period of time.

Find some other interesting Brain development and creativity development games here

Out of silence is born concentration, and from that comes learning.

— Stephen Hough

4. Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are a great way to build concentration. Puzzles like a Solar System puzzle will have the benefit of being fun, increasing concentration and teaching the child about the solar system.

You can also give them dot pictures and ask them to join the dots and find the picture.

5. Wordathon

Give a big word to your child and ask him to make as many words as he can using the alphabets of that word. You can time it and give him five minutes to do it and see how many words he can make.

With their high energy levels it is difficult for children to concentrate on one activity for a long time. However, concentration can be built over time and will hold the child in good stead once he is older. It is important for parents to understand, however, that the attention span of kids is not very high and should not hold them to adult standards.

Don’t forget to have fun while you teach them life lessons!

Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.

— Bill Russell

Pic credits: pexels.com