Cognitive development develops at a fast pace during the early years of a child. When they are 2 years old, the brain has grown to 75 percent of its adult weight and by 5 years old, 90 percent. That is why during these early years, they need to be given opportunities to be stimulated and challenged through playing intellectual games. Young children are naturally self-motivated, curious and are eager to explore almost everything and to help them, we must provide them concrete materials to manipulate, toys for example, problems to solve, and the opportunity to experience with the environment and encouraging them to ask questions.
Children express themselves better when they are playing games:
1. Fun games for kids to expand their vocabulary.
Language develops fast during the early years and language is caught rather than taught. Use puppets, toy phones or walkie-talkies to encourage the children to tell stories or what they have done for the day. You can draw eyes, nose and mouth on each finger and have a story-telling with your child. An example, I am Monday and my favorite hobby is painting because I am called the Thumb and I love to dip myself into paint to form patterns on the paper. What is your favorite hobby? The child learns a collection of words which helps them to communicate and this activity is fun and creative.
2. Fun games for kids to develop their musical intelligence.
Children have their first experience with music when parents sing lullabies and dance with them when they were still infants. Music is important during the early years as it helps the children to bond socially, emotionally and cognitively with people. Encouraging the children to move along with the music or playing with musical instruments helps them to control their fine motor skills and develops their eye-hand coordination. You can play this game which is funny for kids. Play any fast moving song and ask the children to hop like a frog and kicking their legs while hopping, move like a train, hooting as they go along or wiggle like a worm.
3. Fun games for kids to develop their literacy.
Story songs have rhythm and are fun and enrich a child's vocabulary through their short, simple texts. Nursery rhymes are an example of story songs and they stay with us as they are passed from one generation to another. Nursery rhymes have a musical quality incorporating language rhythm, patterns and rhymes in every verse which fascinates children to develop their language.
You can also finger play while singing a story song and there are many story songs which you can use like "Five Lttle Ducks", "Itsy Bitsy Spider', "I'm a Little Teapot" and many others. While singing "Five Little Ducks" show five fingers and so on.
Games should be kept short and stop when the children show signs of restlessness or lack of interest. If you want more of such activities to stimulate your children during these vital early years, you can visit www.gamesforfunkids.com for more of such creative activities.
