These Fun Games Help Your Child Build Focus Skills

One of the biggest challenges that today’s children—and adults—face is staying focused. From helping children with ADHD pay attention in class, to building the deep attention skills needed to do critical analysis and complex work, concentration and focus skills are so important. In fact, many parents in Highlands Ranch seek ADHD counseling because their son or daughter “just can pay attention.” In a world where screens, advertisements, and a hundred other things are vying for their attention, how can you help your child focus? These fun games are a great start!

I Spy

Remember the classic road-trip game? “I Spy” can be a fun way to build focus skills while also encouraging your child to pay attention to the world around them. Even better, it helps to promote some social skills, such as following gaze (that trick you used where you would watch the other person’s eyes to see what they were “spying”), listening carefully, and giving and receiving feedback. For younger kids, start with easy items—the clothing they are wearing, big pieces of furniture, and so on. For younger kids, this game can be even more fun when you focus on tiny details—the button on their sleeve, the decorative ornament hanging in the doorway, little details.

Find It or Hidden Object Games

Whether you clip a hidden object scene from the weekly newspaper or hook your kiddo up with a cool app, games that ask kids to find hidden objects, spot differences between two pictures, or anything else that promotes carefully attention can be a fun way to boost these skills. Child psychologists in Littleton sometimes give these sorts of fun, skill-boosting activities as homework, because it helps build on the very skills we want to help kids learn—close attention, focus, and commitment.

Card Games

No matter what card games your family loves, it can be a great way to teach kids to focus. You can buy a set of pre-made game cards, or explore classics like Go Fish, Crazy 8s, or War with any old deck of cards you have lying around. The important part is that the child needs to pay attention to when it is their turn and what cards are being played. For older kids who don’t mind play “consequences,” a fun rule is to skip anyone who isn’t paying attention on their turn (make sure to let yourself “unfocus” and miss a few turns yourself to make it fair). For younger kids, you can focus more on the strategy of the game—a little card counting won’t get them kicked out of the family card game, and will make everything more interesting.

Does your child have difficulty focusing and paying attention? If so, there are a number of ways to help her get back on track so she can enjoy her schooling and recreation time. While some kids may have an underlying condition that makes it hard to focus, like ADHD or anxiety, many kids are simply caught up in our everyday world of stimulation and distraction. Help them flex their focus-muscles with some fun and games! If your child seems to have an extraordinary challenge staying focused, and it is interfering with school or daily living, call a child behavior psychologist in Littleton for more help.