Raising smart preschoolers and big kids:
- Feed the brain
- Know your child's learning style
- Learn a language
- Play music
- Read!
- Explore the globe
- Get creative
Breakfast of champions
We've always heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it's especially true when it comes to your child's developing brain. Studies have shown that children who eat breakfast perform better in attention and memory tests than those who don't.
Why? Food absorbed by our bodies is converted to glucose that powers the body – and the brain. Your child wakes up with an empty tank that needs to be refueled. "Your child's brain needs glucose to function well. Without it, she may have difficulty understanding new information and won't remember things as well," says Terrill Bravender, chief of adolescent medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and professor of clinical pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Research bears this out. Harvard Medical School psychologist J. Michael Murphy and his colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital re-analyzed the data of a USDA school breakfast pilot project that examined the impact of a universal free breakfast program of 4,000 elementary school students. Murphy’s analysis found that regular breakfast skipping was associated with poorer school attendance and tardiness, less verbal fluency, and more parent- and teacher-related behavior problems.
Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association, agrees with Murphy. "I know principals who keep snacks in their drawers for children with discipline problems. Many times, those kids never ate breakfast," she says.
But don't pull out the sugary cereals just yet. The type of food a child eats is just as important as whether she eats at all. Highly sweetened breakfast cereals can give kids a short-lived sugar high, resulting in the inevitable crash.
Protein- and fiber-rich breakfasts, on the other hand, give the brain sustained go-power. In a study published in the journal Physiology and Behavior, children who ate oatmeal for breakfast performed 20 percent better on a map-memorization test than their sugary-cereal-munching counterparts.
"Eating something with complex carbs and protein gives your child's brain a constant, slow infusion of glucose for better brain function," says Bravender. That said, Bravender stresses that when it comes to breakfast something is better than nothing, so make sure your child gets a morning meal.
What you can do
Here are some great ideas for quick and easy brain-boosting breakfasts that kids love:
- Peanut butter on multigrain bread, whole wheat English muffin, or whole grain waffle
- Whole wheat English muffin with scrambled eggs or melted cheese
- Breakfast burrito: whole grain tortilla stuffed with scrambled eggs and cheese or lowfat refried beans and cheese
- Scrambled eggs in a cup: Mix 1 egg with a little milk, grated cheese, and chopped ham in a mug; cover and cook in microwave.
- Whole grain tortilla with sliced banana and peanut butter
- Whole grain tortilla with sunflower seed butter and honey
- Whole grain, low-sugar cereal with milk and blueberries
- Oatmeal made with milk, topped with raisins, wheat germ, and almonds
- Yogurt, fruit, and granola, parfait-style
- For more smart and healthy recipes, check out our Recipes database.
What's your child's learning style?
Knowing how your child likes to learn and process information is an invaluable tool that you can use to help your child do better in school and develop a love of learning. Education experts have identified three main types of learners – auditory learners, physical learners, and visual learners.
Auditory learners absorb information best by hearing it through verbal instructions. Physical learners like to use their hands to make discoveries. And visual learners operate best by observing – either in print or with pictures.
When learning a new math concept, for example, a visual learner will grasp the material more quickly by watching his teacher solve a problem on the blackboard or seeing a picture of the problem. An auditory learner will understand the concept if he can listen to the teacher explain it and answer his questions. A physical learner (also called tactual-kinesthetic) may need to use blocks, an abacus, or other counting materials to practice the new concept.
The three learning styles aren't just theoretical. Several studies have shown that accommodating a child's learning style can significantly increase his performance at school.
Many of these studies were based on a specific learning styles program developed by Rita Dunn, director of the Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles at St. John's University in Jamaica, New York, and the evidence is compelling. Two elementary schools in North Carolina increased the achievement test scores of students from the 30th percentile to the 83rd percentile over a three-year period by accommodating different learning styles. And in 1992, the U.S. Department of Education found that attending to a child's learning style was one of the few strategies that improved achievement of special education students on national tests.
What you can do
Learn more about the different learning styles for preschoolers and for grade-schoolers.Learn a language
Parlez-vous français?
Kids who learn a foreign language communicate better, don't become frustrated as easily, and seek different ways of solving problems, according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
"There's a lot of research that shows kids who learn a foreign language show amazing growth in cognitive skills, creativity, English, math, and science," says Ingrid Pufahl, a linguist and research associate at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C. "They're also better problem solvers, and can think out of the box, because they've been exposed to different points of view and different languages."
Pufahl adds that you don't have to be fluent in a language to see the brain boost. "Even after studying a foreign language for a short time, you can start seeing benefits," she says.
What you can do
To help your child learn a language, check with your child's school to see if they offer classes. It's not part of most American elementary school curriculums, but you can find after-school programs. You can also pick up language-learning CDs for kids – like Language Adventure, developed by Stanford University researchers – at your local library's children's section.Play music
Budding Beethovens
Hearing a child play "Für Elise" would make any parent beam, but the benefits of learning music go far beyond parental pride. Multiple studies show that kids who have learned how to play an instrument perform better in tests associated with literacy, verbal memory, math, and IQ than those without music lessons.
"The areas of the brain called upon when your child learns music may enhance the regions of the brain that involve reading, math, problem solving, and spatial reasoning," says Joseph Piro, an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Long Island University.
A study, published in the journal Psychology of Music, compared a group of second graders who took piano lessons for three consecutive years to a group who didn't learn music. At the end of the third year, the budding Beethovens did significantly better than their non-music-learning counterparts in a battery of vocabulary and verbal sequencing tests.
"Learning music isn't going to take your child from average to a genius, but it can help her be a better learner," says Laurel Trainor, a professor of psychology, neuroscience, and behavior at McMaster University and director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind in Ontario, Canada. Learning how to play music actually has an effect on how the brain gets wired when it comes to memory and attention, says Trainor.
Trainor points out that learning to play an instrument can be complicated for a young child. If you're learning the violin, for instance, you have to have to figure out how to hold two different things properly, pay attention to the teacher, and try to reproduce the sounds the teacher makes. Your brain is getting a real workout that will help it become stronger and primed to learn other things.
Trainor adds that the benefit of music for your child goes far beyond test scores. She points to the social and emotional perks. "Music brings people together and just makes you feel good," she says.
What you can do
Learn how to encourage your little Beethoven.Read!
Bookworm 101
Reading to children promotes everything from language skills to longer attention spans to active imaginations. And it's never too early to start.
According to researchers at the University of Chicago, reading to a baby creates valuable brain cell connections that will remain in place for the rest of their lives.
Research has shown that children who are read to at home as preschoolers are much better able to learn how to read when they get formal instruction in school. Reading exposes children to print, letters, and new vocabulary. It also teaches children that ideas and stories can come from the printed page -- in other words, that books are sources of information.
What you can do
Here's how to make reading fun for your child:
- Fill her bookcase with great books. You can start with those that have the Caldecott and Newbery award seals – they're sure to be winners. Librarians are great resources for suggestions, too.
- Let her see you enjoy reading. It'll reinforce the idea that reading is fun.
- Make special dates for the library together, and show her all the different worlds she can visit by just opening a book.
- Create a comfortable reading spot in her room or in another spot in the house, where she can enjoy quiet time with books.
- Talk about the stories you read together, and ask questions about what she might have learned.
- Read to her everyday.
Explore the globe
You don't have to be a globe-trotting jet-setter to teach your child about different cultures and customs.
What you can do
Spin the globe or close your eyes and point to pick a country. Say you land on China, for example. You can read books by Chinese authors and about Chinese legends and history; cook Chinese food or go to a Chinese restaurant; play Chinese music; or watch a movie or TV show about Chinese culture.
You can also visit an Asian art museum if there's one nearby or just visit one online, such as the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
When friends go abroad, ask them to send postcards describing what they've seen and done. You can also organize online pen pals for your older kids (with strict supervision, of course) with sites like ePals.
Visit the nearest city's historically ethnic neighborhood (i.e., Japantown, Little Italy, Chinatown, Greek, etc.) and see traditional cultural dress and knickknacks in stores, eat lunch there, hear different languages spoken, and point out different architectural and decorative aspects of the buildings. Check out an event, parade, or festival dedicated to a cultural or ethnic group (watch a Chinese New Year parade or St. Patrick's Day parade; see a Hawaiian, African, or Indian dance – even food festivals can teach a kid a lot about different cultures).
Another creative way to teach your child about the world: Pick a culture and let your child use it as inspiration for his next Halloween costume (German lederhosen or Japanese Samurai). Prompt your child to be the prince or princess of a certain country and incorporate that country's color or flower into the regal costume.
Finally, dig into your own history with your child. Trace your roots as far back as you can and explore your descendants' country of origin. Having a personal connection to that culture will make it that much more significant for her.
For more ideas, check out Hands Around the World: 365 Creative Ways to Encourage Cultural Awareness and Global Respect (Williamson Kids Can! Series) by Susan Milord, or Celebrations Around the World: A Multicultural Handbook by Carole S. Angell.Get creative
Da Vinci was no dummy!
There's a reason painting, drawing, and crafts are such a big part of preschool curricula: Research suggests that art makes you smart!
"Arts enhance the process of learning," says Eric Jensen, a researcher and author of Arts with the Brain in Mind. Kids who are taught art perform stronger academically, are able to retain information longer, have more confidence and better-developed independent-thinking skills, says Jensen.
What you can do
You can make it easy for your child to get in touch with her inner da Vinci. Create an art kit by filling a plastic bin with supplies like scratch paper, paints, markers, colored pencils, glue, scissors, sticks, and cotton. Hang up his creations to show you appreciate his hard work and creativity.
Nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing your own handiwork. If your child's a perfectionist and gets hung up on what he perceives as mistakes, guide him back to the fun of process. Together, you and your child can sew and embroider, make beaded jewelry, build Lego sets, and sculptures with wood scraps.
- Check out our crafts and activities for artistic inspiration.
- Learn more ways to encourage your budding artist.
