Keeping Kids' Brains Awake With Summer Fun

as published in SJ Mom magazine, June 2007 edition

by Mary Pat Correro, Ed.M

"No more teachers, no more books..." but what about maintaining your child's newly developed academic skills over the summer months? It has been said and proven to be true, that "play is child's work". Many developmental skills and learning abilities essential to school achievement, are developed through toys and play.

Bicycles develop the gross motor skills, sensory motor integration, balance, coordination and muscles. Board games are tremendously valuable in developing a multiple of skills over the years as visual discrimination, sequencing, eye hand coordination, color, shape and object recognition, math skills, reading skills, listening and reading comprehension, to name a few.

Essential to school and life are the social and emotional development that occurs in playing games. Learning to take turns, be patient, follow rules, be a good sport and problem solve are very important as well as the family interaction provided and essential in the busy American lifestyle.

Excessive use of computer games from early childhood at the expense of more creative toys that utilize and develop visual, and fine motor skills, has been shown to result in underdeveloped hand muscles and unrefined fine motor skills which impact a child's ability to write well. How many children do you see these days with well developed cursive writing skills? Very few by far. Books, building blocks, puzzles, manipulative type toys, and play instruments have proven to impact visual, auditory and fine motor skills essential to a child's performance in school.

Passive, over stimulation of some parts of the brain due to excessive use of computer games and television watching may contribute to an imbalance, and attention and listening difficulties. While there are many good computer programs to enhance academic skills, they can not replace the value of loving, human interaction using many tried and true instructional materials in the form of traditional games toys and books.

From Candyland and Chutes and Ladders for little ones to Monopoly, Scrabble, and Taboo for older kids, your child and you will benefit from these games and maintain those valuable skills learned throughout the school year.

The Center For Learning Enhancement provides ongoing socialization groups which provide children with safe, fun opportunities to interact with peers while developing and maintaining social and academically relevant skills. For more information feel free to contact Mary Pat Correro at 856-234-7337 or mpc@CLEnhancement.com.