7 Activities to Improve Your Child’s Attention and Concentration
Does your child get distracted a lot and can’t concentrate on certain activities?
Welcome to parenting 101.
Kids have this knack for getting distracted about pretty much everything. It can be a fly, nearby scissors, or a dog barking in the distance. Their minds seem to jump from one place to another quite easily. I know because I’m a dad and a teacher, so I deal with these distractions every single day.
You may wonder, how can I help my child to keep their focus and improve their attention span?
Read on to learn about distracted children, the average attention span by age, and seven useful activities to improve attention and concentration for your child.
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An ADHD Child or Just A Distracted Child?
These days, talking about a distracted child immediately points to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD. However, the fact that your child has a short attention span or struggles to concentrate doesn’t necessarily mean that they have ADHD.
The American Psychiatric Association “estimates that only about 8.4 percent of children” in the US have ADHD. So, the odds are in your favor! It’s more likely that you’ve got a distracted kid on your hands who can easily be helped.
If you have any doubts about whether or not your child may have ADHD, understand what the experts argue—that “general distractibility doesn’t typically impede one’s ability to go about their day, get important tasks done, or fulfill commitments.”
If your child is easily distracted but it’s not negatively affecting their quality of life overall, then it’s likely not a serious psychological issue.
What’s a Reasonable Attention Span by Age?
If you want to know how to help an easily distracted child, you need to know if your child is a distracted child or just a child. What I mean is that kids have shorter attention spans than adults. That’s just normal.
The question then is, by how much?
Experts in children’s development have come up with a simple formula to define a reasonable attention span for a child. Just multiply your child’s age times 2 or 3, and you’ll get the average attention for that age range.
According to this formula, these are some average attention spans by age:
- 2 years old: 4 to 6 minutes
- 4 years old: 8 to 12 minutes
- 6 years old: 12 to 18 minutes
- 8 years old: 16 to 24 minutes
- 10 years old: 20 to 30 minutes
- 12 years old: 24 to 36 minutes
- 14 years old: 28 to 42 minutes
- 16 years old: 32 to 48 minutes
However, remember that “attention span has to be contextualized,” and it can also be elastic.
In other words, this chart is just a point of reference.
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How To Help Your Child Focus
I know it’s common for you to catch your child not paying attention. You want to learn how to teach them to focus and concentrate or how to increase attention span.
So, here are 7 simple strategies that can help you with that:
7 Activities to Improve Attention and Concentration
Choose one or several of these activities designed to improve focus on children.
1. Mind-Body Integration
This activity consists in asking your child to sit in a chair and check for how long they can sit still. Repeat this practice frequently, and your child should try to break their record every time.
With minor improvements, “the neural connections between the brain and body are strengthened,” resulting in better self-control in your child.
This is an excellent exercise if you’re a teacher and want to help a distracted child.
2. Practice the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique, developed by Italian consultor Francesco Cirillo, is a method that “divides long working or study sessions into manageable blocks of time, with brief rewards or breaks built in between each session.”
Research has shown that this technique improves motivation, allows for better concentration, reduces stress, and limits distractions. If your child needs to engage in a lengthy activity that requires them to keep their focus, try cutting it into smaller blocks, and insert a reward in between.
3. Practice Belly Breathing
According to the Medical Dictionary, the definition of abdominal breathing is “respiration in which most of the work is done by the muscles of the abdominal wall.
This type of breathing compresses the abdominal contents and elevates the diaphragm to push out air.” It’s also known as “diaphragmatic breathing” or “belly breathing.”
This type of breathing as it’s beneficial for everyone. Records have shown that it slows the heartbeat and can lower or stabilize blood pressure. Visit the Harvard Medical School to learn how to engage in belly breathing.
Belly breathing can help when kids are confronted with challenging tasks. During these, they can get more anxious, which will spike their heart rate.
Remember: “anxiety leads to avoidance, the opposite of concentration.”
4. Play Concentration Games
Playing concentration games with your child, such as memory games, puzzles, or spot the difference, is a great way to improve your child’s focus and attention.
Additionally, you spend some quality time with your child.
5. Rate Tasks
Ask your child to “rate the level of challenge found in the activity on a scale of 1 to 10.”
This will help you understand the level of frustration your child is experiencing in any given activity. Then, once you know the score, you can adapt the activity to your kid’s level.
You’ll notice that when your child isn’t frustrated, their level of attention gets considerably higher.
6. Use Fidgets
Fidgets are products that children can manipulate while focusing on other tasks. Think of the famous spinner that took over the world a couple of years ago. That’s the perfect example of a fidget.
Studies have shown that fidgets “can help children concentrate.”
7. Story-Based Games
I love to play these kinds of games with my children. You can either read your child a short story and then ask them questions about the story’s content. Alternatively, you can start a story and then ask them to continue it.
In both cases, they have to focus on the story and use their imagination.
Story-based games help build memory and concentration and “can also help in the development of logic and sense of humor.”
Help Your Child Improve Their Attention and Concentration
Kids have short attention spans, and that’s okay. But we can help them with activities to improve attention and concentration. By playing concentration games, for example, you’re doing them a great favor!
Play with them, come up with stories, and help them strengthen their sharpness and focus and increase their attention span.
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