The brain's ability to reorganize itself and learn from experiences is one of its most beautiful capacities. Each experience causes our neurons to form new connections, leading to further learning or improving existing knowledge. This is known as brain plasticity or neuroplasticity, which allows us to adapt and grow constantly.
Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself throughout life. It can happen even when we are not aware of it. However, as we age, our brain activity decreases, making it more difficult to form new connections. Research shows that during our first years of life through adolescence, the brain has a high level of plasticity. This does not mean that we lose this ability as adults. On the contrary, as we continue to learn, our neurons keep making new connections, allowing us to continue to adapt and learn.
It's a fact that various factors can hinder our brain's full capacity to make connections. One of these factors is the need for stimulation or challenging activities. This post will focus on some activities that can help enhance neuroplasticity, especially for our younger kids. Below are some ideas that can help in your child's neuroplasticity:
1. Start with a good diet. Neuroscientists recommend including berries, fish, nuts, and Omega-3 in your child's diet.
2. Consider the age of your child to ensure they get enough sleep. For example, children between the ages of 3 and 5 require around 10 to 13 hours of sleep, while those between the ages of 6 and 8 need around 9 to 12 hours.
3. Keep the body active with exercise. Encourage your child to participate in sports like swimming, soccer, gymnastics, or simply going for walks, exploring their surroundings, riding a bike, playing with friends outside, and many other activities.
4. Offer your child new experiences, like visiting a new park, taking a new way home from school or grandma's house, etc.
5. Introduce your child to new games like puzzles, board games, riddles, and building games. Self-expression activities like art, dancing, music, and imaginative play can also be beneficial.
6. Encourage your child to make decisions independently, such as choosing their clothes, games, and places to go.
7. Read to your child every night. Let them choose their favorite book and read it as often as possible. Introduce new books to broaden their worldview, world knowledge, and vocabulary.
8. Repetition is also essential in the learning process. It strengthens new learning and helps to improve knowledge retention in our long-term memory. Only when the learning is strong will your child be ready to learn something new.
As a teacher, there are many activities that you can do with your students to help them grow and learn. For example, you can give them choices such as a new job in the classroom, a new place to sit, or a game to play. Allowing them to work with different friends can also be beneficial, as it helps them learn new ways of doing things and strengthens relationships, which enhances their ability to solve problems.
You can also give them opportunities to participate in class by sharing with their peers. This social interaction will allow them to improve their social skills and collaboration. Changing routines can also help promote flexible thinking. For instance, you can move the calendar time for later, introduce a new game every week, or do the same game but change something about it, and even ask them to come up with a new way to play the game or create a new one!!
Finally, you can encourage learning through play. For example, to teach about numbers, you can use cards, dice, bingo, videos, or have them build something with a certain amount of blocks.
It's important to avoid routine when trying to boost neuroplasticity. Our brains tend to take shortcuts when problem-solving, according to Susan Fiske and Shelley Taylor's research (1984). Constant stimulation allows the brain to be active, generate new neurons, and build connections. As adults, we can create numerous ways to nurture our kids' neuroplasticity.