Cognitive abilities to accumulate, preserve and reproduce information and skills - this is memory. It is very important to train her from early childhood. Even without special efforts, the child improves this ability every year. This is due to the fact that in the process of growing up he teaches important and necessary skills for him: crawling, walking, memorizing words, etc. However, this does not mean that he does not need to train cognitive abilities. In this article, we answer the question of how to develop memory in a child at 8 years old.
Types of cognitive abilities
Have you noticed that each person differently remembers this or that information? This is due to the cerebral cortex and its departments, which are involved in this. Allocate: motor, emotional, figurative, verbal and logical memory. At the same time, it can be short-term, operational or long-term. On the other hand, the ability to remember also depends on a particular modality - auditory, visual, motor, tactile.
It is easier for people with a visual-figurative type of memory to remember color, sounds, faces, and any other visual images. Verbal-logical thinking is based on the basis of linguistic means, analysis of events and situations. It is difficult for such people to remember information that they do not understand. They tie her to certain events and skills. In order to learn how to develop memory in a child of 8 years old, you need to find out what types of cognitive abilities he has. It is important to note that any of the above types can be improved throughout life.
What cognitive abilities need to be improved
There is an opinion that it is necessary to improve the type of memory that the child is poorly developed. But this theory does not always find confirmation. Suppose a child has verbal-logical thinking. All the information that he remembers can be analyzed. Is there a need in this case to develop figurative memory? In any case, it is necessary to adapt the child to his thinking and develop in this direction. So, it is best to train auditory, visual, motor and tactile memory. For each of the species there are many ways. Let's consider them in more detail.
Reproduction of auditory images
How to develop memory in a child of 8 years old? First you need to check how well the child has this skill. So, name 10 consecutive words that are not interconnected. For example: a table, a book, a crocodile, a cup, a phone, a T-shirt, a carpet, a wardrobe, a kettle, a notebook. Now ask your child to repeat them. If more than half of the words are named - this is an excellent result. You can continue training until the child repeats 8-9 words.
Another interesting exercise is the continuation of the phrase. You say a simple phrase: "we went to the store." The child should repeat and add something from himself: "we went to the store and bought a banana." Now it's your turn, you repeat what he said and add something from yourself. The one who makes a mistake and cannot repeat will lose.
Visual memory
Visual images are a rather important component, which is difficult to do without in life. For children, this skill is also necessary. How to develop memory in a child of 8 years, making a bias specifically for visual images? First you need to check your abilities. To do this, there are special drawings "find the differences." If the child finds less than half, then his visual memory needs to be developed.
There are a lot of exercises. Of course, they are all associated with visual images. You can give your child a picture every day. Let him carefully look at her for 5 minutes. Then take the image and let the child name what he remembered in the smallest detail. You will be surprised, but every day he will become more attentive and remember more images. If the child has the ability to draw, let him depict what he remembered.
Motor memory
This cognitive ability corresponds to labor skills. It is at the age of eight that it is very important to develop a child’s memory and attention. How to do it? At this age, the child is very interested in visiting various sections. This will be the best exercise in motor memory. Memorization, preservation and reproduction of motor operations will help the child to improve their skills. It can be: swimming, dancing, volleyball, football and other popular sports.
Tactile memory
Sensations and touch are called one very famous term - motor skills. Such motor activity is very closely related to thought processes. No wonder for the development of speech, young children are offered to sort out small objects. How to develop a child's memory and attention with the help of tactile sensations? There are special exercises. For example, a variety of materials (paper, metal, fabric) are glued onto small boards. The child closes his eyes and offers to feel them. He must guess which material on which board.
Another great exercise is “touch me.” Close your child’s eyes and offer to touch any figure. After that, take her, untie her eyes and ask him to draw what he just held in his hands. This exercise develops not only tactile memory, but also imagination.
Many parents are interested in the question of how to develop a child’s memory from birth. It is tactile cognitive abilities that will help the baby in this matter. V. A Sukhomlinsky argued that "at the fingertips is the mind of the child." So, with the development of fine motor skills, certain parts of the brain are activated, including those that are responsible for speech.
Attention development
This quality characterizes the process of filtering incoming information. A child who has well-developed attention is able to highlight specific objects and processes and better remember their essence. The problem of many schoolchildren lies not only in poor memory, but also inattention. These two qualities must always be developed equally.
Take, for example, a school subject that many children don’t really like - literature. The teacher now and then makes you learn poetry, and it is so difficult for a child to remember them. The whole secret lies in the fact that the student is not only a bad memory, but he is also inattentive. In order to make it easier to remember a work, verse or even a rule, it must be understood. In turn, it is necessary to highlight the main object. An analysis of a work or verse is very easy for attentive children. They quickly catch the point, and then memorizing is not difficult.
Attention Development Exercises
Games to develop attention and memory in children are quite interesting and exciting. With their help, you can not only improve the skills of the child, but also have a good time with the whole family.
So, for example, such a game is quite interesting. For her, cards with drawings will be needed (in extreme cases, you can do with ordinary playing cards if the child is familiar with them). So, select 5 cards and arrange them in a row. Let the child look and remember them. Now take them to the others and ask him to arrange everything in the same way as before. Such an exercise trains memory and attention, because the child needs not only to remember the cards, but also to stack them in the same order.
How to develop a child's memory and attention? Another fascinating and popular game is Beetle. To do this, draw a field of 6 x 6 cells. In one of them draw a little bug. Your task is to say, "where does the insect go." For example: a bug moves 2 cells up, then one to the left and one down.
The child must mentally follow the movements, without using a finger or pen. After 4-5 moves, ask him where the bug is now. This memory simulator is great for children from 5-6 years old. This game can be played by the whole family. One person is the leader who speaks the moves, while the rest mentally watches the movements. The one who lost the first loses.
Secrets of a good memory
How to improve a child’s memory? A review of the methods described above may be useful in daily training, but what if something needs to be remembered urgently? There are tricks and secrets.
Have you ever wondered why some children literally grab information on the fly, while others, in turn, cannot remember even one sentence? The thing is that most children aged 8 years old are dominated by imaginative and emotional memory. "What to do and how to develop a child’s memory in this case?" - you ask. The answer lies on the surface. Try to interest the child. In the information that needs to be learned, let him find something interesting for himself. Of course, first of all, you need to ask if everything is clear to him from what he needs to learn. Agree, it is difficult to remember something that does not have a logical explanation.
Asked to learn a verse about birds? No problem. Sit with your child in front of the computer and open the Internet. Show and tell him about these birds. Then start learning the verse. Have you read the first line? Well, let the child voice it himself and, closing his eyes, present it to himself. Then the second, third, etc. The visual images that appear in his head will fix those lines that he read, and it will be much easier to learn.