Concentration exercises for children for primary school and kindergarten

The following memory exercises are designed to improve concentration and create a positive group experience. They should be regularly incorporated into everyday kindergarten or school life in order to sustainably promote children’s ability to concentrate.

Concentration exercises for children – 6 to 10 years (primary school)

• Chairs, tables, pens
• Worksheets with short texts (poems, stories)

• The children sit at the table or in a circle of chairs. The teacher gives all children the same printed text, which they read carefully. The children have to pay attention to a previously agreed letter and count how often it occurs while reading. If necessary, the children can also mark the corresponding letters in the text to make counting easier.
• Once everyone has finished reading, one child can solve for how many times the designated letter appeared in the text. If he or she gives the wrong number, it is the next child’s turn.
• Variant: Instead of one letter, several numbers or whole words are counted in the text. However, the teacher must also announce all the letters or words they are looking for in advance.
• In addition, the teacher can set a time limit in which the students have to find the letters/words they are looking for. The difficulty of this exercise can be varied depending on the competition.

• Teachers and educational specialists can also use the game in between to get all the children to calm down a bit. It can be carried out with both smaller and larger groups and requires little preparation if text templates are already available, for example from a reading book.

• Chairs
• small object (e.g.: ball, stuffed animal, cube)

• All children sit in a circle, one of the children holds a small object in his hand. It silently thinks about what this object could represent for the game (object, animal or something else). To start the exercise, this child must pass the object to another child next to him and say the following example sentence: “My name is Tanja and I say it is a crocodile”.
• Now this child takes the “crocodile” and passes it on to another child with the sentence: “I have Tanja’s crocodile here. My name is Tobias and this is a crocodile.”
• The item passed is always passed on with this sentence. Each child has to give the names of everyone who has already had the object in their hands before them. This creates an ever-longer chain of names that the children have to remember and concentrate on saying in the correct order.
• Variations:
• Continuously changing the identity of the object as each child creates their own role. This results in e.g. B. the following sentence: “I’m Tim. Tanja says it’s a crocodile – Tasha says it’s a cactus and Tonio says it’s a tree. But I say it’s a dragon.”
• Regularly changing the seating order during the game. This makes tracing the names back when reciting them more difficult and requires even more concentration.

• for pictures note:
• different pictures (at least 10 to 15 pieces)
• Beamer or overhead projector
• for items remember:
• small objects from everyday life (at least 25 to 30 items, depending on the number of children)
• box or box

• The children have to remember all the pictures or objects shown to them in a given time (e.g. 30 seconds) alone or in small groups (e.g. with the help of a beamer or overhead projector).
• The teacher selects a few objects from a large number of objects brought with him, puts them in a box and writes them down (for later checking). She then shows the children the objects and they have to remember as many of them as possible over the next few minutes. The children can then briefly talk to each other.
• As soon as all groups have been shown some selected objects and have discussed each other, each group takes turns naming an object that they have remembered. The teacher checks the information according to her previous notes. If a group can’t think of anything or mentions something twice, they are eliminated. The last group standing wins.
• Variant: There are different quantities of individual objects, so children not only have to remember the object, but also the number.

Even at kindergarten age, children can have difficulty concentrating. With the help of the following exercises, educational professionals can specifically train such behavioral problems and reduce them in the long term.

• tables
• Chairs or mats

• All children form pairs and sit on chairs or mats. Each pair must then determine who on their team will begin the first round of the exercise.
• The selected child asks the other child questions for one to two minutes on all sorts of topics, usually answered with “yes” or “no.” However, the other child is not allowed to answer the questions with “yes” or “no”, but must think of alternative answers for each question.
• This results in something like the following dialogue:
  “Have you ever been to the circus?” – “Never.”
  “Do you like eating apples?” – “I like eating them the most.”
  “Do you have siblings”? – “I have a brother.”
• Variant: The educators specify certain topics about which the children have to ask questions (hobbies, food, toys, etc.).

In this concentration exercise, the children have to perform a very simple and complex task at the same time, as it requires high concentration.

Everyday objects of different sizes that are suitable for balancing, for example on the tip of the finger, the back of the hand or the foot (pencil, tennis ball, feather, sandbag, etc.)

• The children take random everyday objects and balance them on their own bodies (fingertip, back of hand, head). You must remain balanced as long as possible to prevent the object from falling.
• Variant: Adapted level of difficulty depending on the age and abilities of the children, for example using different types and shapes of objects for balancing. This game can be played in both kindergarten and elementary school.

This concentration exercise for children promotes three areas of the brain (concentration, coordination and sense of balance). The game is also ideal for in between games as it requires little preparation time.

Well-known games such as puzzles, “I’m packing my suitcase” or “City, Country, River” can also be used as concentration exercises for children.

The “Special Children” software offers a large selection of concentration exercises for children. Here, educational professionals will find numerous learning games for children with behavioral problems and developmental delays – from kindergarten to primary school. This gives the children the support they need in a playful way.