5 Fun Activities to Increase Children’s Attending

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Sustaining attention is one of the most crucial factors to improve learning efficiency. Parents are often concerned when their children fail to stay focused in a task or being easily distracted while completing a task. Due to the covid situation, many students have to learn through online platforms, which could be even more challenging for young children with weak learning-how-to-learn skills.

Below are 5 fun games that parents can play with their children to help improve their attending.

 

1. Retrieval Fluency

1. First, identify the toys or activities the child likes. For example: painting, playdoh, marble maze, etc.
2. Disassemble the toy/activity, and put all the required pieces on the table.
3. Instruct the child to retreive each item (E.g., “Get me the marbles”, “Find me the (red) tube”, etc.) When he retrieves all the objects on the table, he can then get access to the activity.
4. The child needs to pay great effort in following all instructions within the segment, meaning the child needs to retrieve each item quickly and accurately.

Teaching Tips:

If the child is distracted or starts to engage in self-stimulatory behavior in one of the trials, all objects (Including the ones that have already been retrieved) will go back to the table and we will have to restart the entire segment. For children who are not familiar with the names of the items, you can perform the task in a matching format, which you show the child the picture of the item that you want your child to get as you issue the instruction.

 

2. Treasure Hunt (Tracking Objects)

1. First, identify the toys or activities the child likes. For example: painting, playdoh, marble maze, etc.
2. Disassemble the toys/activities, and hide the pieces one by one in front of the child.
3. Then, after hiding each piece of toys, instruct the child to find it. Based on your child’s performance, you can extend the duration of hiding the objects.

Activity extension:

You may increase the difficulty by hiding all the pieces all at once; this will challenge your child further more as he/she needs to sustain longer attention and memory. After finding all the pieces, he can get access to the activity.

3. Memory Game

1. The way to play is the same as the traditional memory game. According to the child’s ability, you can adjust the differences in each memory game card. E.g. the more different the cards are, the easier for the child to remember and distinguish the difference.
2. For children who are new to this game, you can choose pictures of people/objects that they are familiar with. For example: family members, favorite toys, daily items, etc.

Activity extension:

A more advanced version could be involving more pictures and pictures with more minor differences , such as the same character doing different actions (E.g. Mommy is brushing teeth vs. Mommy is cutting carrots) or different characters doing the same action (e.g.: Mommy is sleeping vs. Grandma is sleeping etc.).

 

4. What is missing?

1. This is a very interesting game. First, place three objects on the table and have the child comment on those objects one by one.
2. Then, cover all the objects with a small white board, and say the magic spell aloud with the child: “Abracadabra!”
3. While saying the magic spell, take away one of the objects, followed by removing the small white board, and ask the child: “What’s missing?”
4. And have the child respond. If needed, you may show the object that you have taken away to evaluate with him whether the answer is correct after the child responds.

Activity extension:

Depending on your child’s performance, you can increase the number of objects in the field or the number of objects being taken away.

5. Shell Game

1. Place three cups upside down on the table.
2. Hide the reinforcer (e.g. a snack/a small picture that indicates a reinforcer) in one of the cups in front of the child, and havethe child find the reinforcer.
3. When the child understands the contingency, start to move the cup(s) around, and have the child look for the reinforcer.

Activity extension:

According to your child’s performance, you can extend the time as you move the cups around and/or increase the number of cups.

 

These are some of the fun games that we often play in our office to help our child with attending. For more in-depth and detailed training videos, please visit the resource website of Autism Partnership（APSPARKS.COM）!

 

Information provided by

Christy Lai
M.Sc., BCBA
Autism Partnership Case supervisor

Ms. Christy Lai is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with a Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis from St. Cloud State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Ms. Lai joined Autism Partnership (AP) in 2011 and she has extensive experience in working with children with ASD. Ms. Christy Lai currently take lead of the case supervision in the new established AP Beijing center. At the same time, she oversees the Little Learners program in Hong Kong and Shanghai and consults families in Asia. She directs overseas training to staff in the Train the Trainer program and provides parent education to families with children with ASD. She also conducts Jumpstart and PIIP programs locally and internationally. In additions, she is keen to take part in overseas ASD conferences and take lead of the design and production of AP teaching materials. Moreover, she helps with producing ABA training videos and articles in the APSPARKS website for public education.

 

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專注力是提升學習效率的重要因素之一。孩子無法專心地做一件事情，或孩子在某一個任務中專注力很短，相信這是讓很多家長頭疼的一個問題。特別是近期由於疫情原因，很多學生需要在家中以遠程上課的方式進行教學，如何解決專注力不足的問題就變得愈發迫在眉睫。

以下，是5個非常適合家長與小朋友一起做的趣味遊戲，有效提升孩子專注力之餘，亦能夠透過遊戲增強親子關係：

 

1. 拿取物件流暢度

1. 首先識別孩子喜歡的玩具或活動 (例如：畫畫、橡皮泥、滾珠滑道等)
2. 把玩具／活動拆件，然後，把所需的組件都放在桌面。
3. 給予指令讓孩子拿取每件物件（例如：「拿彈珠」，「拿（紅色）滑道」等），直到他把桌面上的物件都拿給你，就能跟你一起享受喜歡的玩具／活動。
4. 以流暢度制度進行，代表孩子需要在每個回合中迅速和正確地拿取物件，才能完成任務。

溫馨提示：

假如孩子在其中一個回合走神／或作自我刺激行為，所有物件將回到桌面，所有回合重新開始。對於一些還未能理解組件名稱的孩子，你可以以配對模式來進行此活動，例如：發指令時同時拿著要孩子那的組件的照片。

 

2. 尋寶遊戲（追蹤物件）

1. 首先識別孩子喜歡的玩具或活動 (例如：畫畫、橡皮泥、滾珠滑道等)
2. 把玩具／活動拆件，然後，把所需的組件逐件在孩子面前收藏起來。
3. 然後，每收藏一件組件後，讓孩子找出來。根據孩子的表現，你可以調整你藏東西的時間。

活動延伸：

你甚至也可以增加難度至把所有組件藏起來，再讓孩子尋找來進一步挑戰他的持續專注和記憶力。找到所有組件後，就可以和你一起進行遊戲。

3. 記憶遊戲

1. 跟傳統記憶遊戲一樣進行。根據孩子的能力，你可以判斷記憶遊戲卡片之間的差別的精細度。
2. 對剛開始階段的孩子，選擇他們熟悉的人物／物件圖片可以有幫助。例如：家人、喜歡的玩具、日常用品等。

活動延伸：

更進階的玩法可以包括更精細的圖片，例如同一人物在做不同動作（例如：媽媽刷牙、媽媽切菜）／不同人物做相同動作等（例如：媽媽睡覺、奶奶睡覺）。

 

4. 什麼不見了？

1. 這是一個非常有趣的小遊戲。首先，在桌面放置三件物件，讓孩子逐個評論桌面上有那些物件。
2. 然後，用一塊小白板蓋住所有物件，和孩子一起念咒語：「嘛哩嘛哩哄！」
3. 念咒語期間，拿走其中一件東西，再拿走小白板，問孩子：「什麼不見了？」讓孩子回答，按需要，你可以拿出拿走的物件來和他檢討答案是否正確。

活動延伸：

根據孩子的表現，你可以增加物件的數量／拿走物件的數量。

5. 杯子遊戲

1. 在桌面倒放三個杯子。
2. 於孩子面前在其中一個杯子裡把強化物（可以是小零食／代表強化物的小圖片）藏起來，再讓孩子找出強化物。
3. 當孩子明白遊戲玩法後，開始移動杯子的位置，再讓孩子尋找強化物。

活動延伸：

根據孩子的能力，你可以延長杯子移動的時間和增加杯子的數量。

 

以上是關於提升專注力的趣味遊戲。如欲了解更多深入詳細的教學短片，可訪問AP課堂（微信小程序）!

   

資訊提供:

賴靜
理學碩士, 國際認證行為分析師
Autism Partnership 行為分析治療課程監督

賴靜小姐是國際認證行為分析師(BCBA) 並獲有聖克勞德州立大學「應用行為分析」碩士學位及密歇根大學心理學學士學位。她在2011 年加入AP，專注於自閉症兒童的教學工作。 她現時主力為AP北京中心擔任行为分析训练课程监督，同時負責監督和帶領香港及上海的Little Learners（學前教育計劃）及為不同亞洲家庭提供咨詢服務。賴靜小姐亦積極指導海外導師培訓計劃、為育有自閉症孩子的家長提供學習課程、並於香港及海外進行躍進課程及革新密集訓練課程。此外，她亦多次參與海外研討會、帶領創作AP各款教學工具、以及為APSPARKS 自閉症資源網站製作多個ABA 教學視頻及撰寫文章，樂於與大衆分享ABA資訊。

 

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