Toys and games can help your child develop the visual skills they need for a lifetime of achievement.
Young children have a natural tendency to be curious, and exploration and discovery are the perfect ways to help their inquisitive minds learn about the world around them.
Strong visual skills are essential for young children, as they facilitate healthy development of reading and learning abilities.
Here’s a guide to gifts and presents that will not only bring a wide smile to your child’s face, but will strengthen their visual skills and make learning easier in the future.
1. Building toys
When children build towers, cars, spaceships, and anything else their creative minds can think of, they stimulate the development of crucial visual skills.
Building toys help to strengthen the following visual skills:
- Spatial awareness
- Spatial organization
- Eye focusing
- Hand-eye coordination
- Visualization
These skills are essential for academic success, as they facilitate problem solving skills, and understanding of geography, geometry and math.
Visualization is vital for word memorization, which is essential for both spelling and reading comprehension.
These skills are also important for success in extra-curricular activities, such as sports, crafts and dancing.
2. Visual thinking games
Visual thinking games like puzzles, memory games, checkers and chess, along with other types of board games, help to develop the visual skills needed for reasoning and problem solving.
These visual thinking games help to strengthen the following visual skills:
- Processing speed
- Convergence
- Eye focusing
- Visual memory
- Visualization
These skills are not only essential for reading comprehension and solving math equations, but are also vital for many aspects of life, including the ability to understand directions, detect visual patterns, notice small details, and simply gather information from the world around us.
SEE RELATED: Eye Safety for Toys
Schedule a functional vision evaluation with an eye doctor near you to ensure your child’s visual skills are developing properly.
3. Spatial awareness games
Games like marbles and pick-up sticks, as well as all different types of ball sports, such as softball, baseball, basketball and tennis, all stimulate spatial awareness.
Spatial awareness helps you to be aware of where people and objects are located, relative to where you are stationed.
Spatial awareness games are essential for strengthening a range of visual skills, including:
- Peripheral vision
- Depth perception
- Hand-eye coordination
- Eye tracking
- Eye focusing
Are visual skills important for learning?
Yes.
Well developed visual skills are essential for success both inside and outside the classroom.
If your child is struggling in school, they may have a vision problem that is hindering their success.
Not only do visual skills facilitate academic achievement and exceptional athletic performance, they also have a ripple-effect on a child’s self-confidence. The children who perform well in school generally feel more confident among their peers.
When should my child see an eye doctor?
Eye doctors recommend bringing children for annual eye exams from they time they turn six months of age.
Unfortunately, school vision screenings are unable to assess a majority of the visual skills that are crucial for success in learning, and a child with 20/20 eyesight may be told they have perfect vision.
For this reason, eye doctors recommend that children have annual eye exams with an eye doctor, even before they reach school age. This way, any visual problems that may interfere with their academic performance can be treated early on, to ensure their vision continues to develop normally.
If a vision problem is detected, research has shown that early intervention with proper eye care and vision therapy can improve a wide range of visual skills.
Vision therapy is a personalized program that trains the brain and the eyes to work together, thereby improving the visual skills necessary for a lifetime of achievement.
LEARN MORE: Children’s Vision
Schedule a functional vision evaluation with an eye doctor near you to ensure your child’s visual skills are developing properly.
Here’s a guide to gifts and presents that will bring that smile to your child’s face, and at the same time allow them to develop their visual skills.
Strong visual skills are essential for school as they are foundational for developing a child’s reading and learning abilities.
