Spatial Awareness Activities for Kids

Spatial Awareness Activities for KidsLet’s talk spatial awareness.  Raise your hand if you’ve ever been teased that you could get lost in a paper bag.  Really?  I’m the only one?  Give me a map and I do just fine.  Without a map, well, all bets are off.

 

My somewhat embarrassing poor sense of direction is just one example of why developing strong spatial awareness skills at an early age is important.

 

Can I blame my remarkable talent for getting lost on my gender, my genes or perhaps my choices of childhood toys?   The jury (and research) is still out on that one.

 

I do remember that the only Legos in my life as a child lived at Grandma’s house.  Grandma didn’t much care for the “noise” they made so back to the cupboard they went.   Clearly I was not destined to become an engineer.

 

Children with strong spatial awareness understand and interpret relationships between objects, themselves,  and the areas around them.  Spatial understanding of size, distance, volume, order and time allows a child to carry out a variety of day to day tasks such as:

 

lining up at the classroom door

reaching the proper distance across the table to grab a crayon

understanding directional words such as above, below, under, over, in, out

recognizing the differences between b and d, g and p, 3 and E

knowing right from left

putting letters in proper order to make words

writing words and sentences in an organized way on the page

understanding days of the week and the months and seasons of the year

understanding the length of time a second, a minute, or an hour lasts

calculating arithmetic

and of course, getting from A to B without getting lost.

 

Spatial skills tend to develop naturally as children grow yet we can still do plenty to support and enhance the development of strong spatial awareness.  Whether you’re raising a future engineer, scientist, mathematician, artist, or just want your child to become a good navigator, below is a short list of ideas for strengthening your child’s potential.  And please, by all means, let them play Legos!

 

Action Songs

“The Hokey Pokey” for example

 

Hide a toy and make a treasure map

 

Jigsaw puzzles, Tangrams, Lincoln Logs, Mighty Mind and K’nex

All strengthen children’s ability to recreate patterns

 

Simple Lego Challenges

From Kristina of Toddler Approved

 

Tetrish’ish  

Try this printable cut and play visual spatial puzzle

From yours truly in the Printable Fun section

 

Origami

 

Lawn Twister

I love this DIY outdoor Twister game

From Roeshel of DIY Show Off

 

Tessellations

For students in second grade and up

From Cindy of Love 2 Learn 2day

 

Hexi Cards

Free printable hexagon cards that can be used for learning colors, making patterns, even math – all ages

From Kate of Picklebums

 

Mosaic Madness

Perhaps a bit expensive as far as wooden cubes go but they’re non-toxic, eco friendly and pretty darn adorable.  From Romp

 

Homemade IQ Blocks

Game for visual spatial reasoning made by a software engineer for 3 year old twins.

From Lilac of Learners in Bloom

 

Homemade Cardboard Construction Set

From Jackie of Happy Hooligans

 

Homemade Geoboard

From Tara of Feels Like Home

 

The list of great board games for spatial awareness is endless.  Here are just a few:

Checkers, Chess, Othello, Traverse, Swish, Tri Spy

 

By the way, no affiliate links here.  I simply enjoy sharing cool stuff with you when I find it.

 

Looking for even MORE brain boosting fun?  Check out the complete Roundup category for phonological activities, memory activities and more.

 

Happy learning!