

He anticipated our modern understanding of the brain by demonstrating how specific movements for eye-teaming, hand-eye coordination, and whole-body awareness bring swift improvements in reading, writing, understanding, and comprehension in students of all ages. Dennison began to explain learning as incremental changes in attention behavior and function. Starting in the 1970s, educator and reading specialist Dr. In the field of neurosciences, leading thinkers like Doidge, Amen, Perry, Ratey, and Medina describe how movement stimulates the brain’s lifelong growth and plasticity. With all the new research into the correlation between brain function and movement, it is clear to see why these movements have worked so well, they often bring about dramatic improvements in areas such as:Īcademics: reading, writing, math, test taking Dennison who say that the interdependence of movement, cognition, and applied learning is the basis of their work.Ĭlients, teachers, and students have been reporting for over 30 years on the effectiveness of these simple activities. Dennison and his wife and colleague, Gail E. The twenty-six activities, along with a program for “learning through movement” were developed by educator and reading specialist Dr.

These activities recall the movements naturally done during the first years of life when learning to coordinate the eyes, ears, hands, and whole body. This exercise helps to improve concentration and develop fine motor skills.The 26 Brain Gym® movements, exercises, or activities refer to the original 26 Brain Gym activities, sometimes abbreviated as the 26. When they manage to do it, switch sides: index finger on the right hand side, pinky on the left. They should try to lift their pinky on their right hand, and at the same time lift their index finger on their left. Get your child to make a fist with both hands. This activity gets the brain ready to learn and assimilate new information. Then, they need to try to pat their head with their other hand. Your child should start by rubbing their belly with one hand, in a circular motion. Here’s another activity that stimulates both halves of the brain. This is a disassociation exercise that boosts brain power. Keep trying this activity until your child is able to draw the figures independently. At the same time, they should try to draw a circle with their left hand. In this exercise, the child draws a triangle with their right hand, whether in the air or on a piece of paper. This exercise is a good one to try before starting a complicated homework task. This activity helps develop written language skills, mathematical ability and symbolic thinking. This is a two-handed drawing technique: little ones should try to draw the same figure with both hands at once. Next, they repeat this movement in reverse, touching their left elbow to their right knee. Your child should stand up, and touch their left knee with their right elbow.
#Brain gym kids series#
This simple series of movements activates both hemispheres of the brain, which work together. This exercise helps burn off excess energy, which is ideal before beginning an activity that demands focus.

This stimulates the creative hemisphere of the brain and activates the muscles in the hand. The important part of this exercise is to use their non-dominant hand: a right-handed child should draw with their left hand, and vice versa.
#Brain gym kids how to#
They can “draw” the figure in the air, or you can give them a piece of paper and show them how to trace the line. Draw the number 8Īsk your child to draw the number 8 over and over again using their finger. Susana Buscaglia- Brain gym for children: a way to boost learning 1. It detects and balances tensions in the area of learning that accumulate throughout our lifetimes, and develops creativity and goal orientation. Brain gym is a technique that seeks to generate new neuronal connections to achieve balance and enhance learning.
