Attention Games: 101 Fun, Easy Games That Help Kids Learn to Focus

If you want to focus children's attention, you first have to capture their interest. Attention Games is filled with interesting and child-tested activities that can help children of all ages become better at focusing and paying attention. By sharing the upbeat, joyful activities in Attention Games, you can enhance your child's intelligence, boost his confidence, increase his ability to concentrate on one thing for long periods, and show that you care.

Developed by Barbara Sher; parent, teacher, play therapy specialist and paediatric occupational therapist; these activities are specially designed to encourage kids to expand their powers of attention in ways that will help them throughout their lives.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

How to Contact the Author.

PART ONE Games for Infants.

• Follow My Face.
• Stick Out Your Tongue.
• The Glory of Hands.
• Sock on a Bottle.
• Perfect Rattles.
• First Exercises.
• Visually Amused.
• A Light Touch.
• Can You Hear What I Hear?
• A Very Merry Unbirthday.
• Pokey Pudding Hole.
• Dangling Toys.
• Bat the Ball.
• High Chair Fling.
• Ice Cube on a Tray.
• If It Doesn’t Hurt—It’s a Toy.
• A Spotlight in the Dark.
• What’s out There?
• Where’d It Go?

PART TWO Games for 1- to 3-Year-Olds.

• Bracelet of Leaves.
• The Enchantment of Water.
• Follow the Floating Feather.
• The Knocking Game.
• Ping-Pong Balls and Coffee Cans.
• Surprise Me.
• The Feely Game.
• What Is That Sound?
• From Beginning to End.
• Being a Radio.
• Catch a Falling Scarf.
• Instant Picture.
• You’ve Got Mail.
• Kaleidoscope.
• Magnet Hunt.
• Put a Lid on It.
• Ooh—Smell This!
• What’s in the Sock?

PART THREE Games for 3- to 6-Year-Olds.

• My Story Is the Best Story.
• Another Viewpoint.
• Art de Deux.
• Batting Practice.
• The Happening Book.
• Lessons from the Rocks.
• Mismatched Tea Party.
• Plenty Peanut Hunt.
• Regroup Time.
• Shadow Games.
• Deck of Cards.
• Hand on Top.
• How Many?
• Indoor Picture Hunt.
• Mexican Yo-Yo.
• Mini-Montessori.
• Going on a Monster Hunt.
• Paint the World.
• The Perfect Gifts.
• Sounds Right.
• Word Matching.

PART FOUR Games for 6- to 12-Year-Olds.

• All the Things You Can Think Of.
• Back Writing.
• Belly Counts.
• Expanding Interest.
• Focused Fidgeting.
• Guess How Old.
• How Do You Look?
• Junk Box Art.
• Name the Sounds.
• Navigator.
• Police Report.
• Ring of String.
• Shelf Paper Story.
• Thinking Box.
• I’m the Teacher.
• My Mind Is a TV Screen.
• Paper Plethora.
• Potato Puppets.
• Sensory Matching.
• Tile Painting.
• Backwards Time Management.
• Toe Stepping.
• Toothpick Art.

PART FIVE Games for Teens.

• Accentuate the Positive.
• Achy Breaky Heart.
• Annoyed with the Flower Bud.
• Five Good Moments.
• Getting the Priorities.
• My Special Things.
• I’m Like That Sometimes.
• Imagine That!
• Send Joy to Bulgaria.
• Life Is a Movie, and You Are the Star!
• List Your Options.
• Name the Consequences.
• Postcard Diaries.
• Scriptwriter.
• Self-Portraits.
• Ten Breaths.
• The Home Videographer.
• Waiter, Take My Order.
• Flip-Flop Stamps.
• Word Puzzles.

Index.

"Attention, please! These sensory-rich activities are sensational! They will encourage kids to relate purposefully to others and participate wholeheartedly in the world around them as they focus intentionally on novel experiences and ideas."
- Carol S. Kranowitz, M.A., author of The Out-of-Sync Child

"Barbara Sher's new book Attention Games is just the sort of fresh contribution we need right now in a culture gone mad with labeling kids as 'ADHD.' Her simple games and activities are wonderful for helping kids of all ages focus their attention while learning new things, thinking in new ways, and exploring the world around them."
- Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D., author of The Myth of the A.D.D. Child