Contests that Challenge a Child’s Mind
There are times when a child is bored and their mind isn’t being used in a way that it should. Challenging a child’s mind is the best way to keep it active and to keep them thinking. These types of challenges will enable your child to develop in ways that’ll help them in the future.
There are many ways to challenge your child’s mind, but one of the best ways is to have a contest. When they have something to reach for it’ll be easier to get it done and you’ll find they will want to challenge themselves. They’ll see it as fun and they won’t see it as a job or a chore. Here are several contests you can do with your child to help them to continually challenge their mind.
Reading Contests
In some locations the school or public library will hold reading contests. These are usually sponsored by businesses in the community and the prizes are generally geared specifically to the children. They’re usually split into groups based on age, which helps challenge each group appropriately.
These contests typically run during the summer when the children are out of school and don’t have anyone daily to help them read. Some communities also run these types of contests during extended breaks which might include Christmas or Spring Break.
Generally these contests are either based on the number of words read or the number of books read. They have to be within the reading level of the age and (depending on the age) the books may have to be a certain number of pages. Sometimes these contests are completed on trust while others may require some kind of method to prove the book was read. Once proof is made, prizes are awarded. They usually have a grand prize and that may be what the trigger point will be for your child.
Science Contests
Science is another topic that comes up a lot. If you live in a community with a lot of science-related things, you may find these types of contests for children of all ages. You may see contests for visiting museums or if you have exhibits that visit your community there may be contests for those. Science fairs are another source of contests you may see for children. Those may run during the school year, but if your community has strong ties to science you may see them in the summer too.
These types of contests may be run similar to a reading contest in that the prizes will be geared toward the children, but you may also find some have bigger prizes because the organizers may have more funding for contests than others. You may see trips to other places that have bigger science-type attractions or you may see free tickets to museums that are near your community.
Continually challenging your child’s mind is important. Not only will it keep the mind active, but it will also help them learn and retain what they read. Sometimes the things that are the most important can be the most difficult for your child to do, so the best way to help them is to find contests in these areas. If you find your child is not being challenged enough, consider finding contests for them to participate in. When you do you’ll begin to see changes in your child that will help them now and in the future.