13 Mind-Blowing Tips To Increase Concentration Power In Kids

“Can’t you just stop fidgeting and finish your homework?”

I’m sure we’ve all asked our children this at least a few dozen times while they’re studying. I know I have!

As a mother of a vibrant, fun-loving, talkative eight-year-old girl, it is often a challenge for me to get her to sit in one place, teach her how to focus on her homework and finish it without getting too distracted.

And yes, I say “too distracted” because children are naturally energetic and exuberant and we cannot expect them to focus completely and not get distracted at all!

But, having said that, it IS possible to help a child focus on a task and increase concentration skills for a longer period of time.

RELATED: The secret formula to make your child study and do homework

Before we head there, here are a couple of things you need to understand…

Children are naturally curious with unmatchable energy…

And the main reason they face these concentration issues is that they are wired differently.

When the task they’re given isn’t fun, they get bored and quickly shift their attention to something more interesting — unlike us adults where we complete tasks whether we like it or not!

So first let’s understand what the signs are of low concentration in children:

• Lack of interest
• Inability to sit still and maintain a train of thought
• Easily distracted
• Appears to be daydreaming
• Difficulty following instructions
• Inability to keep things organised

Here’s Vidya Ragu, psychologist, learning & development specialist, talk about how to improve a child’s concentration, attention span and focus, and how to deal with concentration problems in children.

Having said that, here are some of the best ways to help improve your child’s concentration quickly and easily. Take a look at techniques on how to improve concentration in kids!

13 Techniques To Improve & Increase Concentration Power & Focus In Children

1. Play focus games & exercises to build attention

Since children learn more by playing, it is always a good idea to try and make their activities a little more fun.

Keep away gadgets, tablets and computers and allow children to play with regular toys, activities that improve attention and concentration, and concentration exercises.

Studies have shown that gadgets actually reduce attention span and memory power of children so they should be used sparingly or not at all.

Take a look at these powerful concentration games and activities for kids:

• • Thinking games

    You can train and strengthen a child’s ability to concentrate and focus by playing concentration games that require thinking, planning and the use of memory. Crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles and card games such as ‘Memory’ and ‘Uno’ actually improve attention for words, numbers and pictures, while picture puzzles—in which your younger child has to look for things that are ‘wrong’ in the picture or look for hard-to-find objects—also improve attention and increase concentration.

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• Sequencing

  The link between sequencing and concentration is a strong one. Following recipes, setting the table and putting things in alphabetical order are great activities for kids who have concentration difficulties.

• Just sit

  This game involves challenging your child to sit in a chair without moving or fidgeting to see how long he can do it. Another concentration improvement game in this category is ‘Statue!’ Through repeated play, the child’s brain is ‘exercised’ and challenged, which strengthens mind-body connections and improves focus.

• Spot the difference

  These help in making your child concentrate for long and helps to improve focus as your child looks into the details. You can choose puzzle boards that are right for your child’s age! And hey, you can join your child for the game too!

• Tongue Twisters

  Betty bought a butter?! Oops! Your child needs a lot of focussing to get this right! Surf the internet for tongue twisters of varying levels of difficulty to give your child a good concentration workout.

• What’s missing?

  Read a sequence of numbers, alphabets or words from their favourite rhyme — but here’s the catch — skip a number/alphabet/word in the process. Your little detective needs to focus closely to spot the missing item! Another option is to make them count backwards or narrate a story in reverse (based on their age group)

• Memory game

  Pick a theme, and you and your child take turns to add to a sequence of items in that theme. As your child tries to recollect each, they will put to use their memory, thus boosting their concentration power.

RELATED: 10 quick and proven techniques to boost your child’s memory

2. Prepare a distraction-free environment

Some children respond well in an environment that is soothing and calming but other children may thrive in an environment that has a lot of hustle and bustle.

Understanding what kind of environment your child prefers to study is the first step to increase the concentration level in him/her.

• Ambience – Soft instrumental music and soft lighting helps to set the mood for studying. “Manav used to be quite hyper all the time, but after I put a fish tank in his room, I find that he has calmed down quite a bit!” says Kalpana, mother of 4-year-old Manav. “I think just watching these fish calmly swimming around has had an amazing effect on him!”
• Gadgets – Ideally, all gadgets including televisions, iPads, cell phones etc. need to be switched off or kept in a different room to avoid distractions. If you need to use a computer to study, make sure that it is used only for studying and nothing else.
• Reachable material – Keep everything that is required at hand so that your child does not need to get up to get anything. All homework books, crayons, textbooks, pencils and even water can be kept on the table or nearby. This also helps keep track of how much work is left and helps you to manage your time better. All these help kids improve focus and increase attention!

3. Feed them greens & healthy food to improve concentration

Eating healthy food has a direct link to how well a child concentrates and there are different foods that help develop a child’s concentration. Eating junk food or food rich in sugar makes a child sluggish while food rich in proteins such as almonds, eggs and lean meat have the ability to raise awareness and increase concentration levels!

• Caffeine – A recent trend in the US shows that children have increased their intake of coffee and caffeinated energy drinks. This gives them an unhealthy dose of sugar which can lead to a “crash” of energy later.
• Green food – An interesting study in the University of Ulster, UK shows that eating toast and baked beans for breakfast increases cognition. Experts say that eating greens and fruits inject the body with antioxidants which in turn boost your brain power.

4. Fix a routine to follow for better concentration

Anita, mother of 4 year-old Rahul has everything planned to a T. “Rahul comes home from school at 3.30 pm and has a snack. At 4 pm, I take him outside to cycle or play with the neighbourhood children.”

“At 5 pm, he is back home, has a wash and snack and is at his study desk by 5.30. He studies or does homework till 7.30 pm after which he has his dinner and is in bed by 8.30,” she says.

While we don’t need to be as regimented as Anita, it is important to maintain a schedule for your child, even if it is a more flexible one.

This not only helps with time management but also helps program your child’s brain to know when he has to study.

And this, in turn, helps to increase the child’s concentration in studies! For example, Rahul knows that after playing, he has to study and automatically gets into “study mode” once the play is done.

5. Naps and breaks boost concentration!

Most children are able to concentrate best after a good nights’ rest.

A power nap for twenty minutes after school or in the afternoon should also do the trick to increase concentration.

All bathroom breaks, hunger pangs etc. should be taken care of before the study time begins as they have the tendency to interfere with concentration.

6. Divide bigger tasks into smaller tasks

Studying an entire chapter in one go is quite difficult for a child. It always helps to break it down into pages or even paragraphs so that the child feels a sense of accomplishment for finishing a small task and this will motivate him to continue on.

This is true not just for studies but for household chores as well. Nita, mother of 8-year-old Ankit says, “I had been nagging Ankit to clean out his cupboard for weeks but he never got round to doing it.”

“Then I started breaking it down and I’d tell him ‘today you need to do the bottom shelf’ and sure enough, by the time I get back home in the evening, it would have been done!”

7. Understand your child’s method of learning (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic)

All children learn in different ways. Some children process information easily when they see it, some when they hear it and some when they have practical knowledge of it and can touch it.

It is important to understand which category your child falls under, mostly because this will help them understand information better and the learning will be more long term than short term.

• Visual: Children who are visual understand information better when they are able to see it. In this case, the child will be able to concentrate better if she is allowed to read the information and write it down as well.
• Making flash cards: If your child is learning spellings or even concepts, writing them down on small cards and repeatedly showing them to her will help her understand and learn these concepts that much faster.

• Drawing: Asking the child to draw what he is studying may also help him visualize the material better. A bonus is that this also helps his fine motor skills to develop.
• Doodling: Often, we see our children scribbling while studying and think that they’re distracted but what really happens is that the doodling helps them recall what they have been studying at that point and so remembering it at a later stage becomes easier.
• Auditory: Children who learn better when they hear information are auditory in nature.
• Reading aloud: Children who are auditory in nature learn better by reading the material aloud or listening to someone else reading. In this regard, they might find audio books more helpful than paperback books.
• Music: Listening to music may also help children concentrate in studies.
• Kinaesthetic: Children who are kinaesthetic need to be able to touch and feel their subject matter to understand and process it better. For these children, learning by practical applications may be more helpful than reading aloud or writing.“When my child was learning about planets, I took him to the planetarium and when we got back home, we sat together and made a model of the solar system and coloured it. Ever since then, he has never forgotten the order of the planets or which planets have rings etc,” says Nina, mother of 5-year-old Prakash.

RELATED: The Simple Technique To Make Your Child Interested In Learning

8. Prepare your child for the next task

When your child is busy, tell him what he has to do next, but allow a few minutes, until he stops and starts the new activity.

This helps, especially when a child is engaged doing something he likes and enjoys doing, since there would be a reluctance to stop what he is doing and start something else.

9. Set short time goals for better concentration

Set a time limit for the completion of a goal. If it is studying, then you can say that a certain number of pages need to be done within twenty minutes.

Keep in mind that the average time for an adult to concentrate completely is about 42 minutes and so the concentration span of a child would be much less.

Therefore, it would be wise to have shorter time limits such as 15 minutes to 20 minutes.

Another thing to keep in mind is that while some children thrive under time goals, other children might feel pressurized and may start feeling anxious and lose focus.

10. Set up a reward system

Rewards don’t necessarily have to be tokens such as chocolates or toys.

They can also be in the form of praise or even further studying!

Says Anushka, mother of 7-year-old Mansi, “My daughter loves to solve maths problems so as a reward for studying Hindi which she hates, I allow her to do a page of sums.”

This is sure to help build and increase concentration, right?

11. Allow time for distractions

Kids are naturally energetic and exuberant. Giving them time to vent out their energy once their time limit for a task is up may actually help them focus better on the next task!

It would help if your child did something completely different during this time.

For example, Shantha, grandmother of 8-year-old Shifrah says, “When I’m teaching my granddaughter spellings, we do 10 spellings at a time after which I allow her to run or skate around the house for a minute or two. I find that this helps her focus on the next 10 spellings.”

She finds that mixing physical activity with a mental activity is very effective.

12. Use energy effectively for better concentration

Some children have high energy in the mornings while others have high energy in the evenings.

Studying or doing activities during this time will help your child focus better on the task at hand. But how can one concentrate on studies?

Always start your child on the tougher activities during his high energy time.

As energy levels go down, you can always switch to a lighter activity.

This will help to increase concentration power!

13. Try deep breathing and imagery to improve concentration

Combining simple relaxation techniques such as deep breathing with positive visual imagery helps increase brain power to improve or learn new skills.

For instance, you can ask a child to close her eyes and imagine that she is paying attention in class.

In her imagination, what can she see?

What can she hear? What is distracting her?

You can further ask her to imagine how she would take care of those distractions.

Once she is able to clearly picture this, you will find that her behaviour at school also changes!

Conclusion

Like any skill, concentration can be improved and made automatic. The trick is to be consistent. These 13 tips to increase concentration power are a win/win solution because they not only help improve concentration but also strengthen the relationship that you have with your child.

Don’t forget to share these concentration tips with your friends & family. Have we missed a point on how to increase concentration power in kids? Do let us know which worked best for you & your child, in the comments below.

Other Blog Reads:
Concentration problems in children – major causes

How to handle hyperactive kids: 7 calming games & activities

5 Ways To Improve Your Child’s Social Skills

Article originally published on – June 30, 2015, updated on – July 08th 2020