Activities to activate the brain

Activities to Activate the Brain

• Did you know that the only organ which sends information directly to the brain is the nose?
• According to recent research, scents have an impressive effect in the brain: they can activate it to work or even to reduce fatigue.
❖ Mint: wakes up the brain; gets rid of your tiredness; reduces or eliminates headaches.
❖ Cinnamon: Increases theenergy; reduces stress and fatigue.
❖ Eucalyptus: Connects both hemispheres; reduces anxiety; excellent for the nerves.
❖ Vanilla: relaxing; eliminates irritability; good to soothe stress.
❖ Chamomille: reduces anxiety; good to eliminate the nerves; reduces stress and fatigue.

Some Ideas

• Keep scented cotton balls inside crystal bottles; label them and invite studentsto smell them in different opportunities.
• Make scented play dough.
• Add some escence to the water colors.
• Place an air freshner in the class.

Scented Play Dough

• Ingredients:
❖ 3 cups of flour
❖ 1 ½ cup of salt
❖ 2 spoonfuls of baby oil
❖ 2 spoonfuls of cream of tartar
❖ 3 cups of water
❖ Vegetable coloring (yellow, green, brown, orred)
❖ Scented oil (vanilla, mint, eucalyptus, cinnamon, or
chamomille)

• Mix flour, salt, baby oil, cream of tartar, and the water. Knead all the ingredients for five minutes. Divide the dough in various portions; add vegetable coloring and the scented oil to each portion.
• For instance, you can add yellow vegetable coloring and vanilla.

Colors• Studies show that colors can modify our mood and behavior
❖ Enrich the class with posters, mind maps, illustrated vocabulary, and so on.
❖ Include in your activities a class of Artistic Expression where you allow the kids to express themselves through finger painting.
❖ Allow the kids to experiment creating new colors with water colors.
❖ Invite the children to relatethe colors with feelings.
❖ Ask the kids to design a collage of their favorite color using old magazines

Physical Activity

• Every time your body exerts any kind of physical activity, it segregates a substance called neurotropine.
• It goes directly to the brain and stimulates the communication among the brain cells.
• Exercise increases the flow of blood and oxygen in thebrain; furthermore, it creates a rapid flow of adrenaline.
• Adrenaline helps fix knowledge in the memory.

• The Robot: Connects both hemispheres, stimulates the flow of oxygen in the brain, carries oxygen to the brain, promotes creativity:
• Prepare four cards. Trace a circle in each but of a different color (red, blue, yellow, and green).
• Explain the activity: Childrenshould give a different physical response for each color. For example, red-raise your right hand; blue-raise your right hand; yellow-raise your right leg; green-raise your left leg.
• The first time show the cards slowly and in order giving the children time to remember what they have to do. The following turns show them in different order and more rapidly.
• Little by little increasethe degree of difficulty: turn around; jump; one step forward; one step back.

• Research says: “chasing games help to improve a child´s spatial awareness”
• 40-40 Home (from 4 years): Choose a starting point, such as a sweater on the ground, where the game will begin. The child who is it closes her eyes and counts to twenty, giving the others the chance to run away and hide. Whenshe´s finished counting, she starts to chase the others. The hidden children must try to reach ‘home’ without being caught. If a child is successful, she shouts, ’40-40 Home!’, as she touches the starting point; but if she´s caught, then she´s out.

• Cloud Nine (from 3 years): Blow up a ballon and secure it firmly, telling the child that it´s a little cloud that wants to stay high up in the...