Spatial Reasoning Skills

"While boosting kids' math and verbal skills may draw more attention from parents and educators, spatial reasoning skills play an important — sometimes overlooked — role in academic and career success.  And preschool, it turns out, is a key time to foster children's spatial cognition," observes Deborah Farmer Kris in KQED News.  Kris describes four steps for fostering spatial reasoning skills:

• Use spatial language — Children who are exposed to more spatial language during their preschool years outperform their peers on spatial tests years later.
• Engage in simple mapping activities — Research suggests that children as young as 3 years old can appreciate the relationship between a map and the physical world.
• Invest in blocks and puzzles — Children who regularly play with blocks and jigsaw puzzles have more advanced block design scores than children who play with such toys less often.
• Read spatially challenging books — Look for books that include pictures from various angles or perspectives that contain maps and abundant spatial language.

Contributed by Kirsten Haugen

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