Dr. Marsha Sorenson, FCOVD, is back for another weekly issue of the blog series that helps keep your kids off screens–VISIONary Play! In honor of August is Vision & Learning Month, we’re taking a look at toys, products, games, and activities that Keep Summer Learning in Sight. This season, prevent summer learning loss by keeping your eyes on the learning prize and providing your children with vision-enhancing toys and a comprehensive vision exam before the fall!
A great way to enjoy the summer sunshine, use some imagination, and improve visual motor skills is to play with sidewalk chalk! Sidewalk chalk is so versatile- you can not only use it to draw anything you can think of, but also to set up popular playground games like hopscotch, four square, or a course for follow the leader!
Sidewalk chalk allows kids to be creative! Creativity and imagination are important foundational skills for developing critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Picturing something in your mind and then drawing it builds visualization ability and improves visual motor integration. Visualization is the ability to picture something in your mind, which is important for reasoning geometrically in math class, learning spelling words, and comprehending what is read. A good reader doesn’t really see the individual words on a page–they visualize a movie playing in their mind!
By drawing something you see in your mind, you are improving the integration between the visual and motor systems. Integration of the visual and motor systems is important for handwriting and copying from the board.
Get some sidewalk chalk and have some creative summer fun today!
