• Have your child search for license plates with a vowel in them.  Once he spots one, see if he can say each sound and blend it into a nonsense word to work on attention and blending sounds.  See who can find the most in 15 minutes.
• See if your child can get through an entire song clapping on beat.  When she gets good at this, give her a two step pattern to follow to the beat, such as clap (hands), slap (thighs), clap, slap, etc.  Rhythm is a key developmental skill and can help with attention and memory.
• Work on I Spy type activities with 3 items.  You say “I see a bell, a red car and a robin’s nest.”  Your child should point to these 3 things in the environment in the order you named them.  As she becomes confident, the descriptions should become more challenging.  Try descriptions like these: “Find the thing that tells time, the place you can get a drink of water and something that opens and closes a door,” instead of a clock, a water fountain and a door handle.
• Have your child make rhymes out of the street names.  Tyvola rhymes with Motorola and Rea rhymes with may, bay, clay and hay.
• Have your child find numbers or letters using magazines or word and number search books.  Choose a targeted number or letter for him to circle or cross out (find all the Ts or 4s on a page or in the article), pushing accuracy first and then speed.
• Super Circles TM is an easy travel game that combines matching numbers and colors, increasing your child’s processing speed.  You may not be able to play this in the car, but it is an easy game to tuck away and bring to your destination.
• To help with math skills, have your child add license plate numbers (392TVQ is 14 points).  For an older child, have her multiply (392TVQ is 3 x 9 x 2 = 54).  The person who has the most points after 30 minutes is the winner.

Parents, these are games are meant for the entire family, including you, because everyone can benefit from brain training!