Committee for Children Blog

Playing Games, Building Brains!

Today's blog entry comes to us from Program Developer Tonje Molyneux, who is excited to tell you all about a great feature of our newly revised Second Step program.

Tonje MolyneuxThe game rules are simple. So are the steps. But what Brain Builder games can do for students is quite complex! And since the games are active and fun, students won’t even realize how hard their brains are working.

Brain Builders are introduced as a warm-up activity in almost every new Second Step lesson from Kindergarten through Grade 3. They are specially designed to build the areas of students’ brains that help them focus attention, use their memory, and control their behavior—skills known together as executive function skills. In this age range, the parts of students’ brains that carry out these skills are still developing. So it’s the perfect time to give those parts of the brain a workout and help them grow stronger.

Here’s what the games do to build these skills:

  • Attention: The games require students to focus on the game leader, the game rules, and their own performance during the game.

  • Memory: To play the games, students must remember and apply increasingly complex game rules.

  • Inhibitory control: Students must stop and start actions to follow the game rules.

Building a strong base in these skills helps students increase their ability to self-regulate, which is important for learning and getting along with others.

Once students learn the basic version of a Brain Builder in their weekly Second Step lesson, it can be played again at any time during the week. Every game comes with a set of challenges to make the brain workout even tougher. The games are great for getting students focused after they come in from recess or warmed up for an important math lesson.

These five-minute Brain Builder games are also a perfect companion to the program’s new focus on Skills for Learning. In fact, students are encouraged to use these skills—like focusing attention, listening, and using self-talk—to help them play the games successfully. They’re given the important message that they can build their brains and get better with practice. What better message can we send our students?

Do you want a sneak peek? Visit our Free Downloads page. There you’ll find a Brain Builder ready for you to try out in your classroom today.

And come back to the blog next week to get the scoop on the engaging media we’ve added to the all-new Kindergarten through Grade 5 Second Step program.