Photo:  Eileen Counihan

First you may be asking “WHY would visual perception be found on a website called “The Motor Story?”  The short answer is that early movement helps develop concepts related to form (round, square, curvy, big, little) and space (how far away, how big, concepts of right, left, up and down).Touch and movement develop spatial concepts important to understanding the world we SEE.

When the infant first reaches out to bat at a toy or touch Mommy’s face, the concept of distance begins to develop.  When the toddler reaches for a cup of milk and knocks it over, assessing distance becomes even better.   Crawling to a toy initially is an arduous task.  Getting there quickly (because the toy is close at hand) or struggling across the room is remembered.  As the “motor memory” is forming, associated visual information is being stored. 

Feeling a round ball or the sharp corner of the coffee table when cruising all help develop an understanding of shapes.  Picture books identifying shapes can be helpful,  but keep in mind that they present a two dimensional image of shapes.  There is so much more learning that occurs when the child actually holds an elliptically shaped object.

Asking the child to climb “up” develops the spatial concept of “up” or vertical.  Climbing under the table begins to develop a sense of “Spatial Relationships.”

The table is above and I am below.  “Put the yellow block next to the red one” not only helps teach colors, it further develops the relationship between objects in space.  As the child gets older you can refine this to “Place the rectangular block to the left of the square one.”

Gross motor games involving imitation of movement not only establishes body awareness, it helps develop a sense of how the body moves (to the right, left) and over time this can be reversed to see the other person’s perspective (The dance teacher’s right and left vs yours). 

Related to posture and trunk strength, the child needs to be able to sit upright and focus to look carefully at picture books and discern salient details.

Recognizing and identifying shapes is one aspect of spatial reasoning.

Many children struggle to detect the difference between a square and a diamond.  Note the increased difficulty of the puzzle on the right. (Pictured-Super Minds*)

Learning to draw and write is a complex process that requires trunk strength (to be able to sit upright), hand strength and good dexterity, a sense of how to draw basic strokes and how lines and shapes relate to each other (the direction they go, whether they connect, etc.).

Being able to see a design and then reproduce it is a wonderful challenge. The “Tricky Fingers”* is a wonderful activity which strengthens finger muscles while challenging visual perceptual skills.  Reproducing designs

can also be done with blocks, beads, elastic bands (Geoboards), cut out pieces of cardboard and construction paper.

Infants:

Making sure the infant is comfortable with touch is import.  This way, as the baby grows touch exploration will occur naturally and spontaneously.

Make sure the infant is strengthening trunk muscles.  This is important so the baby will be able to move comfortably around the environment.   Crawling, rolling, scooting, cruising all give valuable information about the space inhabited and the objects seen.

Move interesting objects in front of the infant’s visual field.  Watch as the baby follows the object with the eyes.

Babies and Toddlers:

Provide lots of opportunities to move around. Each time the baby rolls across the blanket onto the floor, a sense of distance improves.  Making a beeline for the stairs (which you thought the baby couldn’t reach) starts to cement near and far.  Cruising around the entire room begins to establish an understanding of “square footage.”  When the neophyte crawler tries to make it down that one step into the living room and has a face plant, a valuable lesson in depth perception  occurs.

Provide lots of opportunities to explore objects.  Common objects gathered from all over the house will suffice.  Obviously make sure the objects are not sharp enough to hurt the child and large enough that they won’t be ingested.  Also make sure there is nothing toxic about them.  Even with these restrictions, I think there is a treasure trove in anyone’s house. 

In the vanity you may find plastic bottles of varying shapes, curlers, brushes.

In the kitchen cabinet, bowls to nest, spoons to bang on pots, lids which make great cymbals, baskets of varying shapes and sizes.

In the junk drawers, be surprised with what you may find.

Provide many opportunities to use imitation.  Hand play and body play activities are important.  This facilitates visual attention and the movement reinforces spatial concepts.

Toys and stuffed animals provide the opportunity for increasing visual attention.  Dance the stuffed bear in front of the baby.  This not only increases attention but by moving back and forth the eyes learn to “track,” or follow the object with the eyes.

Picture books help the baby and toddler to begin focusing on two dimensional visual information and make the conversion from the three dimensional to the two dimensional  visual world.  They also help increase visual focus and attention.

Block play can be introduced with “Stack ‘em ups and knock ‘em down” games.  As the toddler grows, encourage independent stacking.

Nesting toys should be a regular part of play time as well.  Measuring cups and plastic bowls will suffice.  No need to run to the store for these, although very inexpensive plastic cups can be purchased at the local  pharmacy (what used to be the five and dime).

Activities which require Visual Tracking:

Balloons         Marble runs

Bubbles          Puppet play

Preschool:

Block building continues but  encourage horizontal as well as vertical structures.  In essence, as the child grows, three dimensional structures should develop.  If the child does not do this spontaneously,  build a four walled frame for a simple house and encourage the child to continue the pattern by stacking blocks around the first layer.

Puzzles, bead and block designs become more complex.  Individual form board type puzzles should lead to integrated puzzles.  Do not push the child to complex puzzles until successful with a limited number of pieces.  When helping with puzzles skills, direct the child’s attention to the straight edges and corners.   This helps build important spatial concepts.

Note the increasing complexity of the puzzles pictured here.

Recommended puzzles (with a nice gradation in degree of difficulty):

Judy

Laurie

Ravensberger

Games with Spatial Components can be introduced (with the older preschooler):

Checkers

Tic tac toe

The Square Game

Games which encourage Visual Memory:

Memory

Concentration (card game)

What’s in the Bag?

Activities that develop Figure Ground skills:

Books such as “I Spy” and “Where’s Waldo?”

Hidden pictures, activity books

“I see something you don’t see” games (great for long car rides)

Find all the (Squares/circles/rectangles) in the room

Activities to increase Visual Discrimination:

Dominoes                           Mazes

Bingo                                  Picture/letter searches

Slap Jack (card game)       Smarty Farms*

Developing Spatial Relationships through 3-D Construction:

Popsicle sticks

pipe cleaners/ Sticky Wicks

Geo Boards

Cut out cardboard shapes

Mighty Minds/Super Minds*

Lego/Duplo

Snap blocks

Lincoln logs**, Tinker Toys** and other building forms

**Often found at tag sales

Identifying and Creating Patterns:

Weaving

Blocks

Beads

Peg boards

Tricky Fingers*

Geometrical Design Coloring books (e.g. Buki)

Making chains (of paper clips, etc.)

Visual Tracking:

More Balloons, Bubbles and Eye Hand activities (e.g learning to catch a ball)

Flashlight tag

Glitter  wands

Obviously visual spatial and visual perceptual skills play a key role in learning to read and write as well as understanding many math concepts.  With so many fun activities listed here to get through, WHY would you waste time on boring flash cards and workbooks with a preschooler ?!?!

Elementary and Beyond:

All of the activities listed above should continue with added demand.

Puzzles and building structures get bigger and more complex.

Lego sets

Structures with gears and joints

Model cars, airplanes, etc.

Miscellaneous building kits

Games become more challenging:

Chinese Checkers                       Battleship

Chess                                          Card Games

Backgammon                              Connect Four

Abolone                                       Quadrillo

Mastermind                                  Travers

There are many others- use these as examples.

Card games which require recall (e.g. Solitaire)

Increased complexity of designs in crafts and artwork

By first grade, visual perceptual skills are drawn upon throughout the day.

Learning to read, write and work on new math concepts take a heavy toll on the part of the brain that works on these skills.   Giving the child time to “de-stress” with less demanding, fun ways to use visual perceptual skills will help solidify growing ability in this area.

*Can be ordered through www.theraproducts.com