Improving spatial skills in children and teens: 12 evidence-based tips

© 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

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Spatial skills are crucial for success in STEM and the visual arts. So what should we do to amend spatial reasoning?

Studies suggest that kids can hone their skills through a combination of concrete exploration, spatial talk, easily-on activities, and explicit teaching.

Can your child rotate an object in your "mind's center"? Figure out what it would look like if it were tilted 45 degrees? 60 degrees? 120 degrees?

Tin your child use a map? Translate the calibration of the map to objects in the real globe?

These spatial abilities — called "mental rotation" and "spatial scaling" — help kids reason about shapes, angles, and distances. They also help kids think more than clearly and accurately most mathematicsouth (Gilligan et al 2020).

And other spatial skills, like the ability to visualize the cross-department of a three-dimensional object, are crucial in a wide range of problem-solving domains. Architects and visual artists. Biologists and medical workers. Engineers and geologists. They all benefit from strong spatial skills (Cohen and Hegarty 2014).

So it's little wonder that spatial reasoning scores predict achievement in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Yet traditional schooling does relatively fiddling to foster the evolution of these capacities, and that'south troubling.

opens in a new windowStudies bespeak that people can improve their spatial skills with training, sometimes with dramatic results. What are the practical applications of this research? How can we help kids develop fantabulous spatial skills? Hither's what the research tells u.s.a..

12 evidence-based tactics and activities for developing better spatial skills

one. Encourage agile, physical exploration.

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As I explicate elsewhere, newborns show signs of spatial awareness (Streri et al 2013). And babies as young as 4 months may be capable of mental rotation (Moore and Johnson 2020).

Only how do such skills develop? Information technology isn't past magic.

Experiments confirm that children perform meliorate at spatial reasoning tasks when we allow them to explore and handle objects (Frick and Wang 2014; Slone et al 2018; Moore and Johnson 2020).

For example, in one study, ii months of daily cake play helped babies improve their ability to recognize the shapes of different objects (Schröder et al 2020).

And in another study, but two minutes of hands-on experience helped infants anticipate how a specific object would appear when viewed from different angles (Möhring and Frick 2013).

And so if we want children to hone their spatial intelligence, nosotros should encourage them to move, bear upon, and tinker.

2. Seize everyday opportunities for spatial thinking and spatial talk.

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Nora Newcombe and Andrea Frick have devoted their careers to studying the development of spatial reasoning. And how do these experts suggest we foster spatial skills in children?

Past making kids aware of the many spatial problems and puzzles we encounter in everyday life.

Enquire questions like these, say Newcome and Frick (2010):

Which way does the canvas fit on the bed?
Does the left shoelace go over or under—and which ane is the left?
Will the groceries fit in one bag?
Which shapes do I get if I cutting my bagel the other way—and volition information technology yet fit in the toaster?

Such questions get kids thinking nigh spatial relationships. And it as well introduces them to essential vocabularly — words like "under" and "over," "triangle" and "cube."

Learning such words can aid children reason about spatial properties, and it may really advance the evolution of spatial skills.

For details, encounter my article, opens in a new window"Spatial intelligence: What is information technology, and how can we enhance it?".

iii. Provide kids with tools for building structures, and boost enthusiasm by getting involved yourself.

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An assortment of evidence suggests that children develop better spatial skills when they build structures with blocks and other construction toys.

For more information, run across opens in a new windowthis Parenting Scientific discipline article. It reviews the research in favor of block play, and includes tips for getting your child interested in construction.

4. Introduce construction games that challenge kids to "friction match the design."

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Studies hint that a item course of cake play, called opens in a new windowstructured block play, may exist especially valuable. This is when kids are shown the "blueprints" for a structure, and given a set of blocks to recreate information technology.

In experiments, 8-year-sometime children showed measurable improvements in their mental rotation abilities later but five, 30-minute play sessions.

Postal service-preparation, these kids also showed changes in brain activity, suggesting that that structured cake play had changed the way they candy spatial information (Newman et al 2016).

You can create your own sessions of structured cake play at home with wooden blocks or interlocking plastic blocks (similar Lego or Mega Bloks).

For the budding engineer, I also similar the opens in a new windowFoxMind Equilibrio Game, a set of 18 plastic blocks that come with 60 illustrations of structures to be erected. As the proper name suggests, part of the challenge is getting the structures to remain in remainder, so concentration and fine motor skills are required. (Full disclosure: Parenting Science will receive a small portion of the proceeds for any purchase made through this sales link.)

But whatever your called medium, don't forget to keep up the conversation. "Match-the-design" structure games may exist helpful, in function, because they stimulate spatial talk (Ferrara et al 2011).

5. Teach kids how to sketch shapes and diagrams

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Teachers have long known that sketching can be an first-class way to learn. When we generate our ain illustrations of a structure, system, or concept, we come to empathise it more securely.

It's true for learning scientific concepts, and it'south true for spatial concepts too. Information technology'southward much easier for kids to learn about shapes if they accept adept drawing these shapes themselves! And the benefits of cartoon continue throughout life.

In ane study, researchers institute that higher students improved their comprehension of 3-D diagrams later they'd practiced drawing their own, 3-D sketches (Gagnier et al 2017).

Just students don't all benefit to the same degree from creating sketches and diagrams. The quality of the work matters (Scheiter et al 2017).

Students demand to learn the rudiments of draftsmanship. They need guidance about what features to focus on when creating an analogy. They to larn how to draw basic 2-D and three-D shapes. They need to learn how to depict.

When students get this sort of support, they learn more. For instance, researchers accept found that unproblematic school kids learn more most scientific discipline when they receive guidance for producing scientific drawings (Van Meter and Garner 2005).

And then we shouldn't ignore basic draftmanship skills equally part of a kid'south education. You don't have to be a Michelangelo to larn how to depict a cube, create a pie chart, or sketch a functional diagram of the circulatory system. It just takes a fiddling guidance and practice.

half-dozen. Provide kids with explicit instruction in mental rotation.

What else can we teach our children? Can we actively guide them through the process of mental rotation? Assistance them imagine what shapes would look after moving them around?

Yes. That'southward what Katie Gilligan and her colleagues have shown (Gilligan et al 2020). The researchers created this brief, instructional video about how to practice mental rotation. See for yourself:

Then they tested the effectiveness of the video in an experimental study of 8-year-olds.

What happened?

After intently watching simply one instructional video, kids became significantly more than skillful at mental rotation.

And, relative to kids in a control group, these children likewise showed gains in at least i type of mathematical thinking: They improved their power to solve "missing term" problems, or uncomplicated algebra ("3 + ? = iv").

seven. Encourage children to use and create maps.

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What kind of maps? I'm non talking then much almost maps of the world, or cantankerous-country road maps, though of course it's important for kids to acquire how to use such maps.

Instead, I'm talking well-nigh maps of the familiar spaces that kids inhabit on a daily ground.

Equally it turns out, even very young children are gear up to begin learning near such small-scale maps.

For instance, experiments confirm that four-year-olds tin learn to translate a map of their living room flooring plan. They tin can employ they map to show another person where, in the existent room, they have hidden a toy (Shusterman et al 2008; Vasilyeva and Huttenlocher 2004).

And older kids tin handle more complex mapping activities.

For example, in a study of American 4th graders, kids were given incomplete maps of their school yard and asked to

(ane) locate unmarked features in the school grand (similar a flagpole), and so

(two) add those features to the map — past placing stickers in the correct location on the map.

Some kids were quite accurate, even on their beginning endeavor. Other kids were far off the marking.

How tin nosotros help kids improve? This aforementioned study offers an reply: Make kids more than aware of spatial cues past asking them to justify their decisions.

In another variant of the task, the researchers asked kids to jot down the clues and landmarks they had used to decide where the stickers should proceed the map. And this extra step improved the children's accuracy (Kastens and Liben 2007).

It's a finding that'southward consistent with other studies: opens in a new windowKids learn better when they accept to explicate how they solve problems.

Looking for resource to help teach youngsters most maps? For very young children, I similar

opens in a new windowAs the Crow Flies (Rise and Shine). It helps children think almost seeing the world from a bird'south centre view. For children in primary schoolhouse, another helpful book is opens in a new windowMapping Penny's Earth.

You might observe these books in your local library or bookstore. Y'all can besides purchase them through these links from Amazon, in which case a portion of your purchase will benefit this website.

8. Attempt origami.

Take you ever thought through the steps required to construct a box from a apartment piece of cardboard? Or tried to predict how a newspaper object would expect after folding one of it's faces?

People who are good at such tasks — folding in the mind's eye — take potent spatial skills. Only what'due south particularly interesting is that "mental folding" ability predicts a student'south performance in Stem fields.

For example, a written report of British primary schoolhouse students found that kids with stronger mental folding abilities scored better on tests biological science, physics, and chemistry (Hodgkiss et al 2018).

And researchers doubtable they can heave mental folding ability by training kids in origami — the traditional Japanese art of paper-folding. In a preliminary written report, schoolhouse children improved their functioning on a very challenging mental folding task after but a few hours of origami lessons (Burte et al 2017).

9. Expose kids to tangrams and other spatial puzzles.

I oasis't seen any controlled experiments testing the effects of tangrams or jigsaw puzzles on the development of spatial skills. Merely it seems pretty clear that puzzle-solving ability and spatial intelligence are linked.

For example, in an observational study, researchers tracked the beliefs of toddlers from the age of 2, and and so tested the children's spatial abilities when they were four and a one-half. The more oftentimes kids played with puzzles, the more likely they were to finish the study with loftier test scores (Levine et al 2011).

The U.S. National Council of Teacher's Mathematics promotes the use of tangrams to teach spatial skills. You tin read more well-nigh tangrams — and observe a printable template for making yous own tangrams — in this Parenting Science commodity.

x. Let kids experiment with photography.

As Nora Newcombe points out, photography encourages kids to experiment with different photographic camera angles and different senses of scale (Newcombe 2010).

For ideas to inspire children's photography projects, run across my article, "Digital cameras for kids: Cool tools and windows into the minds of children."

11. Play action video games (and Tetris, besides).

We often hear complaints almost video games. People worry about the effects of playing games with violent content. And it's possible to spend too much time playing video games. Kids can cease up neglecting their school work, losing sleep, and missing out on the vital benefits of outdoor play.

Only video games can also exist excellent educational tools. And certain types of games tin hone a thespian'southward spatial skills.

1 type is the "first person shooter" activity game.

As I explain opens in a new windowelsewhere, young adults with weak spatial skills have fabricated substantial improvements after playing such games.

Are the games violent? Usually. But information technology's the spatial information, not the violence that makes these games useful for spatial grooming. And some not-trigger-happy first-person shooter games exercise exist — similar Mirror'southward Edge and Slime Rancher. Try searching the opens in a new windowCommon Sense Media website for reviews of kid-friendly games.

Another beneficial video game Tetris.

In an experiment on higher undergraduates, Melissa Terlecki and colleagues (2008) asked undergraduates to take weekly practice tests of mental rotation. In addition, some students were randomly assigned to spend an hr each week playing Tetris. Other students were assigned to play a non-spatial computer game (Solitaire).

At the end of twelve weeks, both groups had made large improvements on the mental rotation job.

But unlike the non-gamers, the students with the supplemental Tetris preparation also showed transfer effects — improvements on other, related tests of spatial thinking. These improvements were withal evident when the students were re-tested two-four months later on.

12. Encourage kids to apply gestures when solving spatial issues.

Adults and children tend to solve bug more readily when they are allowed to gesture.

For example, in ane experiment, people were better at performing mental rotation tasks when they were encouraged to use their hands (Chu and Kita 2011).

And in another study, 5-twelvemonth-olds who spontaneously gestured during spatial problem-solving were more similar to become the right respond (Ehrlich et al 2006).

Read more nigh the many cognitive benefits of gesturing in my article, opens in a new window"The science of gestures: Why it's good for kids to talk with their hands."

And a final word to the wise: Be prepared for gradual progress!

In a popular article forAmerican Education, Nora Newcombe (2010) stresses that students with poor spatial skills are often ho-hum to improve – in the beginning.

And so if you commencement a program of spatial skills training, don't exist discouraged if kids don't prove improvements right away. It may take six sessions or more than before yous notice a difference.

References: Tips for improving spatial skills in children and teens

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Chu M and Kita S. 2011. The nature of gestures' beneficial role in spatial problem solving. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2022 Feb;140(1):102-sixteen.

Cohen and Hegarty 2014. Visualizing cantankerous sections: Training spatial thinking using interactive animations and virtual objects. Learning and Individual Differences 33: 63–71.

Ehrlich SB, Levine SC, Goldin-Meadow Southward. 2006. The importance of gesture in children'due south spatial reasoning. Dev Psychol. 2006 November;42(6):1259-68.

Ferrara K, Golinkoff R, Hirsh-Pasek K, Lam W and Newcombe N. 2011. Cake Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play. Mind, Encephalon and Education 5(iii): 143-151.

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championship image of child looking at jigsaw pieces past RecycleMan / istock

image of toddler reaching for shape past Cicy / istock

image of girl peering through rectangle by opens in a new windowYoshihito / flickr

image of 3-D shapes past Luisrftc

epitome of kids reading map by monkeybusinessimages / istock

image of origami fox by Svetlana Khoruzhaia / istock

Content last modified 9/2020

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Source: https://parentingscience.com/spatial-skills/