University of Dayton
eCommons
Stander Symposium Posters
Stander Symposium
4-9-2015
Executive Functioning Games at Home
Allexa D. Gaewsky
University of Dayton, [email protected]
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Gaewsky, Allexa D., "Executive Functioning Games at Home" (2015). Stander Symposium Posters. Book 566.
http://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/566
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Executive Functioning Games at Home
Allexa Gaewsky
Advisor: Mary Fuhs, Ph.D.
Introduction
Research Question
Results and Discussion
Method
Participants
• 6 families participating in TOTS
Can classroom-based games used to boost children’s
cognitive skills be adapted to an at-home format?
Specifically, will parents want to play these games at
home and will they find them useful?
Procedure
Background:
• Each week the families came to the TOTS program and received a
packet with games.
Executive functioning skills include working memory,
inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility (Garon et al.,
2008).
• Working Memory- holding information in mind and
manipulating it. (e.g., Children with strong working
memories are able to remember the rules to a
game.)
• Inhibitory Control- ability to maintain focus despite
distractions. (e.g., When children play the freeze
dance and do not move when the music is off.)
• Cognitive Flexibility- the ability to adapt cognitive
processing strategies to face a new and unexpected
condition. (e.g., Changing tasks during the school
day- going from recess to reading time.)
• Six parents received the games and completed the surveys.
• Out of the six families, five of them did play the games and
really enjoyed them. These results were 83.33% success rate
of playing the games. 100% of families that played the game
said that their children liked the games.
• The one family forgot about the games which is why they did
not play them. The surveys showed that 100% of families who
participated said they would play the games again in the
future.
Executive Functioning games were given to the families each week for
four weeks. The games were age specific so they would be relevant to
what the child could do or was learning to do.
Comments from parents about the games…
• They took a survey on each game and recorded if they played the
games, how many times (between 1 and 5+), if they liked the game,
and if they would play the game again. They also had the
opportunity to provide comments.
“It’s a great tool.”
“The games helped child stay out of bad things.”
“Would like other games and skills to help with my
kids.”
Act ivit ies f or Children 2-3
What we learned from this data is that parents did find these
executive functioning games helpful. They, as well as their
children, enjoyed playing them and said they would play them
again in the future. We will continue these surveys and use them
to improve the resources we can give to parents. We also plan to
test if children improve their executive functioning skills if they
play these games at home with their parents.
Playtime
Cup Tower
Children’s executive functioning skills are important for
their adaptation to a learning environment and have been
shown to predict their early academic skills (e.g., Fuhs et
al., 2014). Therefore, researchers and early education
professionals are interested in ways to boost children’s
executive functioning skills as a way to prepare them for
complex learning environments.
Recent research suggests that common pre-kindergarten
games can be adapted to teach children executive
functioning skills (Schmitt et al., 2014). However, not all
children participate in a pre-kindergarten program and
may not have access to these types of activities at home
or school. We tested if these games may be useful in a
home setting as a way of promoting executive functioning
skills. As part of a larger school readiness program for
families in Dayton (Taking Off To Success), we provided
families with executive functioning games that we
adapted to an at-home format. We surveyed parents to
see if they played the games, if they enjoyed them, and
how they can be improved.
You don’t need much to build fun things
around the house. Grab a few plastic
cups and stack them into a tower and
then show your child how fun it is to
knock them all down. Hand the cups over
and let him/ her have a go. Take turns
building all kinds of new towers!
Brainy Background
Supporting children as they explore and
discover will help them become learners
for life. This game also helps your child
discover how the physical world around
him/ her works. Have a back and forth
conversation about his/ her discoveries!
Laundry
Example of take-home game:
The Freeze Game
Child dances when music is on
and when the music is off
He/she stops dancing. When the
songs are slow, the child
dances slow and when the song is
fast, the child dances
fast. After the child masters these
he/she is told to do the opposite:
dance slow to the fast songs and
dance fast to the slow songs.
(Tominey et al., 2011).
Laundry Sense
Give your child a chance to explore
textures when you’re putting away
laundry. Before you fold, pass them to
your child first and ask him/ her how each
feels. Is it soft, rough, thin, heavy? What
else feels that way?
Brainy Background
This game helps your child “think like
a detective,” because he/ she is using
his/ her senses (including touch) to
understand the world around him/ her.
References
Mealtime
Bowl Half Full
When your child is eating out of a bowl,
have a back and forth conversation about
how full the bowl is. Is it a little full?
Half full?
Brainy Background
When you have a back and forth
conversation about how full the bowl
is, you are helping your child gain basic
ideas about math. It can also help him/
her learn new words!
If you wish t o share t hese Vroom act ivit ies wit h ot hers, please do not alt er or edit t hem in any way. In order t o preserve scie nt ific
accuracy, Vroom act ivit ies should always appear verbat im, exact ly as t hey are writ t en here, and in t heir ent iret y, including t h e brainy
backgrounds. If t hese act ivit ies are shared, Vroom acknowledgement and at t ribut ion is request ed and appreciat ed.
Page 9
Examples of Vroom Games for ages 2-3
www.vroom.org
Figure. Examples of evidence-based games given to parents.
Fuhs, M. W., Nesbitt, K. T., Farran, D. C., & Dong, N. (2014). Longitudinal
associations between executive functioning and academic achievement
across content areas. Developmental Psychology, 50, 1698-1709. doi:
10.1037/a0036633
Garon, N., Bryson, S. E., & Smith, I. M. (2008). Executive function in
preschoolers: A review using an integrative framework. Psychological
Bulletin, 134(1), 31-60. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.1.31
Schmitt, S. A., Finders, J., & McClelland, M. M. (2015). Residential mobility,
inhibitory control and academic achievement in preschool. Early Education
and Development, 26, 189-208. doi: 10.1080/10409289.2015.975033
Tominey, S. L., & McClelland, M. M. (2011). Red light, purple light: Findings
from a randomized trial using circle time games to improve behavioral selfregulation in preschool. Early Education and Development, 22, 489 – 519.
doi: 10.1080/10409289.2011.574258