God’s Word tells us that each of us is uniquely and wonderfully made.  In the book of Psalms, Chapter 139: 13-14, David writes, “For it was You who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made”.

With almost 8 billion of us on the planet, that’s a lot of uniqueness!  Within that individuality come various tastes, preferences, opinions, personalities, beliefs, and the list goes on! One of the key functions within our unique minds is the way we process information and LEARN.

There are different “categories of leaners” but a common model is one using these four types of learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and through reading and writing (see last week’s blog for a brief definition of all four, ninawheeling.com).

EducationPlanner.org states, “If you are a visual learner, you learn by reading or seeing pictures. You understand and remember things by sight. You can picture what you are learning in your head, and you learn best by using methods that are primarily visual. You like to see what you are learning. As a visual learner, you are usually neat and clean. You often close your eyes to visualize or remember something, and you will find something to watch if you become bored. You may have difficulty with spoken directions and may be easily distracted by sounds.”

In practical terms, if your child is a visual learner, he or she learns best by SEEING.  These kids are attracted to color, to images, to design, probably nature and to things of beauty.  They may like for things to look “nice”, to be neat and orderly.  I am speaking from personal experience here!  Their notebooks may be well-planned and organized, and probably even color-coded.  They may want their bedrooms to have a unified theme (and they may grow up to be adults who enjoy decorating 😊).  Their brains are wired this way, and they learn and remember by looking at the world around them.

Where these kids excel will be in using methods like creating charts, making diagrams or cartoon pictures, drawing, painting, building, just some type of creating!  These kids may struggle a bit more with auditory learning and directions.  But here’s the thing; as parents and educators, we should use these techniques with ALL OF OUR KIDS.  These strategies will increase self-confidence and awareness in children who are visual, but they will also strengthen deficits in kids who are NOT.

Here are some strategies and ideas to enrich our visual learners and to stretch those kids who may be challenged in this mode of learning:

1. Read a book together (of course!) and then go back to read a second time.   This time, ask your child to “read” the book to you in their own words, using the pictures as their guide.  Tell them that it doesn’t have to be the same; they can rewrite the story using the images and their own creativity.
2. After reading a book together, have your child “draw the story” on paper.   In the classroom, we would take a piece of paper and fold it into six or eight squares.  Then we’d ask the kids to retell the story using images.  Confident drawers would use elaborate detail; others would use stick figures- it didn’t matter.  What mattered was that they were processing the events in their minds and then creating those same events in image form.  They were learning!
3. For older readers, have them organize their books in a way that is visually pleasing to them; Bible stories in this section, rhyming books here, funny/silly stories here, non-fiction/historical stories here, fantasy in yet another area, and possibly a “favorites” section. Categorizing and analyzing text is yet another reading skill you’ve just incorporated!  Perk!
4.  Incorporate ARTWORK into story time or reading time. Kids can obviously draw events or themes from a story, they can paint predictions, or they can “mold” characters using clay!
5. For older “visual” children in school, it may be helpful to color-code their notebooks and folders.  For example, the blue folder and the blue spiral notebook are both for math, and the green folder and the green spiral are for history, etc.   You get it; organize by color.
6. For school aged visual learners, it is probably helpful for them to sit near the FRONT of the classroom, with a clear view of the board and information.  Teachers, these kids will be checking out your posters and charts.
7. Along those lines, MAKE POSTERS of important information such as:  daily events, homework schedules, chores, scripture, words of encouragement, and special events.  By SEEING these things repeatedly, visual learners will better remember them. Even better, have the kids make the posters or charts themselves.
8. These are the kids who can look at an image of an ancient tree and create a whole story from its twisted branches and dropping leaves.  Feed that creativity.  Provide opportunities to sit in nature, explore beauty, and give them time and space to CREATE.
9. Don’t be afraid to remove devices each day for a bit of time.   Insist that your child spend time with a book, with written words and images, and just “soak in” a story, apart from their own (isn’t this good for all of us?).
10.  Ask them.  Ask your little one, “What helps you remember?”  “Do you like it when Daddy draws with you or when Mom puts a list on your mirror?”  “What helps you?”   Then, just listen to the ideas that those wonderfully and fearfully little brains come up with.

We will learn about how THEY learn when we “book some time with our kids”.

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