When my daughter was three years old, I took her to a kids club run by a Christian church. On the first day, all children were given some crafts to do after their story time. They had to colour some pictures to exercise their motor skills. I stayed to watch those children enjoying the fun, and then I talked with one of the leader. Long before the craft time ended, my daughter came straight to us with her picture. And she asked for one more to colour in. The leader and I were so amazed that she finished colouring so quickly. The colours she chose were blended marvellously. I didn’t teach her anything about colours yet. How come she did it? I had no idea. When she was four, she went to preschool. Every school day she was asked to bring a story book to read at home. One day she pointed to a picture in the book she read and said to me, “I’d like to draw this.” When she was at primary school age, she always said to me, “I’d like to do something with my hands.” Indeed, she drew many pictures for pleasure, including the one, “Best mom in the world” on “About me” page. Typically, my daughter is a spatial/visual learner.

Is your child a spatial/visual learner?

Here is a very simple way to check it out. As below, I have listed some important and significant traits of a spatial/visual learner. You can just put 0, 1 or 2 to each trait. (0= not like my child at all, 1=partially like my child, 2=very much like my child.) The higher you score, the more likely your child is a visual learner.

• sensitive to colours/pictures
• dislike listening for too long without seeing any pictures or images
• remember faces, building or any concrete things
• When reading, seek out or have interest in pictures or diagrams
• like to draw, build, design and create things
• like daydreaming, look at pictures/slides; good at imagining things
• like watching movies, reading maps, charts or diagrams
• prefer to use pictures or images to communicate their idea
• sensing changes about people’s appearance, things in his/her house/school
• like playing mazes/puzzles

Tips for parenting spatial/visual learners :

1. Provide visual materials, such as board games, memory cards, pictures to facilitate their learning.
2. When they read, you can use some visual clues, like pictures in the book to help them. For older children, parents can encourage them to visualize the story and scenes in their mind.
3. When you talk to them, let them see your body language and facial expression. Let them “see” your love. Don’ just say it.

By the way, I am preparing some more information about other learning styles. I hope these information will be useful for you all.

Related articles:

When A Kid Learns

Is Your Child A Tactile/Kinetic Learner?

Is Your Child An Auditory Learner?

Is Your Child A Logical Learner?

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2006 at 11:47 pm and is filed under Education, Learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.