http://davisei.blogspot.com/2014/10/executive-functioning-for-little-ones.html
Active Games:
- Provide many materials and opportunities for children to try new skills, such as throwing and catching balls, walking a balance beam, running up and down an incline, jumping, etc. Set up simple rules to follow for added working memory and inhibition challenges - for example, take turns running to a "finish line" and back.
- Older toddlers can enjoy simple imitation games, such as "Follow the Leader". This is a great test of working memory as well as attention and inhibition.
- Games that require active inhibition can be fun, too, like freeze dance (musical statues), although don't expect children to "freeze" without a few reminders. Also effective are song games that require children to start and stop, or slow down and speed up (Popcorn, Ring Around the Rosie).
- Song games with many movements are also fun (Hokey Pokey; I'm a Little Teapot; Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes). There require children to attend to the song's words and hold them in working memory, using the song to guide their actions.
- Fingerplays, or songs and rhymes with hand gestures to match, continue to be popular with children this age, similarly challenging children's attention, working memory and inhibitory control.
Conversation and Storytelling:
- Simply watching and narrating their play can be a great way to help very young children understand how language can describe their actions. As children get older, questions can be added, such as "What will you do next?" or "I see you want to put the ball inside the jar. Is there another way to do that?" These comments help children pause to reflect on what they are trying to do, how what they have tried has words, and how to plan their next move.
- Telling stories about shared events can be a great way to reflect on these experiences. The experience must be held in working memory while the child considers the order in which things happened, why things happened the way they did, and what the experience meant. These stories can also be written or drawn into simple books and revisited.
- Talking about feelings is also important, either by labeling children's feelings as they are noticed ("It looks like you are really angry right now") or by telling the story of a time a child became upset. By giving children language to reflect on their feelings, these conversations can support the development of emotional regulation, which is essential for engaging executive function.
Matching/Sorting Games:
- Ask children to play a sorting game in which you take turns sorting objects by size, shape or color. You can use things you already have, like matching socks, putting spoons and forks away, or gathering all the toy cars in one bin and the blocks in another.
- Engage older toddlers in a silly sorting game, such as putting small shapes in a big bucket and big shapes in a small bucket. Children tend to put like with like, so a change is challenging, requiring them to inhibit the expected action and engage their selective attention and working memory.
- As they get older, toddlers also start to enjoy simple puzzles, which require attention to shapes and colors. Adults can ask children to think about what shape or color they need, where they might put a certain piece, or where they might put the piece if it doesn't fit, thereby exercising the child's reflection and planning skills.
Imaginary Play:
- Ask children questions about what they are doing. Narrate the things you see happening.
- Play along with the child, and let the child direct the play. Give the child a chance to tell you what role you should play and how you should do it. Regulating the behavior of others is an important way that children develop their own self-regulation skills.
- Provide a variety of familiar household objects, toys and clothing items to encourage children's imaginary play.
This information is taken from developingchild.harvard.edu
