Can a simple journaling activity impact your kid's memory and focus? How can daily journal prompts for kids help parents and kids get the most out of their journaling activity together?
Both memory and focus are paramount to learning; be it in a classroom, hobby, sport, job, or even when it comes to building healthy relationships.
Memory and focus can help improve all these areas of one’s life by giving them the skills to recall and reflect on their experiences in order to grow from them.
Early childhood development offers a window of opportunity to nurture these parts of the brain and instill habits for a lifetime of self-awareness, confidence, communication, and success.
One recent study even shows that the habits, events, and experiences within the first 8 years of a child’s life can have a momentous effect on how they live later on.
As a parent, it can be challenging to integrate all the good things into your little one’s day—which is why we made Journali!
Journali combines positive psychology, gratitude, and healthy habit building into one simple routine. And by sitting down with your child for just a few minutes a day, they can begin to build stronger memory and focus as they work through their journal prompts.
Want to know more about how journaling can increase memory and focus? Keep reading…
Memory & Journaling
Expressive writing, drawing, or even recalling situations (memory) engages the prefrontal cortex; the same area of the brain used for rational decision-making. Journaling offers another opportunity to engage your child, inviting them to open up about their perspective, experiences, and life.
Using daily journal prompts can be particularly helpful for those that are a bit timid or unsure about how to begin expressing themselves.
Beyond the topic one chooses to journal about, the act of physically writing has many benefits. One study completed in 2020 shows that cursive handwriting can be even more effective for engaging parts of the brain that are responsible for motor skills, memory, and problem solving; along with increasing the neuroplasticity of the brain.
According to Psychology Today, neuroplasticity is the brain’s capacity to continue growing and evolving in response to life experiences.
Plasticity is the capacity to be shaped, molded, or altered; neuroplasticity, then, is the ability for the brain to adapt or change over time, by creating new neurons and building new networks.
Additionally, the act of writing can help your child’s memory when it comes to spelling, grammar, and punctuation, since they are repeatedly using these skills.
Many studies have been done to understand the connection between expressive writing and memory, with the overall conclusion that journaling helps improve memory by creating a coherent narrative for life experiences; and in-turn the writer can free up their mental space that might otherwise be overwhelmed and prevent them from remembering things.
Memory doesn’t only serve as a useful tool for education, relationships, and goals, it is also important for developing a future.
One study recognized that those who had a weaker memory also found it harder to plan for the future, since our future life is a projection of what we have learned from the past and hope to bring forward in another time.
Using journal prompts for kids will help your little one establish a stronger memory by actively directing their attention towards expression, and physically crafting sentences by putting pen to paper.
Focus & Journaling
Journaling can help your child develop a stronger sense of focus in several ways. For starters, journal prompts invite your little one to release all the internal voices they hold inside; their thoughts, ideas, worries, fears, and stresses can all come out onto the page.
The release of their internal monologue can help them find presence.
The very act of writing, drawing, or creating on a page can also lure them into the moment and prompt them to share what they feel, see, or think. This invitation creates a streamline of focus that is used for communication.
In order to fulfill the task of writing, your little one also has to slow down and tune in to whatever they wish to convey. This requires a lot of focus in order to craft a coherent message—be it for stories, expressing emotion, writing about friends or family, and anything similar.
The thought, focus, and concentration needed to write cohesive text offers a conundrum that is stimulating and exciting at the same time.
Integrating 5, 10, or even 15 minutes into your family routine for journaling can help your little one establish a stronger memory and ability to focus.
Introducing age appropriate journal prompts can have an even larger impact on your kids for the rest of their life. If possible, it's recommended that you start your kids' journaling journey before the age of 8.
Need help creating journal prompts for your kids? Check these 2nd grade writing prompts and see how it can help your child be more mindful.
You can also visit our shop to see which journal design fits your child's age, interests and needs.