Do you ever wonder if children are affected by what they see? What are they really thinking? Getting to conclusive answers is difficult at the least and impossible at most. However, educational assessment theories may give some insight on how children process visually and what they might or could be learning from it all.
So, you might ask, “What is visual processing? How do children use it? How might it relate to development?”
Each day as you arrive home your 3-year-old daughter races excitedly to the stack of puzzles, saying, “Dad, the animal puzzle! Will you help me?”
A child’s ability to recognize and interpret what he or she sees is called visual processing. When children use puzzles to fit knobs and corners together, or match up colors and shapes, they are processing AND learning visually!
As they grow, children can connect language to what they see. While you are enjoying one of Naperville’s many parks this summer or while relaxing at the pool or beach, you can play games like I Spy to enhance an understanding of visual-spatial relationships. Manipulatives, such as blocks, Legos, pegs and puzzles, as well as picture books, all promote visual processing skills (Lynch & Warner, 2013).
On your next visit to DuPage Children’s Museum, enhance your visual processing skills! Stop by the Creativity Connections Neighborhood and spend some time at one of our puzzle tables or fit together translucent vinyl shapes to recreate a Chagall!
Resource: Lynch, Sharon A. and Warner, L. 2013. “How Adults Foster Young Children’s Intellectual Development.” In Young Children, Vol. 68, No. 2, 86-91. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
