Monthly Archives: March 2019

Some Children are Picture Smart

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by Pat Lamb www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Train up a child…

Some Children are Picture Smart

         We make a mistake as parents, teachers, and grandparents when we believe that children will act and respond in the same way that we do.  God created each of us uniquely and each person is born with dominance in particular intelligences.  That dominance influences the way we think and act.  Sometimes children are born with the same dominant intelligences as their parents, but often they are not.  

         Experts in the field of personality have isolated seven intelligences of humans.  They are verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, musical/rhythmic, body/kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  These intelligences are also known as word smart, numbers smart, picture smart, music smart, body smart, people smart, and self smart.

         Picture smart children are those who have a sense of spatial relationships.  They think in images and pictures. They are often aware of colors, shapes, objects, and patterns in their environment.  They have strong opinions about colors that go together, textures that are appropriate and pleasing, and decorating.  They can “see with the mind’s eye”.  They can pretend and imagine.  They are our artists.  

         When teaching children who are dominant in the spatial/ visual intelligence, we need to give many opportunities for graphing, drawing, working with clay or other mediums. Using posters and charts will be the most effective way of presenting material.  They are definitely visual learners.  Appealing bulletin boards in classrooms are very effective.  Since they are good at “seeing with the mind’s eye”, they will be able to visualize scenes and act them out. Role-playing past times in history helps in reinforcing learning in history lessons. Color coding parts of written material with highlighters is effective as well.  

         Children who are dominant in the visual intelligence may grow up to be an engineer, surveyor, architect, artist, graphic designer, photographer, inventor, pilot, layout editor, designer, interior decorator, or any career requiring skills such as drawing, painting, visualizing, creating visual presentations, graphing, or filming. 

         It is interesting to observe children for behavioral characteristics that are clues to dominant intelligences.  Many of the Navajo children that my husband and I were privileged to teach displayed dominance in spatial intelligence. I recall an incident while teaching second grade on the Navajo reservation when I asked the children to draw a picture about a field trip we had taken.  One little boy drew a school bus on a road with puffs of dust coming up from behind the exhaust.  There was a tree with a squirrel and bird in it watching the bus go by.  A little rabbit was peeking from behind the tree watching the bus.  Children were waving out the windows of the bus and the sun had a smile on its face. I was astonished at so much detail in this one picture.  He was definitely picture smart.  Most Navajo children that I taught seemed to have the same love for art. Some children do well to draw a stick house with a tree and a sun.  When a young child puts a lot of detail in drawings, it is probably an indication that there is some dominance in the visual/spatial intelligence. 

         It is nice that we have different personality tendencies.  It certainly makes the world more interesting.  It is of great value to understand these characteristics of children in order to better prepare them for their future. 

Some Children Prefer Physical Activity

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Train up a child…by Pat Lamb www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Some Children Prefer Physical Activity

         Some children are “body smart”.  Experts tell us that we are all born with dominance in three or four of the seven intelligences.  The seven intelligences are:  verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, body/kinesthetic, musical/rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  Other names for these intelligences are:  word smart, numbers smart, picture smart, body smart, people smart, and self smart.

         The dominance in “body smart” is displayed when children prefer physical activity over sedentary activity.  These children really go for sports or any physical activity such as dancing.  They often find it difficult to sit still for long lengths of time.  In adulthood, someone may say, “I couldn’t talk if my hands were tied behind my back!” The movement of hands while talking is a clue to recognizing this intelligence.  This intelligence involves a sense of timing and the perfection of skills through mind and body union.  

         The teacher or parent would be wise to keep these children moving as much as possible.  They can act out stories, participate in drama, or be given opportunities to participate in sports or make display projects.  They like to work with their hands, and they should be given breaks often if they have to sit for very long.  Younger children could learn the alphabet by forming the letters in play-doh. “Body smart” children like water play and painting. They like demonstrations to mimic rather than simply listening to instructions.  Physical games of all kinds appeal to these children.  Swimming is an excellent activity as it provides a real positive outlet for physical energy. 

         Other possible teaching activities for the bodily/kinesthetic child include acting out scenes from the past in charades to learn history, standing and turning 45, 180, or 360 degrees to learn the degrees in a circle, or making a healthy snack food and eating it to learn nutrition.  The possibilities are almost endless. 

         Children who are dominant in the “body smart” intelligence may grow up to be surgeons, physical education teachers, physical therapists, mechanics, actors, factory workers, nurses, house cleaners, or any career involving physical activity.

         The physically active child may seem to be a challenge to tired parents or teachers. I wonder if some of the children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder may simply be children who are “body smart”.  Whether or not this is the case, these children need constant physical activity. With understanding and planning, the “body smart” children can be real assets. When the parent or teacher is tired, the active child probably wants to keep going.  We can have the child run errands and do some of the things we may not have the energy to do.  We simply need to keep something going for this child because if we don’t, the child will find something on his/her own.  I remember reading someplace, “Confucius say, ‘A child with something to do, him busy.  A child with nothing to do, him busy, too!’”

Music is Valuable for Children

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Train up a child… by Pat Lamb www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Music is Valuable for Children

         Of the seven intelligences, music is probably the most universal.  It seems that almost everyone has some musical intelligence.  Even those who say they “couldn’t carry a tune if they had it in a basket with a lid on it” probably enjoy listening to music. There are, however, children who possess a real gift in this area.  We all know people whose love for music is so great that they almost live and breathe it. Our oldest son, for instance, could hardly walk past our piano without sitting down and playing for a while. There are those folks who can pick up almost any instrument and play it.  Occasionally, we meet those who “play by ear” almost any tune they hear.        Even very small children who have not yet learned to walk may be seen moving their bodies somewhat in rhythm to music. As soon as they learn to walk, many small children will make up and do little dances to rhythm.  

         The seven intelligences are linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  Each person is born more dominant in some intelligences than others. Musical intelligence is the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone. It enables one to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music.  Music connects with emotions.  Mathematical and music intelligences may share common thinking processes.

         Children with musical intelligence are often sensitive to sounds in the environment such as chirping of crickets, traffic, or rain on the roof.  They can often produce a melody after hearing it only once.  They are able to mimic sounds, language accents, and others’ speech patterns.  They can pick out different instruments in a musical composition.  

         It is important that all children are exposed to a variety of music.  In my opinion, all children should be given some music training. Learning to read music is a real asset. Studies have shown that children who have music training do better academically.  It is unfortunate that so many young people allow peer pressure to mold them into only one type of music.  One way to help avoid this is to expose children to different kinds of music when they are young.  When our four children were small, I had a collection of records that I played for them during their rest time.  The collection included classical as well as fun songs and stories put to music. Later, our oldest son played a great deal of classical music when he took piano lessons. Each of our children seems to enjoy different kinds of music even now that they are grown.

         Making up lyrics to different tunes works well with children with the musical intelligence.  In kindergarten, some teachers make up songs about picking up toys and putting them away.  Interjecting a child’s name in the lyrics is fun.  It is amazing how the children seem to respond to the music as opposed to simply being told to pick up their toys and put them away. When the child goes to school, multiplication tables put to tunes makes it easier for the child to learn.  Many things that need to be memorized can be put to music.  Allowing the child to make up songs themselves will enhance learning.  

         It is unfortunate that there are not many opportunities for careers for music lovers.  Only the really gifted and dedicated can make a living from music.  I noticed in Europe we would walk down the street in some places and pass perhaps two or three buildings where orchestras were playing.  It seemed to be possible there for more people who loved music to do it as a career: nevertheless, music is still very important for our own personal satisfaction and enjoyment here in America.  It provides a real outlet of expression of emotions whether we perform or just listen. We each need a song in the heart! 

Some Children are Number Smart

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Train up a child… by Pat Lamb, www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Some Children are “Number Smart”

       It is common for parents and teachers to teach children believing that children will respond the same way they responded as children.  To have this mindset is to not take in consideration the differences in intelligences with which children are born.  To say that we are not the same is a “no-brainer”, yet we work with children as though they all are just like us.  

         Children are born with seven different intelligences.  They are: verbal/linguistic, mathematical/logical, musical/rhythmic, bodily/kinesthetic, visual/spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  Those intelligences are also known as: word smart, numbers smart, picture smart, music smart, body smart, people smart, and self smart.

         Some people just seem to have a knack for math.  These are the number smart people. Number smart persons are logical thinkers.  They can do sequential reasoning, do inductive and deductive reasoning, and do abstract reasoning.  They enjoy doing number puzzles and can perceive connections and relationships of one thing to another.  They may like to study statistics and graphs.  Children may like to play with secret codes.  They do well with “If ….then” types of reasoning. They may do better at outlining stories and classifying items.  As a small child, you may notice these number smart individuals grouping their toys by size, color, etc.  This may be a clue that in the future they will do well in math.  These logically minded children may be argumentative and continually try to prove their point. Parents become frustrated as the children try to prove them wrong. Older persons with this intelligence will like solving mysteries.  Their favorite books or movies may be mysteries.

         In my own experience, I have noticed that many of those who excel in math may have difficulty in English usage and writing.  It seems to me that many people who have the “math brain” think in black and white and expect everything to be logical.  Our English language is not logical.  There are times when one thing applies and times when it does not.  This frustrates the person who wants everything to be logical. The flip side of this is that word smart people sometimes have trouble with math because it does not have varying shades of correctness or incorrectness.  In math, only one way is right.    

         People who are number smart may end up in careers such as auditors, accountants, underwriters, scientists, statisticians, computer analysts, economists, technicians, bookkeepers, science teachers, engineers, retail buyers, physicists, bankers, math teachers, or investment brokers.  Some people from the past who were number smart include Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and George Washington Carver.      

         When we can recognize the intelligences of children and nurture those intelligences, we can steer them toward satisfying careers.  Understanding a child’s interests can create more harmony in the family.  Just because there are some who have this special interest is not to say that those who do not have this special interest cannot learn math.  Everyone needs math and in my opinion can learn math, but they may not go into careers where math is one of the most important skills.