Physical Activity Can Improve NNAT Score

Parents preparing for the NNAT often focus on practice questions, online practice for the NNAT test, and other traditional prep materials. All of these are great – and, if you want your child to get a top score on the NNAT in today’s competitive environment – these tools are crucial to ensuring that goal.
But another benefit that parents can give their children is often overlooked: exercise. It’s no secret that exercise makes kids healthier and improves their health. But regular exercise also helps your child’s concentration and boosts their chances of doing well on a competitive standardized test like the NNAT.
A recent study found that kids who are physically active concentrate better and are likely to score higher on standardized tests like the NNAT and other gifted tests.
The study showed that time spent in P.E. class or at recess increases children’s attention spans, test scores, and behavior. Additionally, the study found that children who participate in organized sports teams had better GPAs, were more likely to graduate, and aimed higher in their career goals.
These findings only underscore the importance of physical activity for young kids, as exercise also lowers the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and many other serious health problems. Regular exercise also decreases the likelihood of depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders.
The study recommended that students get at least 60 minutes of physical activity, ranging from “moderate-intensity” to “vigorous,” every day.
So, even with all the reasons you already had to take your child outside and run around, now you have another one: it may just be the deciding factor in how your child does on the NNAT test. This is so important to remember as many parents get so wrapped up in preparing for the NNAT that they forego physical activity for their child, deciding to spend all the time studying instead. But as this study shows, that strategy for preparing for the NNAT may backfire.

Prepare for the NNAT Outside!

Many parents preparing for the NNAT write in and ask about fun ways they can help their child get ready for the NNAT, so that it doesn’t feel like work. Indeed, practicing for any test, including the Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test, can be exhausting and monotonous for young children, so it’s important to mix up the ways that you prep for the NNAT – or any test for that matter!

Today I want to talk about ways you can help your child prepare for both the NNAT and for school just by spending time outside. The weather is finally nice, after a horrible winter for much of the country. So take advantage and spend time outdoors – and prepare for the NNAT and for school at the same time!

Here are just a few brain-building academic activities you can do while outside:

• Find shapes and colors in nature: Recognizing shapes and colors is a crucial skill for success – and it will also help your child enormously when they go to take the NNAT test. So go for a walk on the beach, or a hike in the woods, and have your child point out every shape and color they see. A green triangular leaf! A grey, round rock. For older children, keep a written tally of everything you see and count it up when you get home.
• Scavenger hunt: There’s nothing more timeless than a scavenger hunt – and it helps your child learn to solve problems! Use your child’s age to gauge how complicated the instructions should be – then encourage your child to demonstrate their ability to solve a complex riddle. This will help them on the NNAT test.
• Outdoor math: Make up math problems using items you see outdoors. If you see a bird nest with 6 eggs in it, ask your child how many eggs will be left if 2 of them hatch. This is a great way to get your child ready for whatever math class they’ll face in the fall, and the critical thinking will be helpful on the NNAT test!

So don’t let your time outdoors go to waste – get your child ready for the NNAT and for school!

Summer Preparation for NNAT Test

Many parents begin preparing for the NNAT test early. This is probably the case where you live – even if you wait until just before the test to begin preparing, other parents are busy working with materials for the NNAT to get their child ready for the big test. This could even be going on now, months before the test actually takes place.

In some ways, the summer is a great time to practice for the NNAT test. Since your child isn’t in school, they don’t have homework, classes, and all the other activities that take up so much time during the year. This gives you and your child lots of ways to practice for the NNAT – and to help build their academic muscles in general!

Indeed, it’s important to counter the learning loss that happens during the summer. Kids who don’t work with academic materials over the summer lose an average of 3 months of progress that they made during the school year. You can counter this just by doing fun activities that stretch your child’s brain’s muscles.

Since the summer is meant to be a break from the frantic pace of the school year, it’s important to make any NNAT preparation or other academic activities fun and light. In the car, ask your child to count the number of colors they see in a 5-minute period. At the grocery store, have your child separate out fruits from vegetables. When camping or lounging in a hotel, have your child tell you a story – this is a great way for them to flex their creativity muscles.

Many sites also offer enrichment or skill-building games and activities that help your child build the skills they’ll need on the test and in school, in a fun, interactive way. This is a great way for you and your child to spend time in front of the iPad that isn’t mindless – it will help your child prepare for the NNAT and for life!

So get out there this summer and get your child NNAT-ready!

Practice Questions for the NNAT Test

When you first learn your child will be taking an assessment like the NNAT test, you may have a moment of panic, wondering what the exam will entail and whether your child will do well – even if you believe he or she is a bright and promising, young learner. Learning more about the NNAT test can be beneficial for you and your child. In fact, practice questions for the NNAT test can help put your nerves at rest and will also help your child become more familiar with and more comfortable about taking the NNAT exam.

The internet is a fantastic resource for practice materials for the NNAT test. There are websites that offer test preparation packages and tools, as well as online or in-home tutoring sessions. There are additionally a number of sites that offer free practice questions for the NNAT assessment and even full length practice exams.

Children often enjoy the practice questions for NNAT test , as they are presented more like image puzzles or brain teaser games than they are like academic tests. This is because the NNAT test uses visual images to pose questions to children. The format of questions on the NNAT test is intended to measure reasoning abilities and overall intelligence. This is accomplished through non-language based methods, allowing students of all walks of life the chance to demonstrate their true abilities.

There are now so many resources for parents whose children are taking the NNAT exam, that there’s little reason to be worried. The key to ensuring that your child does well on the NNAT test is to make sure that they’re familiar with the skills that the test measures, and that they’re not walking into a testing center unprepared. Your child can do great on the NNAT test if you work with them beforehand.

Best Rainy Day Activities for a NNAT Child

This has already been a very rainy May and it looks like it will continue for the rest of the month. You may feel like you have exhausted all of the indoor activities you can use to keep your child active and entertained while indoors this winter. But I have created a list below of fun activities that also promote NNAT abilities, which will keep your child entertained throughout the day!

• Make a puppet show: This activity can take up anywhere from a day to several weekends, depending how much your children want to do. If your children are naturally creative and bursting with new ideas, try to have them come up with their own story for the puppets to act out and make the puppets themselves! You can teach them about the basics of story telling and how to create a cohesive plot with creating the story they are telling. You can teach them about different voices of characters, what motivation is, and how to properly end a story. You can teach them the basics of pattern making with the puppets. You can have them practice their fine motor skills for the NNAT with cutting out the fabric pieces.
• Make homemade play dough: This is another activity that can take up anywhere from a day to a whole weekend of time. You can start off by having your children help you make the play dough. They can practice NNAT skills with measuring the ingredients for the playdough and mixing them together.
• Re-arrange the furniture in the house: Depending on how old your child is, this can become a very complicated process. If your child is older, you can have them measure the furniture and the room, and have them create a small scale of the rooms they can re-arrange. They can practice NNAT skills while they are taking control of their own home. Even for very young children, giving them a say in how their rooms are organized is a great way to give them autonomy and trust in their own intelligence. You will help boost your child’s self-esteem by giving them autonomy over small tasks like that.

You can find more resources for NNAT preparation at this site (www.testingmom.com). Good luck on the NNAT.

 

 

Great Brain Foods for NNAT Kids

All parents know that to have your child succeed in school, or on their NNAT, they need to be eating right. But sometimes it can be hard to focus on healthy foods in the hectic world, where you are simultaneously preparing for the NNAT and taking your child to their piano lessons or Girl Scout meetings. I have compiled a list below of how to focus your grocery shopping trips and your child’s food on brain healthy foods to help your child prepare for the NNAT.

• Try for wholegrains: Wholegrains are a great way to improve your child’s energy levels throughout the day! Wholegrains take longer to process into glucose which means that your child will have energy throughout the day, instead of crashing before lunch and NNAT prep!
• Attempt fish: Fish have incredibly high levels of essential fatty acids that are not made in the human body. These EFA’s help support brain function as well as joint health and heart health! If you are looking for a food that will help your child’s brain develop properly, and help them while studying for the NNAT, then look no further than oily fish. However, if you cannot get your child to eat fish, try an omega-3 supplement.
• Pumpkin seeds: This is a delicious snack for your child that have high levels of zinc in them, great for memory and critical thinking, essential for high NNAT scores. You can also make pumpkin seeds from the insides of the pumpkins you carve for Halloween, making a fun activity for you and your children!
• Broccoli: Just like fish, it can be hard to make children eat their broccoli. But it has a high amount of vitamin k in it, known to help cognitive functioning, an essential part of the NNAT!

Have your child go to the grocery store with you from a young age and describe to them all of the food they see and how it will help benefit their bodies. It’s a great way to introduce them to foods that are healthy for them and may help improve their NNAT scores! Find more resources for the NNAT here (www.testingmom.com). Good luck on the NNAT!

Best Classic Children’s Books for NNAT Kids

Reading to or with your child is one of the best ways for parents and children to bond together and prepare for the NNAT. I remember when I was very young, my father read the Hobbit and all of the Lord or the Rings books to me and my siblings. That helped embed in me a love of reading and exploring new places and kingdoms in my mind. Instilling a love of reading at an early age not only helps improve NNAT scores, but also helps create a life long learner. I have complies a list below of some classic books that you and your child can discover together!

• Winnie the Pooh: A fabulous book to give your child when they can read or to read to your child. Especially if you gave them Winnie the Pooh toys when they were little. There are so many different version of Winnie the Pooh books, from cardboard books for toddlers to picture books to chapter books, you can have your child reading Winnie the Pooh for years. However, I recommend reading them the classic Winnie the Pooh novels when they are younger. The books teach them about friendship and sharing and love.
• Anything by Roald Dahl: I read almost every single novel by Roald Dahl, including the Witches and James and the Giant Peach when I was younger. Roald Dahl had a writing gift and was able to write characters, and child characters, that children of all ages were able to relate to. The books focus on young children struggling through trials and succeeding through intelligence or perseverance or working with friends, all positive role models for children.
• The Phantom Tollbooth: This book was my favorite book growing up. There is a lot of common wisdom found in this book, presented through a fantastical land where someone can literally jump to the land of conclusions, and the protagonist, Milo, must save the princesses of rhyme and reason. This book helped teach me about how easy it is to get caugh in the doldrums and to always ask questions.

Have fun reading these books, and more, with your children, as a fun way to prepare for the NNAT. You can find more NNAT resources on this site (www.testingmom.com). Good luck on the NNAT!

Best NNAT Activities to Beat the Summer Slump

It can be hard to figure out how to keep your NNAT child involved throughout the entire summer. You know that if you do not involve your child in activities during the summer, especially activities that will improve your child’s NNAT score, then your child risks losing a third of what they learned the year before in school. You do not want your child to slip from the top of their class to the middle over the summer. The best way to avoid the summer slump in your child, and help them prepare for the NNAT, is to schedule summer activities. I have included a list below of the best NNAT activities for over the summer:

• Summer Camp: This can be a more obvious choice for summer activities, because it requires very little other than money on the part of the parents. There are a variety of summer camps, from girl scouting to camping to arts to music, so you are bound to find a summer camp your child would like.
• Cooking classes: This is a great way to bond with your child, hopefully inspire a new hobby, and help them with NNAT test prep! You may thing there is not a lot in cooking classes that will help a child prepare for the NNAT but with the fractions for measuring, needing to listen and follow directions, and work independently, cooking classes are a great way to prepare for the NNAT.
• Make musical instruments: This can be as complicated or as simple as you life. If you want to stretch this into an activity for the entire summer, you can design and build an instrument every week. At the end of the summer you and your child can hold a concert with the instruments your child made.

The summer can be a dangerous time for children preparing for the NNAT, as sometimes parents are content to let their child relax during the summer. You can find more resources on how to prepare your child for the NNAT here (www.testingmom.com). Good luck on the NNAT!