By regularly engaging in the right types of activities, you can increase your memory, improve your problem-solving skills and boost your creativity. Here are some tips on how to keep your mind active:

Quit smoking

If you are a smoker, quitting is top of the ‘to-do’ list for better mental acuity. This is because smokers can add memory loss to the long list of health problems that come from smoking. Smokers may have twice the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease as do people who have never smoked. Therefore, if the state and health of your mind are so important to you – stop smoking now — it is never too late. If you quit smoking now, you can still reduce your risk of memory loss later in life

Learn a language

Say ‘Ciao!’ to a new language. Learning to speak Spanish or Mandarin will keep your brain flexible and your mind sharp, helping to reduce the slowing of the thought processes that come with ageing. Attend lessons, listen to tapes from your library (a place you should be spending a lot of time in by the way!) or seek out friends with whom you can converse in your new chosen language. Instead of watching the same television programs you always do, take in a foreign language movie with subtitles and immerse yourself in your new experience.

Play games

Thanks to an ageing baby-boom generation, there are now plenty of mentally stimulating games. Brainteasers and puzzles are good exercises for the brain. At sites like at sites like Free Printable Sudoku you’ll find the best sudoku puzzles. Always have a crossword book in your purse or briefcase and scribble in it while you commute, while you wait for an appointment or when you relax on your coffee break. You will improve your cognitive skills and creative thinking as well as your word power and vocabulary. Try also games that force you to strategize – for example, chess, bridge and solitaire.

Learn a new skill

A long-term goal like learning to play a musical instrument stimulates your brain on many levels over an extended period. A skill like learning to dance is great for the brain because it combines music and movement. Make everyday activities slightly harder You can stimulate your brain just by mixing up your daily routine. If you are right handed, brush your teeth with your left hand, shower with your eyes closed — anything that will force you to use more of your senses.

Read

Whether it is a website, a novel or a newspaper, keeping your mind engaged in intellectual activity and expanding your vocabulary are two important ways to keep your brain thinking and working. As an added exercise, repeat facts you want to remember a few times aloud – then later, try to recall them again later.

Socialize

Your brain is the ultimate party animal and loves social activity. Seek out clubs or other social activities that will surround you with people and have you interacting. New scenery, new topics of conversation and other multi-sensory activities force the brain to literally form new connections, thus increasing memory capacity.

By regularly engaging in the right types of activities, you can increase your memory, improve your problem-solving skills and boost your creativity. Here are some tips on how to keep your mind active:

Quit smoking

If you are a smoker, quitting is top of the ‘to-do’ list for better mental acuity. This is because smokers can add memory loss to the long list of health problems that come from smoking. Smokers may have twice the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease as do people who have never smoked. Therefore, if the state of your mind is so important to you – stop smoking now — it is never too late. If you quit smoking now, you can still reduce your risk of memory loss later in life

Learn a language

Say ‘Ciao!’ to a new language. Learning a new tongue keeps your brain flexible and your mind sharp, helping to reduce the slowing of the thought processes that come with ageing. Attend classes, listen to tapes or seek out friends with whom you can converse in your new chosen language. Instead of watching the same television programs you always do, take in a foreign language movie with subtitles and immerse yourself in your new experience.

Play games

Thanks to an ageing baby-boom generation, there are now plenty of mentally stimulating games. As their name implies, brainteasers and other such puzzles are good exercises for the brain. At sites like at sites like Free Printable Sudoku you’ll find the best printable sudoku. Always have a crossword book in your purse or briefcase and scribble in it while you commute, while you wait for an appointment or when you relax on your coffee break. You will certainly improve your cognitive skills and your creative thinking too as your word power and vocabulary. Try also games that force you to strategize – for example, chess, bridge and solitaire.

Learn a new skill

A long-term goal like learning to play a musical instrument stimulates your brain on many levels over an extended period. A skill like learning to tango or foxtrot is great for the brain because it combines music and movement. Make everyday activities harder You can stimulate your brain just by mixing up your daily routine. If you are right handed, brush your teeth with your left hand, shower with your eyes closed — anything that will force you to use more of your senses.

Read

Whether it is a website, a novel or a newspaper, keeping your mind engaged in intellectual activity and expanding your vocabulary are two important ways to keep your brain thinking and working. As an extra exercise, repeat facts to yourself that you want to remember a few times – and try to recall them again later.

Socialize

Your brain is the ultimate party animal and loves social activity. Seek out clubs or other social activities that will surround you with people and have you interacting. New scenery, new topics of conversation and other multi-sensory activities force the brain to literally form new connections, thus increasing memory capacity.

Camp activities give your kids a chance to learn and develop new skills. Your kid will learn more about life than he/she would ever have imagined before. As tradition goes, there’s nothing like a trip into the outdoor world to act as a rite of passage. A lot of the camp activities involve learning new tricks and trades that would benefit them in the long run as well as their day to day activities. Summer camps are available everywhere around the country which includes computer camps, outdoor camps, winter camps, swim camps and other variations. Each type of camp has its own set of unique camp activities.

Outdoor camp activities are traditionally the most popular, possibly because there’s a badge of honour for having ’survived’. It also teaches kids skills that they can use for the rest of their lives, not just as camp activities, but as life-long hobbies. The valuable training, wealth of knowledge and the sense of responsibility would bring out the best in any youngster.

Enrollment is easy, considering the amount of summer camps that are available around the country. Camp activities depend on what area you want to focus on, whether it’s IT, outdoor camp activities, or filming. Children who want to increase their knowledge of a certain area may participate in camps that cater to those looking for camp activities in that field, for example, IT. Universities, or other educational institutions may sponsor that kind of camp and ensure that they’re staffed by experts. The same pattern is followed at other types of summer camps. Also there are specialized camp activities available such as sports camps. For an example there are swimming camps that cater different levels of camp activities depending on your kids’ skill levels. Most swim camps are offered to youngsters who are looking to step up to the professional level.

So it is about time you let your kid enjoy his summer with an experience of a life time. Let him enjoy the wilderness and learn more with camp activities. Enroll at a summer camp now!

By regularly engaging in the right types of activities, you can increase your memory, improve your problem-solving skills and boost your creativity. Here are some tips on how to keep your mind active:

Quit smoking

If you are a smoker, quitting is top of the ‘to-do’ list for better mental acuity. This is due to the fact that smokers can add memory loss to the long list of health problems that come from smoking. Smokers may have twice the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease as do people who have never smoked. Therefore, if the state and health of your mind are so important to you – stop smoking now — it is never too late. If you quit smoking now, you can still reduce your risk of memory loss later in life

Learn a language

Say ‘Ciao!’ to a new language. Learning to speak Spanish or Mandarin will keep your brain flexible and your mind sharp, helping to reduce the slowing of the thought processes that come with ageing. Attend classes, listen to tapes or seek out friends with whom you can converse in your new chosen language. Instead of watching the same television programs you always do, take in a foreign language movie with subtitles and immerse yourself in your new experience.

Play games

Thanks to an ageing baby-boom generation, there are now plenty of mentally stimulating games. Brainteasers and puzzles are good exercises for the brain. At sites like at sites like Free Printable Sudoku you’ll find the best soduku. Always have a crossword book in your purse or briefcase and scribble in it while you commute, while you wait for an appointment or when you relax on your coffee break. You will improve your cognitive skills and creative thinking as well as your word power and vocabulary. Try also games that force you to strategize like chess, bridge and solitaire.

Learn a new skill

A long-term goal like learning to play a musical instrument stimulates your brain on many levels over an extended period. A skill like learning to dance is great for the brain because it combines music and movement. Make everyday activities harder You can stimulate your brain just by mixing up your daily routine. If you are right handed, brush your teeth with your left hand, shower with your eyes closed — anything that will force you to use more of your senses.

Read

Whether it is a website, a novel or a newspaper, keeping your mind engaged in intellectual activity and expanding your vocabulary are two important ways to keep your brain thinking and working. As an added exercise, repeat facts you want to remember a few times in your head and try to recall them again later.

Socialize

Your brain is the ultimate party animal and loves social activity. Join clubs or seek other social activities that will surround you with people and have you interacting. New scenery, new topics of conversation and other multi-sensory activities force the brain to literally form new connections, thus increasing memory capacity.

By regularly engaging in the right types of activities, you can increase your memory, improve your problem-solving skills and boost your creativity. Here are some tips on how to keep your mind active:

Quit smoking

If you are a smoker, quitting is top of the ‘to-do’ list for better mental acuity. This is due to the fact that smokers can add memory loss to the long list of health problems that come from smoking. Smokers may have twice the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease as do people who have never smoked. Therefore, if the state and health of your mind are so important to you – stop smoking now — it is never too late. If you quit smoking now, you can still reduce your risk of memory loss later in life

Learn a language

Say ‘Ciao!’ to a new language. Learning a new tongue keeps your brain flexible and your mind sharp, helping to reduce the slowing of the thought processes that come with ageing. Attend lessons, listen to tapes from your library (a place you should be spending a lot of time in by the way!) or seek out friends with whom you can converse in your new chosen language. Instead of watching the same old television programs week after week, take in a foreign language movie with subtitles and immerse yourself in your new experience.

Play games

Thanks to an ageing baby-boom generation, there are now plenty of mentally stimulating games. As their name implies, brainteasers and other such puzzles are good exercises for the brain. At sites like at sites like Free Printable Sudoku you’ll find the best easy sudoku. Always have a crossword book in your briefcase or purse and work on it while you commute, while you wait for an appointment or when you relax on your coffee break. You will improve your cognitive skills and creative thinking as well as your word power and vocabulary. Try also games that force you to strategize – for example, chess, bridge and solitaire.

Learn a new skill

A long-term goal like learning to play a musical instrument stimulates your brain on many levels over an extended period. A skill like learning to dance is great for the brain because it combines music and movement. Make everyday activities harder You can stimulate your brain just by mixing up your daily routine. If you are right handed, brush your teeth with your left hand, shower with your eyes closed — anything that will force you to use more of your senses.

Read

Whether it is a website, a novel or a newspaper, keeping your mind engaged in intellectual activity and expanding your vocabulary are two important ways to keep your brain thinking and working. As an added exercise, repeat facts you want to remember a few times in your head and try to recall them again later.

Socialize

Your brain is the ultimate party animal and loves social activity. Seek out clubs or other social activities that will surround you with people and have you interacting. New surroundings, new topics of conversation and other multi-sensory activities force the brain to literally form new connections, thus increasing memory capacity.

1. Shops. Save all your empty grocery cartons for a week or so and you’ll soon have a shop any aspiring grocer would be proud of. Gluing down the flaps makes cereal boxes, jelly packets etc. look unopened. Clothes, shoes, and toys can all be used as “stock”. Paper bags and real or play money add to the fun.
2. Paper balls. When the kids keep arguing suggest that they throw something at each other! Paper balls are easily scrunched up from torn out magazine pages to make “ammunition”. When it’s time to tidy up, stand the waste paper basket in the middle of the room and see who can throw the most in. A rolled up magazine makes a good “bat” too.
3. Doctors/Nurses. A roll of white toilet tissue makes this game much more fun as Dads, Grans, teddies or dolls are mummified before your eyes. Plastic medicine spoons and cardboard box hospital beds for toy dolls are extra props that make the game last longer.
4. Tubes. Cardboard tubes from kitchen roll or foil make instant telescopes for sailors or pirates, or tunnels to roll marbles through. Babies love to watch things disappear then reappear out of the bottom. Don’t leave them alone with the cardboard tube though as they will probably suck it.
5. Cardboard boxes are tops – how many times have you bought your child a toy – only to find that s/he is more interested in its box? Boxes must be about the best free toys you can get hold of. Push in the ends of large ones in order to make tunnels and caves to crawl through. Draw on windows and doors with felt tip pens to make a house, add a flag and portholes for a boat or paper plates and a steering wheel for a car.
6. Miniature gardens. The foil trays that (meat and dessert) pies and other prepared foods arrive in make lovely containers for miniature gardens. The little ones can enjoy hunting around the park or garden for twigs to make trees, moss for a lawn, stones to arrange as a rockery or a waterfall. Keep twigs or stones where you want them with a little blue tack or plasticine. Add toy people or animals and maybe a little water if the container is watertight. This can be a very creative and enjoyable exercise if you have children of very different age groups to entertain. A variation is to use play sand (not builder’s sand – it stains everything yellow) to make a beach scene, maybe adding shells, stones and a blue paper sea.
7. Paper puppets. A picture of anything – a colorful bird, clown’s face, cartoon character, carefully cut out by an adult and stuck to the top of a strip of card about five inches long and one and a half inches wide becomes a very easily made puppet. These give such pleasure and are so easy to make that you will probably end up with dozens of them. Magazine pictures can be stuck on to folded card to make theatre set background and wings.
8. Potato prints. After cutting a potato in half, draw on a simple shape. A triangle, circle or star perhaps. Cut away the rest of the potato, leaving a shape to dip into paint and print on to paper.
9. Skittles. Skittles can be improvised from large plastic soda bottles that once contained cola or lemonade. A little sand or water in the bottom makes them more stable. A good game for learning to count.
10. Dens. Building a den must be one of the most memorable parts of childhood as we all seem to recall the bliss of blankets draped over the airing rack in the garden or over the backs of chairs indoors. Even today’s sophisticated kids seem to find the thought much more exciting than just erecting the shop bought plastic play house. I think the secret is to give structural advice about making the thing stay upright, but let the children do as much as possible themselves. Really large boxes of the type that washing machines and fridges come in can be had for the asking from the big electrical goods retailers and are useful for rooms within dens. Indoors, one of the simplest dens can be made by throwing a large sheet or duvet over a table. Cushions, torches, biscuits and comics or books will all be needed at the housewarming.
11. String. Children find a million uses for string, from tying up toy “baddies” to making a washing line for doll’s clothes. It can be tied to chair legs to make a jump, dipped into paint and twirled on to paper, plaited, knitted with, made into a parachute or mobile, used as a measuring aid or for learning how to tie shoelaces and bows. It need never linger in the kitchen drawer again.
12. Sewing cards. Stick a picture on to a postcard or draw a simple duck, car or teddy shape. With a sturdy bodkin needle, push holes around the outline of your design approximately one inch apart. Using brightly colored wool in the bodkin or a long bootlace, thread in and out of the holes.
13. Make a coloring book by printing free coloring pictures from the Internet. Little boys love coloring pictures of cars and trucks as well as those of favorite characters such as Bob the Builder or Pikachu. At sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages  you’ll find  Pikachu coloring book pages while at Princess Coloring Pages you can print and color  many coloring pictures suitable for little girls.
14. Stilts. You need to do a little drilling for this one. Take two strong tins (coffee or clean paint tins are ideal for this) and drill a hole about one inch from the top on opposite sides of the tin. Insert a length of string and knot securely. Check that the handle is at a comfortable length for the child before knotting the other side. These are always a very popular part-time, but never leave young children alone with them especially near stairs or steps.
15. Cafes. Children’s tea sets are a handy prop for this game, but a picnic set or microwave cookware is just as good. Giving the waiter/waitress a little notebook and pencil to take orders and making a tall white hat from a cylinder of paper for the chef will add realism. Sit dolls and teddies around as well as willing Aunts and Grannies for extra customers.
16. Playdough. Mix together two cups of flour, one cup of salt, one cup of water, one tablespoon of oil and a few drops of food coloring for an easy to make dough that will keep for about three weeks if you wrap it in polythene and keep it in the fridge. All you have to do is knead the mixture well. Divide the mixture up first if you have more than one color available.
17. Obstacle course. An obstacle course can turn a rainy day into an adventure. Use whatever you happen to have available. A bench allows you to walk the plank, make cushion stepping stones across shark infested seas, through a cardboard box tunnel, up a chair mountain or through a duvet cave. The wilder your imagination the more your children will love it.
18. Easy boats. Recycle your empty / discarded margarine cartons. Use them as miniature vessels (boats) for the bath or paddling pool. These are so easy that even the very young can help to make them. Cut out sail shapes that are triangular from white or colored paper. Make a small hole at the top and bottom of the sail so that you can push through a straw to make a mast. Let the child fix this to the bottom of a clean margarine tub with a lump of plasticine or perhaps blue tack. They sail extremely well and will even take a couple of toy people on an exciting cruise.
19. Capes. Nurses, kings, queens, Batman, Superman – they all need capes or cloaks. Luckily they are easy to make by attaching ribbon ties to an oblong of fabric in the color of your child’s favorite caped character. Keep an eye on them though, because anything that is tied around the neck (of course!) could be dangerous.
20. Leaf art. Collect leaves from your back yard or during a nature walk and draw around them. This is fun for little ones and an educational tree identification game for older children. Color in the details with crayons or paints. The leaves could then be stuck on to paper collage style or dipped into paint and then pressed firmly on to paper for a lovely leaf print.
21. Make a puzzle. Stick a favorite picture on to card and allow drying with a heavy book on top. Cut into pieces, how many depending on the age of the child, for an almost instant and personal puzzle