Sixteen activities at home for the eight intelligences

You don't need expensive kits to develop your child's abilities. Here are two simple activities for each intelligence.

Linguistic

1. “Chain story”: each family member adds one sentence to a story.
2. Family journal: every day your child writes or draws one event and tells you about it.

Logical-mathematical

1. Cooking with measuring: “If twice as many guests come, how many cups of flour will we need?”
2. “Hidden object” game: one person thinks of an object, and the others find it by asking yes/no questions.

Spatial

1. Treasure map: draw a map of your home or yard and hide a “treasure” on it.
2. Cardboard city: build a city or a car out of old boxes.

Bodily-kinesthetic

1. An “obstacle course” in the yard made of cushions and rope.
2. Hands-on chores: planting a flower, kneading dough, simple repairs.

Musical

1. A home orchestra of pots, spoons and bottles.
2. A memory song: learn the times tables or the names of the months to the tune of a familiar song.

Interpersonal

1. Group board games that involve taking turns.
2. “Little teacher”: your child teaches something to a younger brother or sister.

Intrapersonal

1. The evening question: “What made you happy today, and what upset you?”
2. “Goal of the week”: your child sets a small goal and looks at the result at the end of the week.

Naturalistic

1. A weekly walk with a mission: find five kinds of leaves or three kinds of birds.
2. A garden in a cup: plant a seed in a cup and note its growth in a notebook every day.

Tip: give your child a choice. The activity they choose most often will tell you about their strengths. Offer the ones they rarely choose from time to time, as a game and without pressure.