The game of connecting

The game of connecting things, that you can play with your child, has several levels of difficulty,  starting with level 1, the Animal Sound Game. So this is what you can do. When your child is about to brush his or her teeth, make a sound of an animal, like "woof woof", and ask your child to answer correctly, which animal makes that sound.

And this should be straightforward as the popular nursery rhyme "Old McDonald has a farm..." already introduces the concept of linking an animal sound with an animal. Linking 2 things together is the key factor we want to teach our kids. So this is level 1. As the child feels comfortable with the animal sound games, it is now time to move to the next level.

At the next level, Instead of making an animal sound, and asking for an animal name, you now give your child a word, any word,  like sun, and ask him or her to tell you another word which is connected to the word sun. So he or she may say sky. This is level 2.

As your child feels more comfortable with level 2,  you make it a bit harder. When you ask for a connecting word, tell your child to give you one which is not too obvious. For instance when you say sun, instead of saying sky, which is an obvious connection, he or she may say plant, because the plants need the sun to grow. This connection is not as obvious as sky. Subsequently, you are introducing the concept of atypical connections to your child, which is essential for creativity. This is level 3.

As your child feels more comfortable with level 3, go to level 4. What you do now is, instead of providing 1 word and asking your child to give a word connected to it, you give  2 words like, Sun and Plants and ask for 1 word that connects the 2. So, your child may say leaf or leaves. Your child's mind is hopping from 1 word to another, training his or her brain to connect seemingly unconnected concepts.