Almost everything we do with children involves things they need to remember. Spiritual stories have characters and storylines that convey ideas and prompt reflection. Practices have steps that kids need to follow. Community outreach activities have rules to keep in mind. It can be a lot for children to manage.
When kids struggle to follow a story or instructions, we might be tempted to blame a short attention span. But researchers say that what’s really going on is a problem with working memory. That’s where children (and adults) actively store and process information that they need in the moment.
Working memory differs from long-term memory. Instead of operating like a photo album or scrapbook of memories, it’s like a scratchpad where we jot down quick reminders and make lists. Experts include it among the executive functions of the brain – those things that help us self-regulate and manage our activities and emotions.
Helping children develop their working memory skills thus becomes an important part of nurturing their spirituality. They are able to engage more fully in spiritual practices because they remember the steps. They find more value in spiritual stories because they can follow the plot. They may even become more self-aware because they are able to notice and retain information about how they are feeling as they explore spiritual ideas and experiences.
One way to build working memory is by telling stories through movements or sounds. Take a simple story that includes a few characters and significant plot elements. Invite children to assign a movement or sound to each character and element. (You can also do this in advance.) Each time a character or element is mentioned in the story, encourage children to make the corresponding motion or sound. Once you get to the end, challenge children to retell the story using only the movements or sounds. Start with short stories and gradually increase the length as children’s working memory improves.
Another strategy is to play a game keyed to landmarks. Invite children to help you make a list of important places in the spiritual stories they have heard (or in their community). You might create a historical timeline for a religious tradition, highlight sites in a single story that involves multiple places, or focus on significant places in your area where people come together to work for the common good. Ask children to identify a pose for each place. Then call out the places and encourage children to strike the corresponding pose. Mix them up and then put them in order (if appropriate).
The Four Corner Emotion approach focuses on feelings. This strategy not only requires remembering locations and instructions, but also how different emotions feel. Write several different emotions on individual sheets of paper and tape them around the room. Point out the various locations and tell children that when you call out an emotion, you want them to go to that sign and repeat the phrase “this is how I’m feeling” using their whole bodies as well as their voices to illustrate that emotion. Call out different emotions until you have named them all. (You can repeat some to keep the process unpredictable or extend the fun.)
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