Note: This post is part of a series of posts about the three different types of learning styles. To see posts regarding raising an auditory or tactile learner, please see the links below.
Raising an Auditory Learner
Raising a Tactile Learner
I am a visual learner. I have known this for the majority of my life. If I have to sit and listen to a lecture, chances are I will zone out and not remember what I was told. My husband knows that, rather than trying to read me an article, it’s best to just hand over his phone and let me read it myself. It is as if the words just become a garbled mess when I’m trying to listen to instructions told to me rather than reading them myself. It can be frustrating.
But I’m great at directions! I’m the person you want holding the map or remembering what turns you need to make to get from point A to point B. I can organize my life to the brink of my husband’s patience. Don’t be offended if I remember your face or where I met you, but not your name. I’m pretty sure it took me at least 3 months to remember my best friend’s name when I first met her.
These are all characteristics of visual-spatial learners. If you are an auditory or tactile learner, you may struggle with what seems to be their forgetfulness. You may find doodles all over their papers, but very few notes. You may find that you need to repeat yourself several times when telling them instructions.
Here are some strategies for helping your visual learner develop, learn, and grow:
Characteristics of a Visual-Spatial Learner
- Visual learners think primarily in images and prefer seeing tasks done. They will be excellent in recalling specific details to events or pictures they have seen. Visual explanations are key to their understanding.
- They are excellent multi-taskers.
- Visual learners will look for patterns, whether it is problems, pictures, or their general world.
- They would rather read a book themselves than listen to a book read to them.
- Visual-spatial learners will excel at abstract ideas and tasks. They will often approach tasks through the larger goal or general direction prior to specific instructions.
- These children may be artistically inclined and choose to draw pictures in their free time rather than other activities.
Doodle, Draw Notes, and Use Colors to Learn
When I was in high school, I started using skinny markers to take my notes in class. It was such a success that I continued through college, and to this day, I prefer to write in different colored markers or pens. I found that when I used different colors, drew pictures of the topics in the corners of my papers, and made diagrams, I was better able to recall the information later.
This idea is perfect for visual learners. Use colors to identify objects, like red apples, yellow bananas, and green pears. The specific visual clues will help identify the objects during recall events.
Create the alphabet using animals whose names start with each letter, such as an alligator in the shape of an A or a monkey swinging from the trees in the shape of an M. Not only will this teach them animal names, but it will reinforce the alphabet.
Organizers Galore and Big Picture Tasks
A store like Office Depot or Staples may be a heaven for your visual learner. The different possibilities of how to organize their work will appeal to them, especially if it involves colors, stickers, or other visual aspects. Use colors to identify objects. The specific visual cues will help them identify during recall.Allow your child to choose different ways to organize their learning. For elementary school learners, you can incorporate telling time by having them divide up the hours on a clock face by what activities they have to do for the day, similar to a pie chart.
Have flashcards with pictures of your day’s plans and allow your child to help plan the day or organize an event. Give them the end goal of the task and allow them to figure out their own method of achieving it.
Use Art to Teach
Visual-Spatial learners will excel on art projects, specifically ones that include drawing, painting, or coloring. For younger children, there are coloring sheets online for almost any topic. Print out a few related to the events you have done during the day to help instigate conversation. Did you go to the zoo? Find some of the animals that you saw. Maybe it’s Flag Day, so a coloring page of the flag would be a perfect opportunity to talk about the red, white, and blue and what our flag (and other countries’ flags) looks like.
As they get older, you can ask your child to draw pictures of your day’s events. Then talk to them about what they drew. Why did they choose to include particular animals or people? What was that person wearing or what color was their hair? Investigate the specific visual details of the scene they drew. Once you’ve discussed the visual details, talk about the bigger picture. Ask what was happening. The visual details will help lead to the bigger picture events.
Books, Books, and More Books
Visual learners will be voracious readers. They will constantly be pulling books off the shelves to read. Young readers will enjoy picture books that you can ask details about afterwards. Older readers will love any book and their imaginations will help them create the images.
Keeping this in mind, books will be some of your greatest teaching tools for a visual learner. Search out books on the subject to enhance their understanding. Collect news articles related to topics they are interested in, read them together, and discuss patterns they notice in the opinions, details, events, etc. See if they can come up with a solution to a problem, real-world or not – even if their solution seems impossible, let them use their creativity. What if pandas lived on the moon? What would happen if aliens come to visit our planet? How could we speak with animals? How would the world change if humans had wings? These questions seem strange, but visual learners love solving novel problems.
Spatial Development Through Maps and Mazes
The other aspect of a visual learner is spatial reasoning. Visual-spatial learners are fantastic at reading maps, solving mazes, and visualizing directions. This can be a great way to help them build up their ability to hear and comprehend, which, though not a strong skill, is still a skill they will need later. You can start doing this by giving them a maze or map and a set of instructions. First, have them complete the maze or instructions while looking at them. Then, take the paper away and read it to them. Practicing this a couple of times will help them develop the ability to listen and understand while using their strength of spatial reasoning.
Visual learners can also develop this through crosswords, which can be a great tool for practicing words for vocabulary tests. Visual-spatial learners are fantastic at reading maps, solving mazes, and visualizing directions. This can be a great way to help them build up their ability to hear and comprehend…For younger children, when they are practicing spelling basic words, rather than having the word they need to find, have a picture of the item, animal, etc. The relation of the actual object to the word will help create those necessary connections in the brain.
Example: Activities to Teach the Alphabet
First, have your child help you make a placemat or book of the alphabet. Depending on their age, you could even start by having the letters pre-written, and then they draw the accompanying pictures. The key is to have them help you draw and write the book, even if their letters aren’t perfect. Tackle a couple of letters at a time with coloring sheets where the letter they are learning is the object. If you want to work on colors at the same time, make it a color-by-number page and have certain parts be certain colors. Another day, I might ask my child to color-code the letters however they want. Maybe they see some letters as the color blue while others are red. There may not be any particular logic other than what is in their mind.
There are many tools and tricks available to the visual-spatial learner, and, as it is the most common learning style, our world is filled with visual elements. This can both help and hinder these learners, and it can be critical for us as their parents and teachers to help them develop the ways to be successful, in spite of the onslaught of visual images.
Interested in what your learning style is? For more information and to take a learning styles quiz, check out these resources:
VARK Learning Resources
Some of My Best Friends are Books, Judith Halsted
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner
Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs to Survive in a Rapidly Changing World, Richard Paul
A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children, James Webb, Janet Gore, Edward Amend, and Arlene DeVries