Visual/Spatial Intelligence – What It Is

Also referred to as “picture smart”, visual/spatial learners assimilate information best by drawing, sketching or visualizing it. These kids are often proficient at solving puzzles and tangrams. They have a strong visual memory and are often artistically inclined. Those with visual-spatial intelligence also generally have a very good sense of direction.

Spatial kids often can pack a suitcase better than most kids and enjoy rearranging the furniture in the house in different ways. Legos are often a favorite toy of visual/spatial children, while checkers and chess are often favorite games.

There are many different ways that kids can be spatially smart…from decoding graphs and charts, to creating 3 dimensional objects, to understanding maps and having a good sense of direction, to drawing and painting.

Talk with your child about their capacity to see the world and how they most enjoy flexing those mind muscles. Does s/he most enjoy viewing experiences like visiting art galleries? Does s/he most enjoy creating art based on the world around them? Does s/he enjoy visual thinking and architecting designs to represent abstract concepts or visualizing solutions to problems? Or does s/he prefer to take required elements and organize them in an aesthetically pleasing, yet efficient use of space as an architect or graphic designer would?