The Sunday Mail
SCHOOL is not the only place for learning activities. When your child is at home, you are their teacher.
But everything does not have to feel like a classroom lesson.
Get your kids excited about discovering something new by disguising the learning activities as fun time.
Try some of these engaging and effective activities that you can do at home.
Play learning games
Put learning in motion by playing games that get your kids moving while learning about a variety of subjects. For pre-schoolers, start with a basic game that helps him learn farm animals, numbers, colours and shapes. Adapt the game for school-age children to cover anatomy, world government, foreign language and history. What you choose to teach with this game is only limited by your imagination.
Learn phonics basics
Teaching your child to read is one of the most wonderful gifts you will ever give them. Learning the basics of phonics (that is, the idea that letters make certain sounds), prepares kids for spelling and reading readiness. You do not have to sit still in a chair endlessly repeating letter sounds. Try activities that make learning phonics an adventure instead of a tedious lesson. Kids can play games (look for things that start with certain sounds), hunt for letters, make alphabet books, and even use a digital camera to bring their phonics lessons to life.
Practice writing
Writing is a skill your kids will use throughout their life. Teach them to write with methods that go beyond pencil/pen to paper. Get messy. Let them trace. Connect the dots. If you have pre-schoolers, help them learn the alphabet and the motions of each letter. For school-age children, encourage them to improve their penmanship by helping you in your everyday writing tasks.
Identify colours
Kids are interested in learning their colours at an early age. With a pack of colourful pom-poms, you will put them on a path to identify colours, learn how to count, and start sorting, which also encourages gross motor skills. At the same time, you are helping them develop their fine motor skills by letting them pick up the tiny objects.
Develop counting skills
Teaching your child how to count seems so simple but reciting numbers in the correct order is only the beginning. Play a game that lets them physically touch the objects they are counting. As an added bonus, research shows that hands-on projects activate kids’ brains and help them learn better. — verywellfamily.com
