10 Home Activities that Make Learning Fun!

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10 Home Activities that Make Learning Fun!

Keeping your Children Educated at Home

Although most schools are closed right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential for the development of children that they keep learning. Schools are trying to keep students educated through online education and distance learning.

However, parents can dramatically improve their student’s outcomes by becoming more active participants. We know this takes time and effort and it will surely cause challenges for some families.

Besides helping and guiding your children with the distance learning program from their school, you can do other activities with your child during non-school hours. We have enlisted 10 fun home activities you can try that will keep your children engaged in learning – even if they are having fun. 

These simple activities may not be part of online distance learning but they will help make sure that when the kids do go back to physical school they bounce back into activities with positive energy:

 

1. Reading

What’s nicer than reading stories to your children the same way your parents did when you were young? It’s not only a great way to bond with your kids, but it’s also a good way to make them interested in reading. Get comfortable with them on the sofa and start reading. We bet it will make both of you smile.

There’s no age limit on reading aloud, too. The older your kids get, the more educational your books can be. There are tons of books that make learning fun. For instance, you could teach them about other cultures through a good book. Another example is science communication books for children.

If you don’t like reading aloud, why not listen to one of many great audiobooks? You can cuddle with your child and a hot cup of tea in the meantime, or you could even act as if you were the main character in the story. 

2. Play outside

Although playing outside might not sound very educational, there are many learning advantages to it. You can inform your children that physical activity is healthy and necessary to fight against illness. Teach them about different sports and include other family members to explain fairness and sportsmanlike behavior. Team spirit and leadership skills later in life often improve as a result of sports.

You could also teach them the different kinds of plants and animals you find in the great outdoors. Get an insect recognition set and start exploring your garden or neighborhood.

3. Craft activities

Craft abilities are important to help your children think outside the box and be creative. It’s a great way to let them channel their creative juices and discover art. Who knows, maybe you are raising the next Picasso?

Start making trinkets or make sculptures out of cardboard and let them colorize their fantasies. You can link the crafting to holidays, festivals or their favorite game or song. Make sure to display them in your house to make the youngsters extra proud.

4. Play music

Another great way to introduce your children to culture is by letting them play musical instruments. Even if you and your partner don’t have any musical experience, it’s still valuable to discover different instruments together with your kids. Not only is it a great way to let them express their emotions or to channel their energy, but it also helps them develop hand eye coordination. 

Some popular instruments for children are the piano, drums or the flute. We have to warn you, though, if they really enjoy getting funky, things might get noisy at home. But who doesn’t enjoy the energy of children around them. 

5. Gardening

Why not introduce your children to gardening? Making a kitchen garden together with your kids is a good opportunity to show them where their food comes from, understand photosynthesis and the nitrogen cycle. It’s also healthier than buying vegetables in the store because you don’t use or limit the number of pesticides. The variety of seeds and the growth process will surely inspire your children and it will broaden their agricultural knowledge. 

You could also involve them in garden chores to teach them discipline and responsibility, as well as how to be independent. Let them weed the garden and task them with daily watering so they feel connected with the plant’s physical changes. 

6. Science experiments

Experimenting with chemistry and physics is something that your children will remember for a lifetime. It’s a fun and valuable way to teach them some fundamentals of science. But you have to make sure that you know what you are doing. Don’t try any dangerous experiments, please stick to the easy and safe ones. 

A very popular and well-known experiment you can try is the baking soda volcano. Simply mix up baking soda and vinegar in a plastic bottle to create a chemical reaction that looks like a volcano eruption. Throw in a drop of red food coloring and it really resembles lava. If you want your children to be even more amazed, build a fake volcano around the bottle. Smiles and awes guaranteed.

7. Count the storm

This science activity will teach your children to calculate the distance of a storm by watching the lightning and hearing thunder. After you see a lightning bolt, simply count the number of seconds it takes for you to hear the thunder and divide it by 5 for miles and by 3 if you want the answer in kilometers.

Since sound travels roughly one kilometer every 3 seconds, a storm is about 5 kilometers away if you hear thunder 15 seconds after you see the lightning.

8. Word snake

This game was actually developed to enrich your kids’ vocabulary. Just pick a topic, for instance, animals, and choose a starting word. Your children need to come up with a new animal, using the last letter of yours as the first letter of their animal. An example of a word snake is tiger, rabbit, tarantula, alpaca, alligator,…

You can choose any topic, depending on what area of vocabulary they need to improve. If you let them come up with presidents or famous painters and you explain and teach them while you play, you are teaching them history or politics at the same time.

9. Cooking

Another ideal way of teaching your children independence and basic skills is involving them in cooking. They will undoubtedly love this since they can eat the end-result they have made. Start off with simple tasks like letting them mix dough and water and gradually teach them more difficult tasks such as cutting vegetables. 

Keep in mind that cooking with kids takes more time so you should make sure you’re prepared. Don’t go for difficult recipes but keep it basic and fun. Some popular choices are making your own mini pizzas, baking a chocolate cake, or making fruit brochettes.

 10. Write cards

Writing personal cards for family or friends isn’t just a good way to teach your children writing skills, it also teaches them how to post a letter. Even though the use of postal cards is almost extinct in our society, they may need to post an official letter in their future life. Knowing where to write addresses or where to put the post stamp is a must-have skill for anyone.

On top of that, the reaction you and your children will get from the receiver will be heart-warming. In these modern times, people don’t expect physical letters anymore. It’s good to teach your children the value of emotional connections between humans.

 

All these activities are a convenient way to get your kids to spend their time productively and discover new areas that they might take an interest in. If you see that your child is particularly interested in a topic, don’t hesitate to let them discover more and turn it into a hobby!

 

At Singapore International Schools, we let students discover a broad range of subjects such as sports, science, music, and arts. Enrol them now in one of the Singapore International Schools!

 

1 WHO. (2020, April 1). Coronavirus. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

2 Audible. (2020). Audible Stories. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

3 Science Fun For Everyone. (2020). Volcano Science Experiment | Science Experiments for Kids. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from http://www.sciencefun.org/kidszone/experiments/how-to-make-a-volcano/

4 Singapore International School. (2018, November 7). Enrol Now – Singapore Intercultural Schools, Indonesia. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://sisschools.org/enrol-now