9 best kids learning activities to do at home
Abstract
Kids learning quality has decreased since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. Schools and English learning institutes are closed and any type of education is happening through online courses.
As a result of the pandemic and online teaching, kids nowadays spend most of their time at home. In this article, we analyze this unfortunate situation and see how it affects kids learning process and how they develop different skills.
Contents
Kids learning activities at home
First of all, we take a look at what type of different skills or activities kids can learn at home. Social activities, literacy or any type of educational activity (Learning games, colors and drawing …).
Considering that kids can’t go to school or play with their friends at the park, kids learning activities could become frustrating and boring for them at home. This situation has had a huge impact on kids learning.
We mention some activities that kids can do at home without feeling bored or frustrated below.
Social activities
Social activities are one of the most important factors that affects kids learning process. If kids don’t develop and participate in different social activities properly, they might have some problems joining in different activities when they grow up.
As mentioned at the beginning, due to the worldwide spread of corona virus, kids can’t go to parks or see their friends to play and socialize with. This is where we appreciate technology. Parents can install apps for video calling on their phone and let their kids communicate with their friends.
Every time someone says anything related to kids and smart phones; parents would argue that phones are not good for kids, but is it really so? Kids can have social activities by using smart phones to contact their friend and also play with them. There are games that have educational purposes and kids can play them with their friends.
This has a huge impact on kids learning. Mental UP, Coco, Curious World and Endless Alphabet are some of the best apps for kids learning activities at home.
Educational activities
It is obvious that proper education is very important for kids. There are many creative kids learning activities that parents can teach their kids. There is only one major problem, kids can get frustrated very easily.
If the learning activities aren’t interesting enough, kids start to become fed up with the activity after a couple of minutes. Considering their age, appropriate activities should be chosen. Activities that are instructive can be related to science and education, such as basic science experiments. Appropriate activities have huge impact on kids learning process.
Learning games, identifying colors, math and teaching by music are some of the best kids learning activities. Entertainment is the key for a good learning process, first you attract them and then teach them something valuable. Remember that kids learning activities also require a lot of patience. Losing tolerance can easily affect kids learning.
Learning games
Kids love playing games, they can play all day long. Parents can take advantage of their kids’ passion for playing and turn games into educational lessons. You can teach your kids about colors, numbers, animal and shapes. There are also board games designed for educational purposes. This is a good method that helps the kids learning process.
Games have a lot of effects on kids learning and parents don’t have to go through any kind of problems as games are very easy and don’t require expensive tools.
These days kids mostly play with smart phones or other gadgets hence they won’t be interested in usual learning games. Modern problems require modern solutions; therefore, parents just have to install some kids learning games on their phone.
Don’t forget that you must be patient and energetic for kids learning process in order to have satisfying outcome.
Colors and Drawing
Drawing is a great kids learning activity because kids love drawing and coloring. First parents can teach kids about the colors’ names in English and use games to teach other things related to the colors. After teaching the colors they can ask them to draw basic shapes like a circle or a triangle. This way they learn about both colors and shapes.
If parents are not creative enough to design practices for their kid, they could just buy a coloring book and moderate their performance. Some kids show their talents by drawing and parents should notice that and invest in it to help their kids to grow. As it can be understood, kids learning activities don’t have to be very sophisticated and hard.
Counting
Teaching how to count to kids is very important as it is the first step before teaching math. It is very important and very easy to teach. Children usually don’t have problem with counting. Although counting might be challenging for kids at first, but parents or teachers just have to be patient and put more afford when teaching it.
You can teach counting to kids by simply using fingers but if it isn’t attractive enough, use objects that your kid like. This could easily affect kids learning.
Don’t forget to challenge the kids after they develop their counting skill. This will prepare them for more advanced games and educational learning activities. We cannot stress enough how much patience is important in these kids learning activities.
If kids have troubles with focusing don’t lose temper, just give them a break time and then try again. Tolerance has a major influence on kids learning.
Teaching with music
Niche (German philosopher) once said that life without music would be a mistake. Using music for kids learning activities is very effective. You can easily teach them songs with educational lyrics.
Also, kids love to dance; they can dance, have fun and learn something useful. You can teach your kids about colors, numbers, shapes and other important things by using music. Music positively helps and affects kids learning process.
When kids listen to music they learn unconsciously; therefore, it is a great way to teach them alphabet since a lot of kids struggle with memorizing the alphabet. This method can really boost the kids learning progress. You can download special songs for kids on your phone and make sure that they listen to those songs every time they are playing with your phone.
You can also use music videos with educational purposes for kids. Use these videos to teach them how to identify colors and shapes. Do a quick search on YouTube and find a lot of videos for kids. This method is one that boosts kids learning.
Math and writing
Math
Math is an advanced kids learning skill. By asking kids to solve simple math problems they can develop this skill much easier. For example, give them 4 candy bars and ask them how many candy bars they would have if they share two of them with their friends. Keep it simple and don’t go too far. This skill is useful for preschoolers.
Kids are interested in writing. Writing is like drawing; since it is a good kids learning activity. Remember that you can teach this skill to preschoolers. There are many different apps available for writing. If you don’t have the time, use those apps.
Teaching responsibility
It is essential to teach kids about responsibility. If they don’t learn how to be responsible, they might face all kind of problems when they are older. Buy your kid a pet like a cat or a dog to teach them about responsibility. This is a very creative kids learning activity. Remember that you have to teach them how to take care of their pet.
Some people might have problems with adopting pets or might not even like to do it. They can buy a plant for their kid and teach them how to take care of it. They have to water their plant daily and by doing this they automatically become more responsible. Remember that this is an important aspect of kids learning activities.
Using smart phones: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
In the end, we like to mention the impacts of using smart phones to help with kids learning. We cannot deny the great impacts that technology has on our life. One can try to avoid it but it doesn’t change the fact that rest of the world is using it.
Many different kids learning activities, that were mentioned, include smart phones. A smart phone is needed for almost all of them. It is more convenient to use a smart phone. Although, it is important to remember to moderate your kids when they are using your phone and set some boundaries.
Disadvantages
Kids tend to get attached to smart phones. They love playing but it is not good for their eyes or brain if they play too much. New generations are smart and they learn very quickly. If parents don’t moderate them, they may go online and see inappropriate contents. Nowadays a lot of hacker target kids whom have access to smart phones.
Conclusion
Kids learning activities require a lot of patience and creativity. If parents are not up for it, they can contact a professional and ask for help. In quarantine and during the pandemic it is essential to care about kids’ mental health as well. It may be challenging but parents must power through and not lose hope. Kids learning activities can help parents too. Kids learning activities keep them occupied as well which is beneficial both for their relationships and therefore their mental health.
