7 Ways to Keep Kids Learning Without Knowing It
For most kids summer means one thing: six weeks off school! But while there is no denying that every child deserves a much-needed break, many parents will still be keen to keep their child’s brain active. Thankfully, no matter whether you are staying at home or enjoying a trip overseas, there are plenty of ways to take advantage of the world around you to make learning fun.
With this in mind, we spoke to the in-house team of education experts at the one-to-one online tutoring company, GoStudent, who shared their top tricks for keeping kids learning this summer.
- Send postcards from every place you visit – even if it is just the next town along
Writing postcards is a great way to help your child develop both their spelling and their handwriting skills over the summer. Instead of quizzing your child on their latest spelling words, which feels too much like being at school, suggest that every time you go to a new place, they can choose a card to send to a friend or family member. Kids will love picking out the design and getting to pop it in the mailbox so much, so that they won’t even realise that they are still learning as they write out their message!
- Let your child be in control of the daily budget
A recent GoStudent Education Report found that students across the UK struggle most with maths, so putting your child in control of the budget is a really fun and practical way to help them to work on their maths skills. This can go from doing the weekly food shop, to ordering lunch in your favourite restaurant, to buying new clothes. Asking your child to handle these matters is an opportunity that not only allows them to learn about money and maths, but also gives them the chance to be more involved in big decision making.
- Plan day trips to historical places, like ruins and castles
Planning day trips to historical places offers a fun and interactive way to talk to your child about history. Every country has a story to tell, but there is only so much we can learn from the history books. Taking historical day trips is a great way to bring history to life! Ask your child to write down all of the highlights and fun facts you discovered together so that, after the holiday, they can share their new knowledge with their friends and classmates.
- Create a moon journal
Creating a moon journal helps your child to sharpen their observational skills and teaches them about space! For one month, ask them to observe the moon and how it changes on a daily basis. It requires a sharp eye for detail to see the differences that come during the night. Encourage your child to do some research about the phases of the moon. What makes it change size? How does the night sky look when it is full? An easy way for you to work on such a project is to print a calendar in which your child can draw every night’s moon. After a week you should be able to see a pattern start to emerge.
- Release your inner scientist
Why does a bottle of coke explode when you throw in a few Mentos? How can an egg be dropped without breaking? These experiments are really fun to do, but also teach your child about chemical reactions and physics! Working together with your little one to carry out these experiments gives you the perfect opportunity to sneak a few science lessons into your summer break, while also encouraging your child to think creatively and, if you have more than one child, or they are playing with friends, to work as a team.
- Go green and plant new flowers
Planting flowers in your own garden, on your balcony, or at a public park, is an interactive and fun way to learn more about nature. Summer is the perfect time to go outdoors and to discover all the beautiful things nature has to offer. It also allows your child to learn more about environmental science. Encourage your child to keep a diary on the progress the new flowers are making, with pictures and a brief report. This makes them become aware of what is the best timing for planting, what the new greens need to help them grow, and how they should be taken care of.
- Join a reading challenge or start a book club
Reading is probably one of the easiest ways to work on your language and grammar skills. It allows your child to lose themselves in a different world, enrich their imagination and strengthen their grammar skills. Many libraries offer reading summer challenges – why not challenge them to work through this list? Let your child involve friends and family and be sure to talk about the books you’ve all been reading. If there’s no library in your neighbourhood that offers a certain challenge, you might want to consider starting your own book club – either with other local families or perhaps within your own!
