Getting your student excited about learning outside of the classroom can be a challenge—no matter whether you're facing an unexpected, extended school closure or a scheduled holiday. However, introducing your student to engaging educational activities at home can inspire a passion for learning. Creative ways to make learning at home fun can involve hands-on educational activities, catering projects to your student’s current interests, and incorporating educational games.
Make learning at home fun by incorporating hands-on educational activities
Encouraging students to have hands-on experiences with the concepts they are learning in school, or with topics they personally find interesting, can help your child better understand academic material. If you student is struggling with a math or science concept, try illustrating it through a visual or kinesthetic game. For example, if your student is learning about plant or animal cells, work together to create a cell diagram using LEGOs. This will allow your child to build something physical, and to see what he or she has created and how the cell works. Your student can also build bridges, race cars, or skyscrapers out of LEGOs or other building materials and conduct various math and science activities with them.
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Make learning at home fun by listening to your child's interests
A great way to make learning at home fun for your student is to engage in activities surrounding any current interests. Gearing learning time toward topics your student already finds interesting can increase his or her excitement. For example, your student might be interested in dinosaurs. If this is the case, activities could include:
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Visiting the local library or bookstore (or looking online) to find books on dinosaurs, both fiction and nonfiction. Then, incorporating these books into blocks of time set aside at home for learning-related activities.
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Incorporating STEM activities and experiments, such as creating fossils using modeling clay, leaves, and shells. These experiments can be followed by a conversation on the activity topic, in an effort to instill a deeper understanding.
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Encouraging your student to write a short story—or simply a book of illustrations depending on the student’s age—about dinosaurs, including any facts he or she may have learned that stand out.
As previously mentioned, visiting places like the local library could help your student better connect with the material. If the situation permits, incorporating field trips to science centers, historic sites, or other local centers could provide your student with an opportunity to absorb material he or she might not otherwise come into contact with. You can translate this new knowledge into additional at-home educational activities. This will allow your student to make a direct correlation between what he or she discovered and activities you can do right at home.
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Make learning at home fun by including educational games
Educational games allow your student to absorb information in a low-pressure, creative environment. If your child is struggling with spelling, create a Jeopardy game to help him or her improve his or her skills. Make different categories based off of the types of words your student is struggling with, and have five questions under each category that are worth a specific number of points from 100-500. Every time your child gets a spelling word correct, add points to the total. You can add another level to the game by reading a definition and having your student guess the correct word and spell it properly. Gauge your child’s knowledge level and base your rules off this.
In addition, there are hands-on math games your student can play to assist in his or her understanding of subjects. Simple games like dominoes or Connect Four can help your child better understand addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Other games, such as Equate, which allows students to solve equations in crossword-puzzle form, and Sequence Numbers, which puts a fun math twist on the classic game Sequence, encourage students to learn in a fun, relaxed environment.
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