Make the learning experience fun.
Children are blessed with a natural curiosity of the world around them. Therefore, learning is not difficult provided you give them the right triggers and inputs. Breaking down tasks into simpler steps, using multiple approaches to a topic and making the learning experience fun can go a long way toward encouraging children to learn. It is important for parents to recognize that the seemingly never-ending questions children ask are in fact the key to improving their knowledge. Patiently answering queries and encouraging reading can reinforce the learning instinct in children.
Instructions
1. Expose children to a wide range of situations that stimulate their mental development. With younger kids, use brightly colored objects and story books with pictures to provide visual inputs. Use music in the form of songs and rhymes for auditory learning. Encourage kids to handle crayons, coloring pencils, and clay and play dough to stimulate the tactile senses. Make sure the activities are age appropriate and avoid overstimulating the child. Provide sufficient time to process new information to avoid early burnout.
2. Use multiple approaches to learning the same information. For example, while teaching your kids about vowels, help them learn the sounds using vowel songs, read stories with the vowel sound words in them, and have kids color pictures of objects that contain the vowel sounds.
3. Show children that learning can be fun by using everyday situations. A trip to the grocery store can help younger kids learn about weights and measures and older kids learn about money. Waiting in traffic can turn into an impromptu math revision using the numbers on the license plates of vehicles. Laundry time can be an occasion for kids to learn sorting by size and color.
4. Never snub or ignore the questions children ask. Give them an explanation using diagrams and examples to help them understand the way things work. Ask your own questions as you answer their queries and encourage them to think of possible answers. Make a habit of reading from books, encyclopedias and the Internet to teach your children to find information.
5. Provide a loving and relaxed atmosphere to promote learning with joy. Give your child a lot of attention and understanding. Praise and encourage every single learning achievement, not just the ones that fetch an award or a prize. Support children when they find it difficult to master certain skills without criticizing their mistakes. Make sure your behavior does not put pressure on the child to perform well at all times.
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