Every parent wants to play an influential role in helping their child to learn and develop, but it’s important to strike the right balance between education and fun. If you have young kids, and you’re keen to support them while they learn and ensure they have a fun-filled childhood, this guide is packed with helpful tips.
Design a tailored routine for your child
Every child is unique. Some kids learn in different ways from others and children have varied preferences and needs. When it comes to helping your child learn through activities, exercises and educational experiences, design a tailored routine. Draw up a schedule or plan that caters to your child’s requirements and desires. Identify their strengths and areas where they perhaps need more support, and focus on activities they enjoy. Consider which learning techniques and methods they prefer and tailor your plans to suit their attention span. Young children can only concentrate for relatively short periods. Experts suggest that 4-5-year-olds should be able to focus on a task for 10-25 minutes, but every child is different. Some may be happy to stick to an exercise for longer while others will lose concentration or interest faster. Adapt learning materials and exercises to suit your child rather than following trends.
If you have any concerns about your child’s attention span, seek professional advice. It’s important to remember that all children develop at a different pace and they may have different strengths and weaknesses. You can use milestones as a guideline, but try not to panic too much if your child is slightly behind in one area but ahead in another.
Take regular breaks
Taking regular breaks is important because it helps children to concentrate properly for short spells, rest when needed and maintain high levels of motivation and enthusiasm. If you try to push for longer periods and they’re not ready, they may lose interest and be less motivated to learn the next time you want to try an activity. Schedule short bursts of learning and educational play followed by a rest period or a break to play, eat or have a drink. Getting into a set pattern, which allows time for learning, play and rest, will help children to adjust to their routine and understand that learning exercises are followed by opportunities to run around, have something to eat or curl up with a story and recharge their batteries.
Take advantage of educational resources
Learning today is very different from previous generations. Parents, carers, teachers and mentors have access to a vast range of materials and resources, which embrace all kinds of learning methods. As a parent, it’s hugely beneficial to take advantage of educational resources to vary learning exercises and make studying, doing exercises and completing tasks as fun and diverse as possible. You’ll find educational staples such as Sight Words For Kindergarten: A List & Guide For Parents by Begin online as well as a host of new activities and resources, ranging from interactive quizzes and downloadable spelling lists to counting games and printable sheets to help with adding and subtracting. Expanding the range of materials you use and including different types of exercises will help you make learning more interesting for your child while ensuring their education focuses on key resources and activities they’ll undertake at school.
If you’re not familiar with online educational materials, or you’re looking for fresh ideas for your child, it’s an excellent idea to ask other parents, share recommendations, get advice from your child’s teachers and use search engines. Join online forums and communities to get inspiration from parents around the world and read reviews. You can also use demos and free trials to see whether you like different websites, exercises or activities before you subscribe or pay a fee.
Balance learning activities with playtime
We all want our kids to learn and excel at school, but it’s crucial to understand the importance of getting the balance right. If your child’s schedule is too heavily weighted towards educational exercises with limited time for other activities, you run the risk of putting them off learning. They may also start to lose interest and find it hard to concentrate and they might show signs of tiredness. Balance learning activities with playtime. When children are young, they need plenty of opportunities to have fun, enjoy the world around them and discover new things outside of structured learning exercises. Schedule breaks to play with toys, socialize with other kids and enjoy sports and physical exercise.
Provide a change of scenery
Exploring new environments is a brilliant way to make learning more fun and introduce different elements to your child’s education. Whether you’re homeschooling, you have toddlers who are getting ready to go to school, or you’re trying to support school-based learning with educational activities at home, it’s beneficial to provide a change of scenery. Sitting at a table for long periods or spending all your time in the same room can be boring for young kids. Try to vary settings to include new activities and ways of learning. Go outside on a warm day, embrace the great outdoors or move to a different space at home or in the local community.
Visiting different places is an incredible way to bring learning to life, especially as your kids get older and explore subjects like History, Geography and Science. Go to family-friendly museums and galleries, enjoy nature walks and plan trips to zoos, farms and wildlife parks. Often, seeing things in real life makes it much easier to process and retain information than reading text in a book. Learning experiences are often more memorable when they differ from the norm. You may remember field trips or classes you had outside in the summer from when you were in school, for example.
Take the pressure off
It can be difficult to get the balance right as a parent when it comes to encouraging and motivating your child to develop and fulfill their potential. You want to support and drive them to do the best they can, but you don’t want to heap pressure on them, especially at a young age. Try to take the pressure off learning and encourage your kids to learn through play and age-appropriate activities and give them time to relax and enjoy being small. Your home may be a place where kids thrive and learn, but it also needs to be a safe, secure space where they feel able to unwind, play and have fun with their parents, pets, siblings or other family members. Applying pressure can be counterproductive so it’s important to identify the line between motivating and supporting your child to do well and pushing them too much.
Manage your expectations
There is a lot of pressure on parents to follow certain guidelines and hit specific marks and milestones. A survey by BabyCentre revealed that over 60% of moms feel pressure to be a perfect parent and 70% of parents feel that parenting is more difficult than it was 20 years ago. External pressure can cause stress among parents, but many moms and dads also put pressure on themselves. It’s crucial to manage your expectations when it comes to educating your child and hitting milestones. As a parent, it’s beneficial to know your limits, but also to understand your child’s limits. If your goals are unrealistic, you’ll set yourself and your child up for failure. Set achievable targets, break down larger, more ambitious goals and celebrate successes along the way. Approach learning activities as a team and try to avoid making comparisons with other parents and children. Nobody is perfect.
Social media can be a force for good for parents, but it can also provide a tainted picture of parenting. Always remember that social feeds offer a snapshot of real life, which is sometimes heavily filtered and edited. Be kind to yourself and your child. Support and reassure them, encourage them to learn by having fun together and don’t rise to comments or posts if you feel like others are being competitive. Focus on what you’re doing and the environment and experience you’re creating for your child.
Be a good role model
It’s fantastic for kids to have access to books, exercises and online resources, but their main point of reference during the early years is their parents and the people they see regularly. Being a good role model will get your child off to the best possible start. Try to set a good example, spend quality time together and support your child’s education and development through positive experiences. If you don’t want your children to be reliant on devices or spend hours in front of the TV instead of playing outside, for example, monitor your screen time and let them see you engaging in and enjoying physical activity. Plan outings as a family, get involved in sports and physical exercise and embrace and celebrate hobbies, passions and interests.
Every parent wants their child to get a brilliant education and enjoy learning, but it can be tough to strike the right balance between learning and having fun. If you have young children, it’s beneficial to take steps to promote educational development while ensuring your kids have plenty of opportunities to relax, play and be carefree. Designing a tailored learning plan for your child, scheduling regular breaks and taking advantage of learning materials and resources can help. It’s also a great idea to take the pressure off, provide a change of scenery, set a good example for your kids and balance learning with playtime.