Five Creative Ways to Keep Children Learning over the Summer Break

Summer breaks are the children's favorite part of the year. After school is over, they are ecstatic to go outside and play, and they can't wait to see their friends in a relaxed, duty-free environment.

Numerous studies have shown that play is one of the most important factors for a child's development. This is why it's crucial to allow them to spend some time learning and exploring through play, both on their own, and as a part of a group. However, the way children spend their summer breaks can easily get out of control.

Sensible and thought-out parents' involvement can help make a summer break the time when kids will have plenty of time to both play and learning. Here are some of the best practices to include in order to help a child learn in a fun, unobtrusive way during summer holidays.

Make math problems fun and approachable

Writer Gemma Turner testifies: "When my 7-year-old told me he hates math, I wasn't shocked by the discovery. However, it got me thinking about the problem. Why do kids nowadays have such strong negative emotion towards math, and what can parents do to help?"

According to the Oxford Learning insights, some of the most common reasons why kids dislike math are thinking that it's boring and making mistakes that discourage them from trying again. An additional difficulty lies in the fact that the way we learn math at school rarely offers a connection between mathematical problems and everyday life, so children can't see how and why knowing math is important for them.

Luckily, there are ways to make math lessons fun for kids, and parents can make a significant change as well:

1. Teach your child about money. Whenever they ask for an ice-cream or a new toy, use this opportunity to show them how spending money works.
2. Connect math problems with a child's interests. Calculate how much material a doll needs for her new dress, or how many points will a team need to defeat their challengers in a sports match.
3. Explore the benefits of digital learning: play fun math games online. Colorful graphics and funny sounds will make learning numbers 1 to 10, learning to tell time, and converting fractions into endless fun.

Teach history that matters most

Custom paper writing service experts emphasize the importance of teaching kids how to create a meaningful bond with human history: "History isn't a mere list of events that children must memorize to make good grades. It helps us connect with our ancestors, understand the way people live and think, and offers crucial insight on how to live using experiences of the ones that lived before our time."

There are many methods to help your child learn history, and one of the best ways to start familiarizing them with it is making a family tree together. Open by introducing a child to what a family tree is, and how they are an important part of it. If your child still doesn't read, you can begin with pictures only, while the older kids can learn to match photographs with names, dates, and birthplaces.

As you go deeper into the past, tell your child about their ancestors and the times they lived in. How did these times differ from the time we live in today, and what has still remained the same? What did they do for a living? How did they dress? As your child gets more familiar with their parents, grandparents, and grand-grandparents, they will begin to realize how history shaped the time we live in now.

Practice language skills by telling stories

"The ability to express ourselves through language is one of the biggest accomplishments of mankind", suggests best dissertation contributor and best essay writer Selena Mendes.

Unlike with math, children are naturally drawn to stories, as they shape the way we see the world at an early age. Reading to and with a child helps them learn about the world and experience emotions such as excitement, fear, happiness, and many others. Protagonists portrayed in these stories will teach a child about desires, dreams, and obstacles and how to avoid them. They will also introduce new words and phrases, helping a child improve their conversational skills.

To make a storytelling experience complete, don't stop on reading stories alone. Practice telling stories with your child to help them develop creativity and language skills. You can begin with a fictional story, and ask your child to continue it. To finish the game, you can decide how to end it together.

Develop and nurture a child's social skills

We all remember how much we enjoyed board games like Monopoly, Risk, and Clue as kids. Content strategists remind us that board games, besides hours of fun, also represent a great learning opportunity.

Playing a board game with family or friends helps a child improve their strategic thinking, but most of all, it helps develop their sense of community and cultivate social skills in a group. Children can practice verbal and non-verbal communication and team up with and against others. Some games will even make them think about what it's like to be in someone else's shoes, developing and nurturing their empathy and understanding of other people.

On a rainy summer day, when outdoor activities are not an option, pop out a board game and get your children to learn something new, exciting, and useful. Talk, explore, learn, and bond with your kids as you play.

Introduce the beauty of creating art

Bradley Sterling, a lab report writer for Assignment Man, directs our attention to important research which findings indicate the importance of art for a young mind's growth. It states that art enhances cognitive, emotional and psychomotor pathways development, so including creative activities and learning the skill of art appreciation will help a child thrive and wire the brain for successful learning.

Taking a child to visit a museum, watching a documentary about famous art pieces, and listening to music and expressing emotions it evokes should definitely become activities your family does together. In addition, make sure to include a creative aspect of art appreciation lessons. Draw, sing, teach your child to play an instrument, these art activities engage all the senses of the child and help to unite the family.

Art enriches the soul, and the child who learns to love art in their young years will most likely become an emphatic, confident grownup person, able to approach and solve difficult problems creatively and without fear.

Conclusion

Summer is the time for the entire family to relax, play, bond, and explore. Help your children learn through play, and they will soon make a meaningful connection between the two. This will help them to study conscious, and also provide them with an insight about something we all seem to forget at times: Learning should be fun, and in order to make it such, all we need to do is to be more creative about it!

Guest Author

Tiffany Harper is a talented writer from New York, an extremely active woman, and a real leader. She began her career as a journalist in the educational publishing house and later proceeded it as writer and editor with the best dissertation and custom paper writing services. Now she works as an experienced subject matter expert with EssayGeeks , My-Assignment.Help and Bestessay mostly in the education and self-growth area.