Kids love to learn new things and get familiar with the world around them. But if you leave them to their own devices, they will gravitate towards their interests and possibly miss out on many important lessons that they can learn with your help. Since children want everything to be fun and entertaining, it’s essential that you introduce new knowledge in the most amusing manner. This is especially important for younger kids who don’t have any concept of school or the necessity to sit for hours and study. But even though they’re still young, this is the perfect time to instill love of acquiring new knowledge and present the process of learning as another fun pastime that is twice as enjoyable compared to other games because it brings a lot of benefits later on.
Let the kids choose
Children don’t like to feel pressured and if you try to force them into doing something, even if it’s something that they used to like, they will probably rebel against it and find it boring. In that respect, make sure to allow your kids to choose what they are going to do. But, be smart about this. If you want them to learn something new, present them different options such as playing in the garden, using a coloring book, playing a word quiz, drawing letters, etc. that would still feel like a game but offer a lot of possibilities to teach them new things.
It’s all a game
As mentioned previously, once you let the kids choose an activity, make it a real game. When the kids are still young, you have to play these learning games with them and add to the fun. Of course, the kids also need your instructions in order to complete the game successfully. By making a learning process game-like, with a certain goal that needs to be achieved (learned) in the end, your kids will get used to this type of activity and aspire to reach that goal, which can significantly influence their own impression of more complex learning processes and subjects later on.
Give learning a purpose
If they’re going to do something, apart for the pure fun, kids want to know why something is important. Because of that, it’s very important to give the learning a practical purpose. For example, using neon highlighters and colored pencils to draw something they learned that day about nature will be twice as fun and purposeful if you hang those pictures on the wall when the kids are done. Learning to read and write can be made a lot more interesting if kids will have someone to send letters to. You can go shopping with your kids and let them pay so that they can practise simple calculations. Basically, allow the kids to use their new knowledge in everyday life for things that would be fun and meaningful to them.
Careful with praise
Praise is a double-edged sword and that’s why you have to be really careful about it. If kids start doing really well with expanding their knowledge, you should praise them from time to time in order to motivate them even more and make them feel proud of themselves. But, if you go overboard with praising every single time they do something right, kids can lose the sight of their goal and replace the happiness of knowing with happiness of receiving praise.
Use the resources
There are many toys on the market nowadays that can contribute to your child’s willingness to learn and help with the development of various skills. What’s more, you can use regular toys to put on your own plays where you would always use knowledge as a moral of the story. The same goes for your usual storytelling. Moreover, we live in the age of technology, and there’s nothing wrong with using gadgets from time to time to inspire the kids’ desire for learning. Controlled online game play on tablets or smartphones can also be very beneficial and fun at the same time because there are many learning games that would definitely pick the child’s interests.
When trying to foster your child’s learning habits, remember to take it step by step. Being too strict and rushing things up have never proved to be a good solution in this case. Also, make sure to show your child that you’re having fun as well. If you act bored and annoyed, kids won’t find the particular activity much engaging either.
How to Introduce Your Kids to Learning Habits in a Fun Way
