5 Ways to Keep Children Learning During the School Holidays

The upcoming school holidays are a time for relaxation, rest, and spending time with family. Although school vacations give many opportunities for your children to play and take a break from homework and other school obligations, there are many reasons to promote continuous learning when our children are on holiday. In today’s post, we’ll discuss 5 ways to keep your children learning during the school holidays as a proactive measure to avoid a plunge in their grades when they return to school. So, continue reading if you need more guidance fostering a love of learning over your child's school holiday by utilising fun and interactive activities at a leisurely pace.

Why should I encourage learning?

To improve learning proficiency.
To exercise the brain and to keep brain muscles active.
To maintain previously retained knowledge.
To maintain a positive attitude towards school and learning.

We want children to develop a value for learning at a tender age because education, as an instruction of knowledge, is at the heart of increasing one's chances of success. Therefore, integrating activities into your child’s school holiday routine will help them stay engaged, curious and excited about learning.

Visit museums

Museums are great for increased learning because children enjoy interactive and tactile activities. Several studies have shown that physical activity can improve a person's understanding of something and our ability to retain information. This is known as tactile or kinaesthetic learning because it involves learning through 'doing' (touching, feeling, moving).

Visit our blog article to discover more about how tactile activities might help your child learn: The Kinaesthetic Learning Style - Characteristics and Study Strategies.

Museums offer a dynamic and three-dimensional learning experience, which engages kids in a rich learning environment. Moreover, they are fantastic because they allow children to take ownership of their own learning through exposure to interactive exhibits and hands-on activities.

Studies reveal that children who engage in tactile learning experiences develop the following:

Critical thinking skills through inspiring curiosity, posing questions and participating in discussions.
Increased levels of social tolerance through exposure to diverse cultures and an understanding of multiculturalism.
Greater historical empathy by understanding the historical value of objects and historical occurrences.
Improved problem-solving abilities through targeted displays that foster experiential play and problem-solving.

Museums also allow students to learn art, culture, history, the environment, and science without the stress of standardised testing. As a result, your child will gain an increased level of interest and comprehension regarding topics they may not have encountered in the classroom. As a result, such interactions can stimulate more direct engagement with phenomena, ideas, and subjects, which could eventually be included in your child's school curriculum.

You may be asking why active engagement is crucial to your child's development: Active engagement allows your child to participate in information acquisition processes while also allowing them to communicate their thoughts. These processes are vital to successful learning. Museums and other types of galleries inspire questions and discussions, which are essential for knowledge acquisition, and if your child's interest is inspired, learning can be more actionable and enjoyable.

Make reading a part of their routine

It’s no surprise that regular schooling routines go out the window when the school gates close and children have more time on their hands. But as a parent, you can still keep a sense of routine by implementing daily rituals that keep your children moving and doing all through the holidays. Reading is an excellent way to keep your children learning this holiday season. Most people would agree that reading is one of the best ways for kids to learn (including reading to them).

Benefits of reading aloud to your children:

📚It helps develop their language skills.

📚It facilitates the development and improvement of their literacy skills.

📚It inspires their imagination.

📚It helps children process visual information more effectively.

📚Increases their exposure to a more sophisticated vocabulary than in their conversational interactions with adults.

Dr Hutton, a child psychology researcher, contends that imagination is required to comprehend a story read aloud. When reading to your child, for example, if they hear that a dog caught a stick during fetch, their thought process will be: "I've seen a dog and a stick before, so what does that look like?" As a result, reading aloud helps children to create visual connections through listening, which may help them absorb the content better and transition to independent reading without visual aids more quickly.

While younger kids may enjoy reading fiction books, older kids could benefit from reading both non-fiction and fiction books for several reasons. Non-fiction books can provide an in-depth understanding of topics and phenomena that interest them that they may or may not have learnt. Fiction novels can help students improve their creative writing skills and expand their imagination. We suggest visiting the bookstore with your kids and giving autonomy to them to pick out their books. Of course, the books kids want to read should be age appropriate in terms of both language proficiency and substance.

Another strategy to encourage reading over the school holidays is to visit the library; as a parent, you can set a good example by choosing a book and reading it. Depending on your child's responsiveness to this activity, you can spend 30 minutes to an hour giving them a different atmosphere than the house to engage in learning.

Create a digitally free environment

To inspire more organic learning and discovery, you could action this by limiting the amount of time your kids spend at home on their phones, watching television, or using the family PC. Children of this digital era often find instant gratification and entertainment through these devices, and in turn, do not have enough time to themselves. We recognise that finding new and compelling activities to keep your children entertained can be challenging during the holidays, so we have outlined a few practical suggestions.

The first step to creating a digital-free environment is through the vast outdoors, where your children can explore the natural environment. Exploration fosters imaginative play, which allows children to express themselves creatively. You could also encourage your children to go on walks, sit in the park, and see the world through their own eyes (on their own if they are older, teens). Even if it's only for a few minutes a day, it's a healthier option than staring at their phone screen all day.

Go to the supermarket

School isn’t the only source of education; the world provides ample opportunities for children to learn outside the confines of a formal classroom setting. The Supermarket Study involved a study with children that placed signage on regular items around the supermarket to encourage a dialogue between adults and children. Signage illustrated questions visible throughout the supermarket in the areas around different products. The questions included "Where does milk come from?" and "What else comes from a cow?" amongst others. Findings reveal that the use of signage inspired a ⅓ increase in dialogues between parents and children under the age of 8.

Although this study used controlled factors like signpost placements, you can adopt this principle in practice since it demonstrates how everyday tasks like grocery shopping may lead to more possibilities for learning in the real world.

As previously discussed, active engagement is a fundamental aspect of successful learning, so what better approach to interest your children in acquiring knowledge than to turn routine tasks into chances for engagement and interaction?

Next time you're running errands with your kids, ask them questions - asking questions about the how and why of mundane things around them can foster a love for learning and inspire their curiosity to learn more.

Discuss current events

Given the prevalence of social media and digital technologies, it is not difficult for children to come across a news channel or a radio interview that highlights a current incident impacting their neighbourhood or another part of the world. Regardless, discussion, as demonstrated in The Supermarket Study, is a very effective strategy for teaching and learning.

If your family watches television together regularly, you may use this as a chance to involve your children in talks about the pertinent events or issues raised. We understand that promoting active listening and engagement may be difficult, but encouraging your children to be aware, analyse, and interact with issues affecting the world around them can help build their critical thinking abilities, social tolerance, and empathy for others.

Planning their routine

Since every family’s situation is different, we cannot supply a standardised routine for you to implement. However, there are a few tactics that you may try out and see how beneficial they are. How To Plan A School Holiday Routine For Kids is an article we wrote that explains three options for you to consider. You can choose one approach that works for you or combine them!

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