5 Ways to Keep Your Kids Interested in Learning this Summer

Keeping your child engaged in learning activities whilst school’s over is a difficult task. They’d want to play with the myriad of toys they have at home or the games they have on the tablet. We can let them be or, better yet, encourage them to attend summer classes from the best international school where they’d be able to learn new things whilst also socialising with other kids.

By next school year, the kids will be entering a more advanced level. What better way to prepare them than by keeping their learning interest on a par with when they were in school? Here, we’ll provide you with simple yet effective ways to keep their interest on a loop.

●        Keep the gadgets and toys out of reach.

The golden rule is to hide them well. So long as they don’t see the gadgets and the toys they love to play with, they pretty much won’t ask for it. So long as you provide them a better distraction—which in this case is attending summer classes in an international school in Singapore—they wouldn’t notice these items are gone.

Keep the gadgets in a locked drawer or in places they don’t normally go to. Moreover, they’d rarely be home to notice the difference. That is, if you enrol them to summer classes or workshops.

●        Motivate the kids by setting as an example.

Perhaps the crucial factor is this: their actions are based on what they see you do at home. There’s a huge tendency your kids will copy the things they see you do like sitting idly watching television or aloofly staring at a gadget. Whatever it was you were watching or doing with the gadget, they’ll copy it.

So instead of being a passive television watcher or gadget user, cultivate a more healthy lifestyle or do something productive to stretch your mental capacity. Do some indoor exercises, read a book, walk on a treadmill whilst reading, so on and so forth. Whilst you’re at it, share the moments with your young ones. You’ll be surprised with how fast they pick these up.

●        Accompany the kids whilst they’re learning.

Whether they’re doing homework for an international school or simply doing a self-study, guide them whilst you can. Sit beside them, help them learn the words they can’t pronounce, aid their hands in solving a puzzle—whatever it takes to help them learn, do it. They’re only kids and they need all the help they can get. The more you accompany them, the more they’ll be encouraged to learn more things.

●        Play brain games together.

Playing can be closely associated with learning. The latter is not limited to reading books and solving puzzles. It’s also about stimulating creativity through a variety of brain games. Make them guess, allow them to think for themselves, and help them get the answers or the pieces right. Learning is not at all monotonous or boring.

Last but not the least, have fun whilst the both of you are learning together—with your kids through lessons involved in schools, whereas you learn more about their strengths and how to improve their weaknesses. Ready to motivate them for some summer fun?

Fun Writing Activities For Your Artistic Child

Nurturing creativity in children is good for their overall development. It provides opportunities for them to develop their skills in a way that works uniquely for them. As parents, we want to provide them with useful writing activities that make it enable them to develop their skills. We list down some fun writing activities you can do to improve your child’s creativity.

Activity for your three or four year old: Use glitter to write words

What you will need?

-          Glitter

-          Construction paper

-          Pencil

Preschoolers enjoy playing with glitter. What better way to learn how to write than with glitter. You can ask children to write in big letters using a glue stick. It’s a fun activity you can find in most reading and writing programs. With your supervision, instruct them to put some glitter on the paper. Make sure they don’t have glue in their hands or else the glitter will stick to their hands. Let dry and brush off any excess glitter and display. This activity allows them to be creative with their handwriting. Make them spell their name to increase their interest in spelling and handwriting.

Activity for your five year old: Stop the bus

Five year olds already have a pretty decent vocabulary. They know the words for most items in the house. The “stop the bus” activity allows them to explore their vocabulary even further.

How it works?

Ask your kid to sing the alphabet in their head. When you say “stop the bus” ask them to tell you which letter they stopped on. With a letter in mind, both of you have to think of a place, animal, name, thing that starts with that letter. Write the words in a piece of paper. If you want it to be a competition, the person who was able to come up with the most words wins. This activity encourages them to really think and improve their vocabulary.

Activity for your six or seven year old: Write a short story

Children who are six to seven years have a very active imagination. They enjoy reading story books or watching TV shows, movies, and cartoons. During play, they manifest what they learned from media into characters. Role playing is such a fun activity for them because they get to play their heroes and the story is theirs to control.

With this in mind, give them a small journal where they can write about their favourite characters. Have them develop the story with new scenarios that the characters have to face. Or, better yet, create their own storyline and characters. Encourage them to include drawings or illustrations to add to their story. Creating a short story would be a great activity for them because they get to read it after. It’ll also be a treat for you to see what their imagination can come up with.

There are so many more activities you can create in order to develop their reading and writing ability. Do you have a favourite kids writing activity? Share it with us. 

Activities That Keep Your Child's Mind Active This Vacation

It is important for children to keep busy during summer vacation because in a few weeks they are back to school again. In order to prevent your children from falling behind, it is important to keep their mind active during summer vacation. The best part is that it doesn’t have to be an academic activity. By learning a new sport or a new language, you can keep them sharp and ready for the next school year.

Most international preschools in Singapore swear by it. Here are some benefits your children can get from summer programmes:

1.       It raises their self-esteem. Learning new skills boost their self-esteem and confidence. This will help them greatly in school.

2.     
  They learn about long term commitments. They’ll fully understand the value of committing to a task or activity in order to advance.

3.       They develop diverse interests. It allows them to explore various interests that would be beneficial to them in the future. 

4.     
  They develop their social skills. They get to make friends with children their own age.

Now that you know the benefits we’ve compiled a list to help you decide on an interesting summer activity or activities for your kid.  

1.     
  Robotics

In a kid’s eyes, nothing is cooler than building a robot from scratch. Think Lego but so much cooler. It is a chance for them to learn about technology in such a fun environment. Robotics classes are very hands-on that really allows them to be introduced to seemingly complex mathematical, engineering, technological, and science concepts in a very interesting way.

2.     
  Programming

Learning computer codes is probably not the first thing you think of when you decide on a summer activity. Fortunately, there are a lot of international kindergartens in Singapore that offer super fun coding classes for your preschoolers. They integrate children’s interests such as Minecraft and Star Wars. If you don’t want to shell out a lot of money, you can have these coding courses in your home too. There are programs for 4-6 year olds available online. With varying degrees of difficulty, your child can learn about the fundamentals of computer science at an early age. These courses are designed like games that make it so easy for your preschooler to learn these concepts faster.

3.       Cooking

Cooking is an excellent activity for any child. It builds one of the most basic concepts: math.

As simple as it seems, it allows them to count the number of cups or tablespoons for each component. This grounds mathematical concepts into reality. By following simple recipes, they can also develop their “following instruction” skill. This skill is a very important part of learning. It also encourages them to have an adventurous palate. By cooking they are more attuned to the work and ingredients that come into creating meals that they are more likely to try new food.

By giving them fun activities during the summer, you can also enrich their learning. So, what activity are you planning for your preschooler? If it isn’t on the list, please let us know in the comments below. We’d love to know.