There seems to be a weird idea that, if something is fun, it isn’t valuable or educational. But parents can easily kill two birds with one stone, and all it takes is a little bit of attention and effort.
If you’re struggling to find ways to keep your young children educated and entertained, here are some tips that might help. After all, you can’t exactly enrich your children too much.
Different Forms of Play
The great thing about play is that sometimes kids learn naturally. Different forms of play encourage children to learn different skills. Imagination play, where children pretend to play a role teaches them how to connect with others and, well, use their imaginations.
Active play, especially with other children, teaches children social skills and how to work as a team. They also improve your child’s motor skills and fitness. On the other hand, solitary play with building blocks or other toys can help your child to become more creative and independent and helps them to develop fine motor skills.
The trick is to encourage your child to engage in a variety of different play types. Kids are different and will likely lean towards a specific kind of play. There’s nothing wrong with this, we want children to develop unique personalities, but it’s important to encourage them to try new things.
Enrichment Toys
You can further encourage your children to learn through play by providing them with plenty of enrichment toys and activities and playing with them. Building blocks are a ubiquitous enrichment toy, as children have played with them for decades.
Another option is to provide cute, fun soft toys, like these alphabet plushies that can be squeezed, hugged, played with, and even used to teach your children the basics of spelling.
Young children crave attention, and if you play with them, you make them happy and you can guide their learning. Integrate short, fun lessons in your playtime sessions, and your children will learn more naturally.
Screen Time
For better or for worse, electronic devices have found a home in children’s lives. There are some dangers with this, as children can develop an unhealthy attachment to their tablets. It’s also been found that children who rely completely on electronic devices for entertainment have lower attention spans and get bored more easily.
However, electronic devices are a tool. One way to benefit from them is to download educational games and play online games that can help them develop problem-solving skills, such as sudoku and videos for your children, so if they are using tablets, they are at least learning and developing.
- You can also interact with your children using electronic devices. As your kids get older and may develop an interest in video games, learn how to play with them. This lets you spend time with them and monitor their device use all at once.
Learning an Instrument
Children can learn instruments from a surprisingly young age, and they often have a natural interest in them. You only have to put a toddler in front of some pots and arm them with a wooden spoon to see how quickly they turn it into an impromptu drumkit.
As your children grow older, it becomes more obvious whether this interest was just a passing fascination with loud noises, or a genuine interest in music. If it’s the latter, try to encourage that interest. Get them to learn how to read sheet music and to learn songs on their chosen instrument. Their brains are constantly developing and this is a fantastic way to boost that.
Finally, it’s important to set boundaries with screen time. Different parents have different boundaries but no matter what you choose, always be consistent and honest with your children.
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