With school holidays around the corner, we thought it might be the perfect time to start thinking about how we can continue to increase children’s learning and development through the break.
Yes they need time to rest and recover but with 6+ weeks ahead of downtime, it’s the best opportunity to help their brains to continue developing, absorbing and learning.
Here are a few easy ideas to get you started…
Podcasts and Audiobooks
Holidays cry out for road trips and lots of time traveling in the car.
Listening to an audiobook or podcast together is a great way for children to learn new information (without them realising they are learning) as well as build their imagination, world knowledge and comprehension skills.
If you are not sure where to start, here is a link to the best 12 podcasts for kids from Kidspot.com.au
With cries of “I’m bored” heard quite early in the school holidays, games are a proven way to entertain children as well as to spend time together as a family.
Some families have a regular board game afternoon or evening every Saturday or Sunday evening.
So rather than pulling out an old favourite such as UNO take a look at this article from schoolastic.com that has a list of board games that will boost your child’s reading, vocabulary, word knowledge and problem-solving skills.
Journal or Diary
On the first day of the new school year, the most often asked question is;
“What did you do on the holidays?”.
This is such a big question – given that the summer holidays are usually 6+ weeks in length and the most exciting part may have happened weeks before school starts.
So to help your child to be able to reflect on their holidays – write a journal.
This is especially handy if you are going away as you can add maps, tickets, photos to make it into a true snapshot of their time away.
On the first day of the new school year, the most often asked question is;
“What did you do on the holidays?”.
This is such a big question – given that the summer holidays are usually 6+ weeks in length and the most exciting part may have happened weeks before school starts.
So to help your child to be able to reflect on their holidays – write a journal.
This is especially handy if you are going away as you can add maps, tickets, photos to make it into a true snapshot of their time away.
