Educational fun for the whole family

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Get Creative

Published on Thursday, 05 December 2013 09:00

Last Updated on 02 December 2013

Kristen Harding

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Parents always wonder how they can keep their children involved in educational activities over the school holidays or even throughout the school term.
The more involved everyone gets the less likely you’re chlid will feel like they are being punished or being treated differently. Using expressions like “it’s time to work on”, or “you’re not working hard enough” will cause your child to back off and want nothing to do with your projects.

Projects are a great way to get everyone involved, using skills they have and practicing skills that might be lacking. Here’s some examples of projects you can do with your children.

Set a target:

If you want your kids to read more, why not set a goal for how many books you can read as a family, or how many pages if your children vary in ages. Alternatively make a list of 25 to 30 books they want to read and work your way through them together. Maybe they are your favourite books from when you were growing up or some of the ones your local book shop recommends.

Or if you want to get your children active and delve into map reading or geography, why not challenge yourselves to walk around the world, or to a specific destination. Each week record how far you have walked locally, and plot the distance on a map of the world. Do some research when you get to certain destinations and see what life is like in those cities that time of year. You could try making local dishes, and even learning to say hello in different languages.

Plan a Project:

Does your child have an obsession with trains? Or loves gardening? Start a project and learn everything you can about the subject. If they love fish, start an art project and create an aquarium, but have them research the environment and fill it with the right plants and food supplies. If you are going on holiday somewhere even in the future, go to the library and take out books on the subject or have your children help with the online research, helping to plan a budget or learning a few phrases before you go.

The projects can be small and take a few hours or you can string them out over a period of time. Take a picnic or inside picnic for example. This can be a one day event but you can work on their creative writing, addition, art display and physical activity levels. First of all have them brain storm a list of everything you need, as well as writing the list, then go to the supermarket and either have them help look for things or if they are older give them a budget and see how close they get. Have them make the food, and even draw a map for one parent to find them once they have things all set up! Making it a fun day makes the work seem non-existent!

Presentation:

Putting all of these things into a scrapbook means they can share their experiences with friends or grandparents in an artistic way. Collecting ticket stubs, having them write little anecdotes, and adding pictures they have drawn.