5 Creative At-home Activities To Keep Your Child Learning

By Author: Peter Wendt
Total Articles: 34
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It’s a parent’s job to make sure that her kids are learning all the right things. There are a great many in-home activities parents can do with their kids, who won’t have any concept of how much they’re learning because they’re having so much fun.

Painting: This at-home activity can be made age-appropriate for any child with some slight variations. Younger kids will love playing with finger paints, and elementary school students can tap into their creative sides with brushes and watercolors. Kitchen table art sessions allow kids to express themselves visually, a big help in their developmental process, since their communication and speaking skills are still under construction. Kids use painting to establish connections with the world that surrounds them and to exercise their creative thinking abilities.

Piano lessons: Families who have a piano at home will be doing their children a great deal of good by exposing them to a few music lessons. Kids can learn to play piano beginning at around age five. At such a young age, any kind training with a musical instrument will instill a sense of confidence and ...
... dedication in students. Kids will see that if they work hard and practice at something, they will reap rewards later on. Additionally, studies indicate that learning an instrument early in life may boost kids’ language, vocabulary, reasoning and fine motor skills.

Cooking: Parents who expose their children to at-home cooking classes are laying a foundation in the basics of chemistry. Being able to mix, measure and heat-treat ingredients will teach kids that good things come to those willing to do a little work. Not only that, but kids will benefit from an early understanding and appreciation of food. Parents should take advantage of such a situation, exposing their kids to foods previously foreign to them.

Yoga: Kids can benefit from Mom’s favorite yoga video, too. Through a yoga session or two, children will gain a new understanding of their bodies as well as the necessary tools to become mentally, physically and emotionally self-aware. There isn't a ton of research on the benefits that yoga has on children, but it has been found to improve overall health and behavior in kids as young as five years old, and yoga instructions are even available for infants, in parent-child sessions.

Drama: Putting on an at-home stage production can be a rich experience for kids. By learning a few lines and playing a part even for just a few minutes, children will give their imaginations a workout even as they build their self-esteem. Some kids are born for the stage, but shy children can benefit from an at-home monologue just as much – perhaps even more. Timid kids can learn how to better communicate with their peers by discovering a love of acting.

Peter Wendt is a journalist and father living in the great city of Austin, Texas. When it comes to at home educational activities, Wendt recommends the Born Learning program.