Wondering how to provide your child with entertainment that is also an educational experience? Learning through play does not have to be boring and devoid of positive emotions. It can become attractive and interesting in the eyes of children – find out how!
When children have to absorb knowledge of their own volition, they learn much faster. Therefore, playing as a way to learn new things is a great solution. However, in order to achieve this, it is necessary to evoke certain emotions in the child – preferably joy. Boring play, although saturated with educational issues, numbers, letters, phrases – will not be effective. What games, books and toys should we bet on to change that?
The first example of combining pleasant and useful is physical activity in the fresh air with elements of learning. The child will receive a large dose of joy, health, but also will learn new issues. However, they should be skillfully smuggled in. A great way to do this is a “game of colors”. Throwing a ball to the child, you specify the color. If the color is black, the child cannot catch it. You can agree that you exchange numbers or letters instead of colors. This way learning the alphabet, numbers or colors will come easily. The child will have to work hard to find the next letter or number. Additionally, it exercises manual skills and reflexes.
It’s good if your child has access to coloring books, especially those that won’t get boring after the first few strokes with crayons. There is a great solution on the market called Hokus-Pokus. It is a water colouring book – the picture appears gradually when you move the appropriate marker attached to the set. Interestingly, after a few hours the picture disappears. The fun starts again the next day!
Children from 3 to 6 years old should exercise their memory and logical thinking skills every day. Nothing helps better than a memory game, a word quiz, a logic quiz, or a concentration game. Reward the correct answers of the child, and it will be more willing to approach the next tasks. There are many great suggestions on the market. Puzzle games for the youngest will very quickly improve concentration and memory of the child
If we want to learn about or improve children’s sensory and cognitive abilities, we don’t need expensive toys. More and more toddlers have problems processing sensory stimuli. Therefore, new solutions are more readily available to improve a child’s body sensation, touch or balance. But how to take care of cognitive abilities at home? Pasta colored in many different colors, flour, rice, jelly, or something with a porous surface is a good idea. The youngest ones love to learn new shapes and textures. Your child will be pleased when you let them touch something that was previously forbidden, so they will gladly sit down to play.
Everyone remembers the times of childhood and playing in building a huge tower, house or castle with blocks. Now children still love to play with them. However, there are other solutions available on the market, more friendly and better adjusted to the needs of the youngest. Wooden blocks will be great, especially those with magnets. A smaller child will have to work hard to properly attract two blocks, which on most sides will repel each other. Blocks develop not only manual skills but also imagination. The child has a possibility to create countless number of even the most abstract constructions.
Proper selection of games, props, a large number of interesting and engaging books and, last but not least, parents’ creativity. All this makes sensory integration, exercising imagination, manual skills or memory something pleasant for the child. Add to ordinary play something amazing, new, which will surprise and interest the toddler, and for sure he will absorb knowledge faster!
