In light of the current COVID-19 issue, we are encouraged to stay indoors and avoid any public and crowded places. From a bright side, isn’t this the perfect time for parents to educate and entertain your kids while being at home?
There are plenty of educational activities that mummies and daddies can do with the kids during leisure time. Let’s try to not just have fun, but beneficial and can educate them as well, shall we?
#1. Lego
Kids can spend hours constructing and building figures using Lego. Did you know that such activity is good for their cognitive and physical growth?
Playing with Lego by picking, sticking and stacking them into figures can bring many benefits to your kids.
One of the benefits is it helps in refining their fine motor skills. A good fine motor skill will help your kids in practicality such as writing and drawing.
The movements they make while playing with Lego will strengthen their small muscles which in turn help them to have better control and grasp.
Also, by thinking, imagining and visualizing the structure and figure they are building, it helps to enhance their cognitive abilities.
#2. Charade
Playing charade with your kids can bring a lot of fun. If you have several family members, it would be great to have them all playing. Let your kids play both roles; to show and to tell.
In guessing a word or phrase, their minds are sharpened by all the observation and analysis. This in turn will boost their critical thinking skills.
While portraying and demonstrating, this game will cultivate their creativity. It takes a creative mind to illustrate word/phrase by gesture and/or action.
Even if they refuse to join, the least your kid can benefit from this game is experience and knowledge.
#3. Last Letter Game
Certain activities are not suitable for younger kids. Toddlers, for example, are still unable to engage well with people. If you are searching for an educational activity to do with your kids, this Last Letter Game is a must-try.
Apart from suitable for all ages, this game is an activity which requires no cost at all. To play it, all you have to do is pick a word, start another word with the last letter of the word and repeat.
Some choose to put more challenge to it by choosing a category and all.
However, mummies and daddies should know your kids potential and play the game according to their pace.
As the output, this activity will increase your kids’ vocabulary count and sharpen their mind.
#4. Colouring
Colouring is an activity which interests kids mainly because of the fascinating colours and shapes. This activity can bring numerous benefits to your kids such as refining their fine motor skills.
By holding, moving and controlling pencil colour, their small muscles at the hand and fingers are strengthened.
It will also nurture their creativity and improve their cognitive ability. Such variety of colours and shapes will help them to distinguish, assort and categorize things in their mind.
This in turn will help them to analyze and see the world through a better perspective.
#5. Storytelling
Sometimes, mummies and daddies want to go easy but the kids are bored. Such time is the perfect time to read them an educational yet entertaining book.
For example, there are countless of books with fun storylines packed with moral values available in the bookstores and even in the online platform that is beneficial for your kids.
Storytelling can bring many advantages to your kids’ growth. For instance, it can polish their listening skills.
To listen, grasp information well and interpret it correctly are among the benefits they can acquire from this activity. Needless to say, this will improve their communication skills as well.
Apart from that, it can also boost their creativity. Upon listening to the story, they will start to visualize what they hear in their mind.
#6. Puzzle
Playing puzzle is enjoyable not only for kids but adults as well. It is such a satisfaction when the puzzle pieces are completely attached altogether. This fun activity is actually beneficial for your kids.
As playing puzzle involves visual and motor skills, it helps to enhance their hand-eye coordination. They pick, attach and manipulate the puzzle pieces while focusing and moving their eyes here and there.
Not just that, it also helps to improve their memory retention. To connect those pieces, they have to remember the details on the puzzle pieces.
Without realizing it, they are training their mind to collect and store information to use it later.
#7. Singing
It might surprise you on how much significance that singing can bring to your kids. It is such an enjoyable activity yet beneficial in many aspects.
Take for example, when singing, kids will learn the phonetics of words i.e. the right oral articulations.
Without realizing it, they are practising the pronunciations and learning new vocabulary. This in turn will help them to improve their communication skills which are very essential in living a good life.
It is no wonder that many speech therapists are using music and singing as one of their approaches to help kids with speech delay.
The rhythm and melody in music can bring numerous impacts to kids emotion. Through music and singing, they are able to understand and portray their emotions better.
Sometimes, kids refuse to learn in school. Through singing, mummies and daddies can educate them without pressuring them. There are a lot of songs nowadays that are educational yet entertaining!
Parents should see this current issue of COVID-19 as a chance to spend more quality time with kids. Sometimes, they will throw tantrum and all because they are bored and craving for your attention.
There are many beneficial activities that you can do with them. Either the ones that require more physical movements like these activities, with some expenses on that or none at all.
Take this chance to educate while entertaining your kids!