There’s really no reason learning can’t be fun – all the time! Even better, kids learn and retain more when they’re enjoying themselves. That’s why math summer camps are so important to continuing the journey and avoiding the summer slide. Many math summer camps also support accelerated math students.
Here’s how it’s done.
School Fun
The terms “school” and “fun” are not mutually exclusive, although some parents and teachers apparently think so. For whatever reason, they don’t fully embrace the notion that, yes, learning really can be fun. After all, education isn’t a somber grind merely meant to be endured.
Games And Homeschooling
Particularly with so many students at home nowadays, it’s important to incorporate games into the homeschooling curriculum. Opportunities to do so shouldn’t be reserved for after-school activities or viewed as rewards for completing class work. And learning should be more than tests, lesson plans, and “canned curriculums”.
Games To Enhance Kids’ Education
Nothing tops the ability of games to marry fun and repetition with learning, whether in a classroom or at home. Once you’ve begun viewing games as tools to be used to expand your child’s education, you will likely notice more opportunities during schooling where games can be used to create fun classes for kids.
Re-Do Old Games
You may already own games that have educational value that you likely have never considered. Why not use them as part of school? You can even tweak the rules or make up your own. You could use game dice when introducing math facts, or game “letters” when teaching how to spell.
Avoid Electronics
Not that they don’t have educational value, but electronic games have over-saturated the market. Most youngsters need less computerized or electronic stimulation — not more. In their stead, use good old-fashion card, dice, and board games. A deck of cards is inexpensive and supremely portable and can be used by younger children to, say, match colors and numbers.
Use Memory Games
Memory games can be used by children of all ages, especially to introduce or review a subject. The key is to make them fun!
Use Timeline Games
Timeline games are particularly useful when you’re dealing with important events in history. Use them where possible instead of having kids simply memorize dates, which many youths find boring, stressful, and tedious. Timeline games can be used to learn or review the flow of key events during an historic period.
If you’re a teacher, you can also break your class into groups to research certain aspects of history and have kids reenact the situation, perhaps while on a field trip to a pertinent location. The kids will gain a well-rounded perspective of history and will have a great time, to boot.
Try Chess And Puzzles
Inexpensive and relatively easy to learn but hard to master, chess is great for developing thinking skills and will occupy participants for a good chunk of time. Likewise, puzzles help build thinking and visual skills and can be a real joy to finally put together. There’s nothing like the sense of accomplishment.
Get Thee Outside
Take the teaching out of doors and create a learning environment full of activities that the children love to do. Once outside, fun educational opportunities abound! Use nature to make every subject more interesting.
You can, for instance, create snow sculptures to represent book characters, practice writing words in snow or mud, describe shapes of playground structures, go hunting for letters or words, or collect flowers or stones and divide them into fair shares.
Act It Out
Rather than have a child recount a story, encourage them to act it out! They can also act out letter formations, social problem solving, or concepts such as patterns.
So, yes, leaning really can be fun. Don’t hesitate to inject a bit of amusement and enjoyment into everyday learning for your class or family.
