Top Tips To Keep Your Child Learning During The Holidays

Everyone loves a holiday, and children love it even more when they have a break away from school. Some holidays are much longer than others, especially the Summer holiday, and as parents we may worry that our children are not learning during this time. However there is so much that we can do as parents to keep our children’s brains ticking over and learning whilst they are away from the school setting. With this is mind here are my top tips to keep your child learning during the holidays.

Set time aside each day

We’re not talking hours here, we’re talking 15 to 30 minutes each day to allow your child to read, complete maths problem, or anything that they need to do. Your child may have been set homework to do over the holidays, so why not spend a short time every day working on that homework, saving you a last minute rush before term starts.

Make learning a game

Children love games, and there are so many quick games that can be played to help your child learn. You could create quick flash cards, that contain the correct answer to a question or maths problem, and it’s up to your child to find the correct answer. Depending on the age of your child, you could use flash cards to practice reading or spelling too.

Do puzzles

There are so many puzzle books you can buy from retailers, complete online or via an app. Getting your child to do word searches or sudoku every day will really help to keep their brain learning, and this is a much better activity than sitting in front of the telly.

Holiday learning programmes

There are so many people and groups available during the school holidays that are willing to support your child, and these people are most likely to be supported by such schools including the Rossall School. Your child could spend a week attending these learning programmes or benefiting from a private tutor a couple of hours a week to help with a much needed skill.

Write stories

If your child has a brilliant imagination you could ask them to write a weekly story. This will help to expand their imagination, and support with their writing and grammatical skills. I know that when I was younger I loved writing stories and really letting my imagination do the talking.

Take educational trips

During the holidays there are so many local attractions that offer event days, so see what’s on before visiting. You could visit a museum, castle, or period property. All these places offer a wealth of learning material where your child can learn all about science, dinosaurs and history.

Get out and about in your garden

There is so much wildlife on your doorstep, so get outside in your own garden. You could ask your child to go wildlife, insect and bird spotting, and they could be prepared with a list of things to spot. At the same time you could ask your child to pinpoint particular plants, or even help you with the gardening. This is a far better activity than being cooped up indoors all day.

Purchase learning books

Something that I remember from being a child is the amount of learning books that my parents bought us as children. We had Maths books, English books, and books to help us learn during our GCSE’s and when we needed A Level tuition. See it as a bit of additional education from their normal school education. These books are a brilliant way to keep your child learning during the holidays, and to give structure to that learning.

Focus on specific skills

If you know that your child is struggling in a particular area then spend 15 to 30 minutes a day focusing on that area. You could use flashcards to do that, or learning books. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just spend the time being focused on a specific skills that you and your child want to improve.