12 Fun Holiday Learning Tips to Keep Learning on Track this Holiday Season
The holidays are almost here! But how do you keep your kids learning over the holidays? The last thing that kids want over the winter holidays is to do their schoolwork. While taking a break from the normal routine is welcome and necessary, too long away from the normal learning routine can negatively impact learning momentum.
Incorporating learning-focused activities into the holiday schedule helps ensure that students don’t lose their learning momentum completely so that when they return to school in January they are sharp and ready to learn from the first class back.
How will your kids keep learning over the holidays?
Our 12 Days of Holiday Learning is a great way to keep the learning momentum strong this holiday season! To help your child maintain learning momentum during the school holiday, try some of the following ideas:
Holiday Learning Tip 1: Get Crafting
Crafts are a great family holiday activity. They reinforce many important school skills like attention to detail, following instructions, and maintaining focus. These activities also encourage creativity and imagination. Plus, kids end up with a great craft that they can feel proud of!
Holiday Learning Tip 2: Take a Hike
Take advantage of the holiday weather and go on a family hike! Chase the kids around. Have a snowball fight, or walk around the neighbourhood and look at the lights.
Physical activity helps increase blood flow to the brain which increases memory function as well. To put it simply, once you get the blood pumping, you get the wheels turning.
Holiday Learning Tip 3: Read
Reading is one of the greatest ways to work on school skills over the holidays. Books not only tell stories of great adventures, but they also help children unplug. Reading also helps children develop their vocabulary and improve reading comprehension. These are all great skills and necessary in the classroom.
Holiday Learning Tip 4: Play Video Games
If you’re up for the challenge, pick up the controller and get your child to teach YOU how to play a video game! 🎮
When kids play teacher, it allows them to think logically about the game and how they play it–a great learning skill!
Holiday Learning Tip 5: Research Something
Task kids with an online research project! Any topic they are interested in goes. Ask the kids to locate the information for you, and then have them tell you what they discovered.
Self-directed learning helps kids build learning motivation!
Holiday Learning Tip 6: Play a Board Game
Playing board games can help kids develop critical thinking skills like strategy, analysis, and planning. They also help improve basic school skills such as addition, subtraction, and reading comprehension.
Holiday Learning Tip 7: Follow a Routine
Studies show that children actually crave structure and routine. Over the holidays, use an agenda to stay organized and focused, and to get a head start on January assignments. Read more.
Holiday Learning Tip 8: Write
Writing has a lot of health benefits for kids–from providing stress relief to helping to sort through thoughts. Journals can be about anything at all! They can be used to sketch, to make lists, to keep track of favourite quotes. Writing in a journal is about putting aside some time every day to think actively and document the thought process.
Holiday Learning Tip 9: Learn Something New, Somewhere New
Whether online or in-person a visit to a museum, science centre, aquarium, planetarium, or cultural centre is always a rich opportunity to learn something new! Science, history, or nature, learn more about some of the cultural areas of interest in your area.
Holiday Learning Tip 10: Puzzles
Jigsaws, sudoku, crosswords, search-a-words…puzzles are a great way to challenge the brain over the holidays.
Holiday Learning Tip 11: Work on A Project Together
Organizing the garage, putting photos into albums, donating old clothes, trying new recipes… with extra time on our hands it’s the perfect opportunity to tackle a project at home that can involve the entire family and help everyone build skills such as organization, creativity, and communication.
Holiday Learning Tip 12: Send Thank You Cards
Combine spelling skills, writing and penmanship, along with gratitude for the many gifts we received by sending thank you cards! You can even take it to another level by incorporating some holiday vocabulary. Or, put your crafting skills to the test and craft a card, include a hand-written note and send to someone you might need a pick-me-up over the holidays, such as seniors at your local long-term care facility.
Learning over the holidays doesn’t have to mean completing math assignments or writing an essay! There are plenty of easy, family-focus holiday activities that incorporate learning, are fun for children of all ages, and keep kids on track for the new year!
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