5 Ways to Make Learning Fun for Your Kids

Kids learn through play, and play can make learning fun. The problem is, the fun in learning seems to have vanished. So, we’re on a mission to bring the fun back into learning, and that’s not just because we own a great toy shop! As parents, we’ve been told school is boring, reading sucks and that our kids don’t want to do their homework. Use the word educational in a sentence, and they switch off and refuse to have anything to do with it. We put our heads together and have made a list of five ways to make learning fun once more.

Ready to Make Learning Fun Again?

In the ‘olden days,’ rote learning was all the rage. Times tables were learnt by reciting them out loud and don’t get me started about having to write my spelling words again and again … Thankfully schools have started acknowledging that kids learn in different ways and that just because it’s been done that way in the past, doesn’t mean it needs to continue to do so in the future.

It’s a well-documented fact that children learn best when they are:

• engaged in the activity
• taking an active role in the learning environment
• interacting together with others in a social context
• using information that is meaningful to them

All four of these factors are present during play, so it makes sense that our kids participate in play-based learning as much as possible. To do so, your child needs access to a range of high-quality educational toys, books and equipment which we can help you with. As a parent, you can assist to make learning fun by:

1. Provide hands-on activities – activities which require interaction and manipulation with are best. This can include arts and crafts, educational puzzles or building activities.
2. Encouraging child-led play – kids like different things and will follow their own interests to infinity and beyond. If you try to direct their attention somewhere else, they’re likely to lose interest quickly.
3. Join in the activities – when you show interest in an activity, your children are going to want to stay and enjoy doing it with you.
4. Use games to teach new skills – it goes without saying that when learning something new, if you enjoy doing it, you’ll want to continue doing it for longer. Remember Mary Poppins who made cleaning up fun?
5. Take it outside – who said that learning must take place indoors? Often a change of scenery can bring a different way of looking at and thinking about something.

Play-based learning experiences are, we believe, one of the best gifts we can give our children. Take the time to watch and engage with your child’s play each day; there’s a little kid in all of us!