The holidays are a wonderful time for families 
to spend time together for laughter, games and delicious food. Helping children learn as they play is one of the best things to help them develop their cognitive and motor skills, especially when they are still young.
To help you think of ways to create simple educational games during the holidays, consider the different topics that you can easily teach while doing everyday things at home with the whole family.
Counting
Helping children practice counting is fun and very easy to do. From counting ornaments, chairs, place settings, presents or even people in the home, there are endless counting exercises available.
Start off by either asking the child to tell you how many of something there is, or simply start off counting items yourself. You’ll be surprised to find how children love to follow along with simple tasks like counting.
Sorting
To help young children learn the names and types of different objects in the home, start sorting into different groups. Whether it’s a toy clean up session where the children have to sort the animals from the cars, fruits and vegetables, gift sizes or different ornament colours, it’s a fun and educational way to get chores done as a family.
Reading
If you would like to help children read and identify different objects, try making large tags for random things around the home and ask the children to find and read them all. Start with simple words like cat, ball, tree and pan, then move on to more difficult words like staircase, washroom, bathtub, ornament, snowman, and so on.
Fine Motor Skills
Finally, there are fun ways to sharpen fine motor skills; making DIY ornament at home is one of the best ways to go about it. Cutting decorative paper with safety scissors, stringing up cereal loops on string, hanging small ornaments or tying small knots for bows all help work out these fine motor skills. Not only will you help children develop these skills but you also get a chance to recycle items from around the home for cost-saving decorations as well.
Any everyday object and task can easily become a chance to help children develop important skills while spending precious moments with loved ones. When something is fun for children, that’s when learning becomes a breeze.
Miho is a children’s author and illustrator who loves creating fun and educational children’s activities. She shares DIY projects and fun eco tips through her MihoSuzuki.com blog.
Posts