Most schools do a good job of engaging kids in very entertaining ways. Children generally do not have a very commendable attention span, so there’s a very high chance that they lose concentration easily. This is one of the main reasons why a child’s study plan should be infused with a lot of things that could stimulate their memories and help them remember things long after school is over.
However, regardless of how much is done in school, parents and guardians really need to do a lot more to make sure that there are more than enough extra-curricular activities to engage them in. The child’s average school day most likely have academic activity, so when they’re back home, you can put academics to rest and engage them in other things. Extra-curricular activities can really help foster a child’s sense of belonging, cognitive skills and general teamwork. Here are a few extra-curricular activities you can try from time to time.
Sports
You don’t have to worry about training the next David Beckham or Serena Williams when considering the sporting activity. You only need to enable the child’s interest in some of these things and watch them pick the rest up by themselves. Carefully select the activities based on the child’s interest, and after a while, maybe the child can pick a favourite.
Crafts
Physical engagement in arts and crafts is one of the best ways to ensure that your child imbibes much-needed motor skills. This could involve working with clay, plasticine, or weaving baskets. You may even discover your child’s natural talent for some of these things. And it could become something they’d be very interested in when they grow up. Crafting is also a fantastic way to keep your child focused on something specific for more than a few hours at a time. For this, take a look at several options on TheWorks store to get some craft activity ideas for your child.
Music
It’s extremely hard to find anyone in the world who is completely opposed to music. What you might find is that different people appreciate different kinds of music. It would be a great idea to add music to your child’s extra-curricular activities regardless of the type. It could be learning how to play one of many musical instruments or learning how to sing. Apart from doing something very fun and enjoyable, your child could build motor and cognitive skill while learning an instrument and also learn a little bit of culture, history or both.
Culinary Activity
Just like sports, the idea is not to produce the next master chef. Cooking is, however, really great for children not only because culinary skills are generally essential. But because it could also help your child learn how to focus, stay alert and even come up with recipes of their own. You could also try to slip in some nutritional knowledge here and encourage them to learn how to prepare healthy meals.
The most important thing here is to remember that your child may not learn everything required for life in school. It is your own responsibility as a parent or guardian, to make sure you shore up whatever activity or knowledge is missing, through extra-curricular activities.
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