Keep the season merry and bright with holiday learning tips that keep kids mentally engaged over the break. The holiday season means no rushed mornings, no homework, and plenty of downtime spent with loved ones. Your family’s to-do list may include baking, decorating, and travelling, but be sure to also make time for learning.
Scheduling holiday learning keeps kids on track academically, maintains routines, and helps make the transition back-to-school post-holiday that much smoother.
Make Holiday Learning Fun!
Learning over the holidays doesn’t have to be boring! Maintaining learning over the holidays can be as simple as playing board games, reading books, or writing thank you cards.
Encourage kids to do at least one learning activity a day over the holidays to help them stay on track academically.
Our Holiday Learning Tips are a great way to “sleigh” learning loss this holiday season while keeping kids engaged and having fun!
Reading, Writing, & Math
According to a report from the Northwest Evaluation Association, school closures during the pandemic meant that students are dealing with losses of 30% of reading gains and 50% of math skills. Make working on rebuilding these key skills fun over the holidays with these creative and festive ideas.
- Combine a pinch of math with a dash of delicious in the kitchen! Measuring, quantities, and fractions help children understand math’s practical purposes in everyday life! Pick your favorite recipe and calculate quantities for tripling the amount. How much of each ingredient will you need?
- Keep writing skills strong over the holidays with a handwritten letter to Santa! Letter writing not only improves handwriting skills but helps students build healthy writing habits.
- When the weather outside is frightful, unplug from technology and curl up with a good book! Reading a book for pleasure is one of the easiest ways to keep learning skills developing.
Science, Language, and Play
- Beat boredom and build skills with a family game night! Board games, puzzles, and card games bring people together and keep thinking skills strong over the holidays!
- Keep vocabulary and second language skills strong over the break. Set a challenge to learn five new words per day.
- Kids love being hands-on, so spark scientific curiosity by checking out these online experiments for kids that will have them putting the scientific method into practice. Google these experiments: 1. Arctic Animals 2. Walking On Eggshells 3. Nails for Breakfast 4. Baby Diaper Secret 5. Color Changing Milk.
More Holiday Learning Tips:
- CRAFTS: 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!
- EXERCISE: 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. 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.
- 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!
- 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!
- PUZZLES: Jigsaws, sudoku, crosswords, search-a-words…puzzles are a great way to challenge the brain over the holidays.
- PLAY TOUR GUIDE: Learn something new about your city or town. Over the winter break, have kids select a local landmark or historic site and research it. Then have them play tour guide and share what they learned!
Stay on Track Over the Holidays
The holiday break doesn’t mean you have to throw out your daily routine. In fact, by maintaining your daily routine, your child will transition better when it’s time for class in January. Routines reduce the unexpected, and when children know what to expect, they perform better at school and home. It allows them to feel in control of their daily tasks and activities. Feeling like they’re in charge of their day not only makes them feel accomplished but boosts their confidence too!
Learning enrichment during the holiday season will prevent precious time from playing “catchup” and make the rest of the 2021-2022 school year a bit easier!
From all of us at GradePower Learning, we wish you a safe and joyful holiday season!
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