‘Tis the season for fun-filled activities and creating meaningful moments. As students, parents, and teachers enjoy their well-deserved holiday break, it is a great opportunity for kids to enhance their learning all season long without falling behind in lieu of school instruction.
Patrick Quinn, a former educator and current parenting expert at Brainly, the world’s largest online learning community, has some suggestions for imaginative activities this holiday season!
- Holiday Cooking. Measuring ingredients is a great way to sharpen kids’ math skills by cooking your favorite hearty foods. They can use their skills to mix the ingredients, learn proportions, and have fun doing it!
- ‘Tis the Season for Festive Reading. Gather around and get cozy reading holiday classics. Don’t let the December holidays disrupt learning, try this list of 11 Favorite Holiday Books for Kids.
- Snowflake Geometry. This fun activity of folding, cutting, and shaping snowflakes gives students the opportunity to practice identifying geometric concepts and understanding symmetry.
- Discover the History of the Holidays. There are seven December holidays and fun ways to introduce kids to each one’s rich heritage, traditions, and cultures. Discover where Santa Claus came from, why they call Hanukkah the ‘Festival of Lights,’ and learn about Kwanzaa’s ‘Feast of Faith.’ Here is a link for How to Teach Kids About Diverse Winter Holidays.
- Quality Learning Time Together. The holiday break is the perfect time for parents and kids to sit down together without the hustle and bustle of everyday routines and spend time learning together. Online platforms like Brainly and Coursehero are great ways to keep your mind sharp over the holidays, practice what’s being learned in school, and have fun in the process. Some platforms, like Brainly, offer special parental accounts that allow you to track your young student’s progress.
- Gingerbread House Engineering. This design project is perfect for the holidays so kids can build, test, and evaluate their own creations and is adaptable to many grade levels. Try these Engineering Challenges created by real-life teachers!
Brainly’s Parenting Expert, Patrick Quinn, gives voice to the fact that the holidays are a special time for the entire family to get together.
Quinn says: “There’s no better time to reinforce what they’ve learned throughout the past semester and introduce them to new fun educational concepts. For example, last year my son created holiday-themed mad libs for our family to complete together over dinner. Not only did we have a blast and a good laugh at the final story that resulted, but it was also a great refresher for him to incorporate the parts of speech he learned in English earlier that year.”
What do you and your family have planned for the upcoming holiday?