School holidays don’t have to mean that your child puts their learning on hold whilst away from the classroom. In fact, educational days out can be the most fun way to learn – plus it gives you the chance to explore new places and subjects with your kids, and spend quality time together.
At school, learning is mapped out by the National Curriculum and teachers’ lesson plans. You can make holiday learning very different. Before you plan where you’ll go and what you’ll do, find out what your child would like to do. Ask what’s been enjoyable during the school year – what subjects have been exciting and inspiring? What would they like to discover more about? Next, find a place to visit that offers learning opportunities around the interests you have come up with. Don’t worry about your child learning ‘more’ about a subject, or being ‘pushed further’. If you find a day out that your child engages with, the learning will come naturally.
A great idea is to ‘theme’ the school holiday. Once you have your theme, borrow library books that tie into your theme and provide you with activities ahead of your day out. For example, you could decide to concentrate on, say, nature or the Vikings or on a particular author for the week/weeks ahead or, you might decide to theme a half-term holiday around sea creatures, so you might borrow books on fish from the library ahead of a day out at an aquarium. Using books rather than the computer makes for a better shared experience between you and your child and allows much more focus on the chosen theme. With a bit of planning, one day out can provide several ideas for educational activities that stretch across a couple of days – and if you hit upon something that really sparks their imagination and interest, it could shape their learning for weeks, months or years to come!
Herok hopes this information is useful to some of our readers. Look out for further releases in Herok Educational Furniture‘s education series.
