The holiday season is upon us, and many young people are beginning or will soon begin their winter break from school. Whatever will they do with all that free time? Play video games? Watch television? Sleep? Why not try a more cerebral endeavor? Here are five possible educational activities for youth to enjoy as well as to keep their brains in active learning mode.
Read, read, read.
Books can be the pathways to all sorts of adventures and knowledge. Encourage your children or teens to read books that they find interesting as an alternative to viewing excessive amounts of television. If you have a child who cannot yet read or if there is a book that everyone in the family has been wanting to enjoy, you can read together as a family or utilize the option of audio books on tape or CD.
Conduct easy-to-perform science experiments in your home.
Performing simple science experiments in your home can be a fun and informative activity for children of all ages. The Kidzone website and the ScienceBob website are two great places to find ideas and directions for fascinating science experiments that will help to keep those scientific facts at the forefront of your youth’s mind.
Participate in art projects as a family.
Art, regardless of the medium, is a wonderful way to express one’s creativity, emotions, and ideas as well as to relax the mind and calm the soul. Taking part in art projects as a family enables all members to spend quality time together while creating something of beauty and feeling. Whether you choose to paint, draw, make jewelry, tie dye, sculpt, or make chain mail together, you will help to keep the creative spirit flowing in your children. Music can make a wonderful accompaniment to an art project, so select the genre of your choice and have fun.
Have your children and/or teens keep a journal or take part in some type of creative writing endeavor.
A journal is a fantastic and relatively safe place to express those feelings that are private and personal. Maintaining a journal is an excellent exercise for any child who is able to write and can help those who have difficulty in expressing themselves in writing to become more comfortable with doing so. Writing such creative works as short stories and poems is another educational activity that allows a youth to illustrate what is on his or her mind while also enabling him or her to stretch his or her grammatical muscles.
Involve your children and teens in baking and cooking.
Most children and teenagers love to eat and consume delicious goodies and tasty treats. Why not incorporate them in helping to produce these culinary delights? By taking part in the concoction of those edible entrees, your children and teens will be able to keep up on their mathematical measurement skills, learn why certain ingredients are used for certain purposes, and know how to make foods that they love to eat.
Regardless of what educational activities that you choose for your children or teens, just make sure to spend time together as a family and keep those brains working. May you and yours have a safe and happy holiday season!