Ways to spark your child’s love of learning

Children’s brains are often likened to sponges, as they possess a remarkable capacity for learning and adaptation. Unlike other organs, a child’s brain isn’t fully developed at birth. During the initial three years of life, the knowledge they acquire serves as the foundation for their comprehension of the world. This sponge-like ability to absorb information persists until approximately the age of six, during which children experience significant growth and development.

While the process of learning undergoes changes beyond these early years, the importance of igniting a sense of curiosity and joy in exploration remains constant. Whether you have a five-year-old who still marvels at the newness of the world or an older child, if you’re seeking ways to cultivate their love for learning, here are some ideas to nurture their sense of wonder.

Discover what they love 

Understanding your child’s interests is essential, and as they grow and encounter new experiences, they will naturally gravitate towards what they enjoy. Offer them a variety of activities to explore and discover their passions.

For instance, you can engage in art by painting together or getting creative with modeling clay. If your child shows an inclination towards words, introducing them to simple poetry writing could be a great idea.

Playing counting and number games is another avenue to explore. Additionally, consider delving into coding, a skill included in the National Curriculum in England since 2014. Encouraging your child to experiment with a single board computer for enjoyable projects can ignite their curiosity about how computing shapes their world. By exposing them to different activities, you can better gauge the areas that captivate their interest.

Make learning fun 

It’s important to make learning as enjoyable as possible. You’ll know from visiting your child’s classroom at school that, even though they’re there to learn, the subjects are presented in a way that’s at their level. This means that literacy could involve characters and creations and maths will be themed around castles or underwater creatures. 

Why not try something similar at home? When exploring how to write a poem with them for example, you could theme it around the seasons and find out what they know about the different times of the year. You could dress up in costumes as part of the counting games you do. 

Any way that you can make learning enjoyable means that your little ones will be more likely to soak up and retain the things they’re learning. 

Work out their learning style

Diverse learning styles exist, and while they don’t affect a child’s abilities, they reveal how they process new information. Visual learners retain information through images and pictures, while kinesthetic learners excel with touch and physical activities. Identifying one’s learning style often happens later in life, but if you observe your child thriving when they hear information or working effectively in groups, they may be an aural or social learner. Armed with this knowledge, you can adapt your approach to exploring new concepts with them.