Let’s be honest with ourselves, it’s not only girls who just want to have fun in life. Anyone who has established a strong connection with their inner child knows the importance and value of having fun in everyday life. Having fun is rejuvenating, and energizing, and can even add years to your life. The positive impact of positivity, happiness, and joy on one’s mental and emotional landscape is very deep. There are a lot of reasons that having fun is an important aspect of life, and even education and learning. When we’re having fun we are more organically engaged in the activity at hand. Our level of engagement can play a factor in how much information we retain.
In children, it can be extremely helpful to incorporate fun into the learning and educational environment. By doing so, you can help your child find the joy in education, and the power in information, and set them up for a lifetime of success. By finding ways to make learning and education fun for our children, we can inspire and encourage a continual thirst for knowledge and curiosity that stays with them into their old age.
Implement Games Where you Can
Designing and implementing educational games has become an extremely popular way for parents, tutors, and others to encourage extra or additional education outside of the traditional classroom. The other nice thing about educational games is that they change the context of learning. Rather than making learning out to be a chore that must be done and also takes away from free time, excellent educational games are seen as something fun to do during free time. Not only are these educational games a good way to promote active engagement in the learning activity at hand, but they also help teach our children that it’s okay to enjoy learning.
There are a wide variety of games that can be modified or designed to be used in an educational landscape. One of the most popular gaming formats to use in a learning environment is Jeopardy. The traditional TV format of Jeopardy lends itself extremely nicely to easy modification for a variety of educational subjects. In fact, many teachers will create a Jeopardy board for their classes to play together as a fun way to review material before major exams, finals, and other tests.
We all like playing games. As such, making games a regular part of the educational process encourages child engagement promotes curiosity, and can help children find joy in learning.
Get Creative
Another way that we can make learning and education more enjoyable, engaging, and outright fun for our children is by getting creative with lesson plans and by promoting their creativity throughout assignments, as well. This is important for a few reasons. First and foremost, creativity manifests in children in all different shapes and forms. According to Julia Cameron, the creator of “The Artist’s Way”, in fact, we are all artists in our heart-of-hearts. However, not all of us have tapped into or nurtured the artist within ourselves. If we encourage and promote our children to connect with and nurture the artist and creativity within themselves, they will have a much easier time trusting the artist within themselves and letting their creativity shine through in all of their educational endeavors.
Being creative is also important in education and learning because it helps develop the process of creative problem-solving and the ability to see things from more than one perspective. All important in logic and critical thinking, both.
The Importance of Speaking with Passion
One of the most important pieces of the educational puzzle when it comes to leaving a powerful and lasting impact on our kids is the educators themselves. The best, most influential, and most impactful teachers whose words stay with us for years after we’ve left the confines of their classrooms are those who spoke, and taught, from a place of passion.
It’s this type of passion that inspires kids to find joy, fulfillment, and even fun within the context of educational environments. It is also helpful to keep in mind that kids are extremely impressionable, and will adopt the attitude of those around them. In other words, an uninspired teacher creates an uninspired class.
Active Learning Over Lecturing
One final aspect to keep in mind when trying to find ways that will make learning and education fun for your child is the value of active learning. Active learning allows kids to get involved, get experience, and learn through doing. This can be exactly the type of education that some kids need in order to make information really stick.
Wrapping Up
Making education fun for our kids can inspire a lifelong thirst for knowledge and information. Whether they’re wondering how to learn Chinese, or any other language, skill, or subject, making education fun can be a game-changer.
