We all hope our children’s schools are providing a quality education, but parents know it’s not enough for kids to stop learning when they get off the bus. Still, it can be tough to convince them to do anything but play once school is out. Luckily, there’s no shortage of tricks to make learning fun without the kids ever catching on.

Three Great Learning-based Activities

1. The cardboard box challenge – This idea is great if you have more than one child (or other family members) involved. Participants dream up something to make out of cardboard boxes, plan it, and build it! To encourage reading skills, have your children pick out age-appropriate books about structures and buildings from your local library. By using recyclable materials and encouraging hands-on creativity, kids will learn about planning, engineering, and handling big projects. Due to the involvement of scissors, young children should work with an adult for this activity.
2. DIY balance board – Teach numerical concepts visually by making a balance board. To a wooden board, affix a length of round dowel that spans its width at the center. Use it to introduce “greater than” and “less than,” or strengthen counting skills by having your kids count out equal amounts of items for each side. To encourage number-reading skills, try writing a number for them to count out and balance!
3. Lights, camera, action! – Film a family movie with easy lines in a script made for your child’s reading level! You can even sit together and write the movie yourselves, allowing your child to help spell out and write the words as necessary.

What if my child needs further reading help?

If your child needs additional help to learn reading, Read Smart in Tulsa can help! We can professionally evaluate your child’s reading skills, pinpoint the issues, and work with them in tutoring to make reading fun and easy. Visit our website or call us locally at (918) 559-7323 to get started!