Easy Games that Teach Children How to Learn

Make Learning Fun for your Children by Teaching Daily Habits

Jan 30, 2009

Learning is a lifelong process that starts even before your child is born. With these simple games, help your child become skilled at learning at an early age.

Teaching your child basic skills at home may also help lead to better success in the classroom. By allowing these simple, fun games to be part of your daily routine, your children will perceive that learning can be pleasurable.

According to Polly Leider in the March 20, 2006 CBS News article “What Newborns are Really Thinking” babies begin learning while they are in the womb. Creating games at home to help inspire a love for learning may help to maintain this natural ability for learning.

Play with Your Food

The Teachers’ Lab article “Patterns in Mathematics” explains, “As we advance, we experience number patterns again through the huge concept of functions in mathematics. But patterns are much broader. They can be sequential, spatial, temporal, and even linguistic.”

Introduce your child to patterning by using two of your child’s favorite snacks. Place the snacks in different simple patterns until your child can copy your pattern. For example, place one grape, two cheese cubes, and then one grape to create a pattern for your child to finish. As your child’s understanding grows, make the patterns more complex.

Using identical cups create a memory game using snack items. Gather together ten sets of two snack items and place them at random underneath the cups. Take turns finding pairs by lifting the cups. Whoever collects the most sets, wins.

Again using snack items, teach simple math skills. Count out the snacks as you give them to your child. As an example, give your child one grape and then add another one saying, “One grape plus one grape equals two grapes.” While your child eats, use subtraction in the same way. Additionally, give you and your child each one grape. Then give your child another one explaining that your child now has one more than you.

Play with Your Toys

Simply creating sorting bins will help your child learn to group items together. Attach a photograph of toy groups and attach them to different storage bins. When it is time for clean-up, have your child sort the items according to the picture. As you help your child to put them into the bins, count them.

Take advantage of play time to teach your child the alphabet. Plastic food items are excellent for teaching the alphabet. Make a game out of pretending to eat the food, but doing so in alphabetical order. If your imaginary lunch does not include items with each letter, add in real foods to fill in the gaps. Use adjectives to describe your bite such as, “Crunchy carrot.”

These simple games not only encourage togetherness but they also prepare your child for the many years of schooling ahead.

The copyright of the article Easy Games that Teach Children How to Learn in Early Childhood Development is owned by Linda Hatton. Permission to republish Easy Games that Teach Children How to Learn in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.