It is always a worthy goal to encourage your children to become life-long learners. There are activities that you can do every day that promote a love of learning. Here are a few:
- Read aloud. Read fascinating books that are slightly above your children’s reading ability and then discuss what you read afterwards. Encourage questioning and thinking deeply about a character’s motivations during your read aloud.
- Take a hike and ask questions. Go for a stroll and as you walk, pause as you look at different things and ask questions aloud. Ask questions such as, “Look at how long that squirrel’s tail is in comparison with its body. I wonder how having a long tail could help the squirrel?” These types of questions lead to a desire to research to discover answers.
- Let them catch you reading. Model good habits like reading for enjoyment. If your kids see you reading just for the joy of reading, they will be more likely to want to pick up books and read as well.
- Watch your tone. Endeavor to stay positive about the various subjects. For example, even if you don’t necessarily love math, try to stay math positive when you talk about the subject. You can always discuss how it is helpful in your daily life!
- Be aware of teachable moments. In everyday life, you will encounter many teachable moments. These are moments when (for instance) you need to figure out the sale price of an item that is 40 percent off or figure out what time it will be when the movie ends. When these situations arise, talk about how you are figuring out the answer and have your child work on solving it with you.
Keep that spark of creativity going and encourage your children to keep learning. For help thinking of great discussion questions for read alouds, try one of our interactive notebook book studies. The questions found in our book studies foster thoughtful discussions.