Five Tips to Keep Your Child Learning Over the Holidays

As we move into the holiday season, the semester is quickly coming to an end and winter break is approaching. How can you ensure your child stays engaged in learning? No need to add to the holiday stress! Lots of holiday-season tasks, like working on writing skills with holiday card duty or practicing budgeting and math skills while shopping and cooking, can keep your child’s mind working over break. Here are five ideas to get started:

1. Explore Opportunities to Learn Online

Connect with your child’s teacher to find out what online learning resources are available for use at home during the break. This will help keep open lines of communication with your child’s teacher, and it will give you the opportunity to learn more about tools your child uses every day. As you plan out schedules, set aside daily or weekly times for your child to log in and continue their classroom learning at home.

2. Use the Kitchen as a Learning Tool

The kitchen can offer a great teaching and learning experience. Whether reading recipes, measuring ingredients, or learning about temperatures, giving your child the opportunity to actively participate in creating your family’s delicious holiday treats is an excellent chance to sharpen math and reading skills. Plus, you’ll gain a great new sous chef!

3. Don’t Forget Story Time

Time off from school doesn't have to mean time off from reading! Over the holidays, schedule time to read to your child and model good reading strategies. Give your young learners the opportunity to even more actively participate in the joy of reading by having them read their favorite holiday stories to you. Pick out themed books, ask thoughtful comprehension questions, and have fun getting lost in a story together!

4. Get Out and About

Days off from school and work around the holidays can be a great opportunity to get out and do some activities you may not usually have time for. Check your local paper or community blog for educational opportunities for your whole family. Whether it’s a holiday fair where your young child can practice counting tickets, or a trip to the mall where older children can help budget for gifts, there are lots of ways to get the whole family involved and having fun.

5. Create a Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Before the fall semester officially comes to a close, start working on a holiday-themed scavenger hunt for your child. Pick prizes, set goals, and think of festive clues, experiences, and research that your kids can complete over their break. Here’s a good example to get you started—be sure to click the link for the answer!

Draw or take a picture of this holiday object:

I’m made of two colors

And I look just like a hook

You’ll give me a lick

But I’m not something you cook

Have more holiday ideas to keep your children learning? Share them with us on our Facebook and Twitter pages! Interested in learning more about Edmentum’s online solutions to help parents and students extend learning beyond classroom walls? Check out our Family Resources hub!

This post was originally published November 2015 and has bene updated.