8 Ways to Encourage Curiosity in Children

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein

An essential component in education and in life, curiosity drives us to learn new things and discover how things work around us. While there are various ways to stimulate our curiosity, it is crucial that we instil this in our children from young.

“Stimulating your child’s curiosity is a wonderful gift because it enables them to continually learn, grow and question the world they live in,” author of the Molly Moccasin books, Victoria Ryan O’Toole, shares with HowToLearn.com. She further explains that curiosity also helps children develop a healthy imagination and a sense of creativity, as well as acts as a stepping stone towards a successful future.

While most children are curious by nature and will always be up to discovering new things, there are others who need help to stimulate their curiosity. To help you along, here are some things you can do to encourage your children’s curiosity during the early years:

1. Answer their questions

Answering your child’s 1,002 questions every day can prove to be a challenge, but the last thing you want to do is to reply with a “Because I said so” or “Because that’s how it works” for convenience’s sake. Not only will this confuse her further, it will also discourage her from putting her learning and thinking caps on.

As much as possible, try to give your child an answer and engage her by discussing about the topic further. If you don’t know the answer to her question, you can suggest that both of you work together to find out. Do get her to contribute ideas on the possible places to look for answers (i.e. books, magazines or the Internet). At the end of the day, you’d want to assure your child that it pays to be curious and learn about how things work.

2. Be curious yourself

Your children learn best from observing what you do, so do take this chance to role model and pique their curiosity. Make it a point to raise questions that serve as a learning point for them as you go about the day’s activities. For example, while cooking dinner, you could ask “This sauce makes the stir-fry taste so yummy. I wonder what’s in it?” or “Why does the rainbow appear after that heavy downpour?”. You can brainstorm with your children on the possible answers, and then do some research together to find the right answers.

See also: Play is Important in More Ways Than One

3. Break away from routine

While having a set routine of activities helps to keep the day running smoothly, making small tweaks in your children’s daily activities can help to stimulate their thinking and encourage their curiosity and creativity. For example, you can change their daily breakfast menu (i.e. from the usual omelet with toast to blueberry pancakes) to expose them to new dishes and flavours. From here, get them to share with you on which one they like better and what other dishes they would like to start the day with.

4. Let them pursue their interests

Drawn by her curiosity, your child will show interest in certain activities and topics. Although you may have expectations when it comes to activities that are deemed appropriate for your child, do give her some freedom to explore those that she is interested in as well. Your child’s interest and curiosity paves way for learning which opens her mind to knowledge and new experiences. So, instead of saying to her “Stop playing the guitar and focus on your homework”, go on and encourage her by going through online tutorials to perfect her strumming.

5. Share open-ended stories

There are many ways to freshen up your children’s bedtime story routine and spur their creativity in the process. Instead of reading the same stories numerous times – although they can’t seem to get enough of it – try making it more fun by leaving the ending up to their imagination. Besides this, you can also get them to think of a new title and create a different beginning of the story to better retain their interest and attention in the story.

See also: How to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

6. Visit new places

Visiting new places (e.g. a foreign country or a different neighbourhood/state) opens up your child to a world of new experiences and stimulates their curiosity. Through this, she will be able to experience new cultures and being in a different environment than the one she is used to, as well as witness how other people live. This certainly beats relying on documentaries on TV or turning to books or online videos for answers to her questions.

7. Leave little surprises

From a short note stuck on their lunchbox to wish them a good day at school to having a surprise guest over for dinner, positive surprises do wonders to boost your child’s mood and drive their curiosity. This experience will stimulate their thinking as they ask themselves questions such as “When did mum/dad slipped in that note?” and “How did they manage to track down our previous neighbor and invite him/her for dinner?”.

8. Cut out the B-word

The last thing you want to do is to lead your child to think that boredom is the easy way out, so do be extra careful about labelling activities or situations as “boring”. When a routine activity gets to a point of being monotonous, encourage your child to look at it from a different light and find new ways to make it interesting. For people who are constantly curious, there is always something new to learn, discover and understand – even if that something has been done over a dozen times.

 

Find out how children are encouraged to be a life-long learner, among other life lessons, during their time at MindChamps PreSchool. Schedule a visit to your preferred centre now!

5 Activities that Teach Children about Love

While you have been showering your children with love from the moment they were born, understanding the true meaning of love may be challenging for them. Teaching children about what love really entails helps them develop values such as empathy and kindness, as well as improves their relationship with the people around them.

Apart from role modelling acts of love to your child during the early years, you can also incorporate lessons on love through age-appropriate activities that promote this essential life value. Here are some ideas to help you get started:

1. Read stories on love

Add books that focus on love and friendship to your children’s bedtime story collection, as stories make great tools for explaining abstract concepts and emotions. Some great titles include “Guess How Much I Love You” by Sam McBratney which illustrates the love of a parent towards his/her child while “Lost and Found” by Oliver Jeffers tells the tale of a boy who finds, then loses his penguin friend, making it a good story to tell your children and talk to them about the importance of love and friendship.

See also: 10 Life Lessons and Values to Teach Your Children Before They Turn 10

2. Make love-themed crafts

Get your child to express their love to their friends and family by making a love-themed hand-crafted item. Some ideas which you can start off with include:

• Lollipop flowers


• Ladybug heart craft


• Friendship bracelets


• Cupcake liner cards

For younger children, you can help them out with the cutting and writing of note to add that heartfelt touch to their handmade craft. This activity can be done any day, anytime and there’s no need to wait for a special occasion to get creative.

3. Giving back to the community

Encourage your child to show love and compassion beyond their circle of family and friends by extending it to the less fortunate in the community. The options for volunteer opportunities are plentiful and includes distributing packets of rice to needy old folks, serving meals at the Soup Kitchen, and donating their toys and clothes to the Salvation Army to help needy families. Through these initiatives, you can talk to your child about how he/she feels to spread love and happiness to those who in need.

4. Talk about the people your child has met

Among all the people whom your child has known up to today, get her to think back of the time she made a new friend. Ask her to tell you a few positive traits she noticed about this new friend, the series of events that led to them becoming friends and what she like most about him/her.

You can also talk about how we should love and accept everyone for who they are, although they may look and behave differently from us (e.g. speaking a different language, doing things differently or having physical challenges). To demonstrate this, you can carry out a simple role-playing exercise by taking turns to pretend that each of you are meeting a new friend for the first time, and how to show love to the other person.

See also: 6 Ways to Teach Your Child to be Grateful in Life

5. Play a game of “Loving Charades”

As we show love in different ways to the people in our lives, it is important to teach your children the appropriate way to show their affection. You can do this by playing this game of “Loving Charades” where everyone take turns to come up with creative ways to show love to various people in different situations.

Here’s how the game is played:

• Get ready a stack of cards with loving actions written (e.g. Greeting someone, cheering up someone, offering a food/drink)


• Have some photos of people you know (e.g. family and friends) as well as strangers (you can use illustrations or stock images)


• Each person draws a card and a photo to act out the loving action to person without saying it out


• The rest will need to guess what the action is

 

At MindChamps PreSchool, children are instilled with values such as gratefulness and compassion to bring out the champion in them. Book a visit to your preferred centre to find out more.

How to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

Reading brings a host of benefits to your children during the early years, as it helps to build the neural connections in their brain and sets the pace for cognitive development. Many parents start off this journey by reading to and with their children, which is highly recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

“Reading to children and with children is a very joyous event and a way of fostering a relationship, as well as [helping] language development. And we don’t have to wait until we’re getting them ready for school. We can make it part of regular routine,” says Pamela High, the lead author of the AAP policy statement.

Apart from this, there are many things you can do to build the love of reading in your child – some of which also double up as a fun bonding activity. Here are some of our suggested tips:

1. Visit the library regularly

Your child’s fascination with books and stories usually builds up from age two onwards, and this gives you a great chance to keep his/her reading adventure fun by taking him/her to the library. There are shelves of books to discover and explore, and you can both go on a book hunt after making a list of recommended book titles to check out at the library. There are also story-telling sessions held at our local libraries which your child can join in as the storytellers bring the tales to life.

2. Continue reading to your child, even when he/she can read solo

Your child enjoyed being read to when he/she was a teeny tot, and chances are, he/she will still love this even when independent reading is achieved. So, don’t stop reading to your child and keep this reading routine going for as long as he/she will let you. Not only will this help to retain your child’s interest in reading as he/she moves along, it also gives you the opportunity to talk to your child about values and life choices through a good story.

3. Take your child to the next reading level

At this age, your child’s attention span may not last that long, which explains why some children lose interest in reading once they can read by themselves. To keep them interested, you can take their reading level up a notch by picking books that are slightly harder than the ones they are used to.

For example, if your child seems comfortable with picture books, do add on books with slightly more words and an exciting storyline to the collection. Read together with your child in the beginning and introduce new words and concepts to him/her. As you both move along, gradually work on having him/her read and enjoy the book alone – for example, by leaving your child with the book halfway through the story.

See also: 5 Things You Can Do to Prepare Your Child for Primary 1

4. Model reading and discuss books with your child

Children learn by observing what their parents do, so take the lead and settle down with a book during your children’s reading time at home. You can make things more interesting by reading “grown-up books” aloud to them such as a relevant piece from Time, then discuss the reading material with the whole family. If there is a movie version or theatre production of a book that your children enjoy reading, make plans to catch the movie together. After that, talk to them about the movie/theatre show and ask them what was done differently in the show compared to the original from the book.

5. Draw a line to screen time

In this digital age, spending time with the TV and computer/tablet trumps quiet time with a good book. Before your children develop an addiction to these gadgets, it would be worthwhile to set some rules with regards to screen time and encourage them to find joy in reading. Once their reading is more established, you can make tweaks to the rules by allowing them to explore reading apps. Some good reading apps that are worth checking out include MeeGenius, Tales2Go and the MindChamps Read-Along app which is used during the MindChamps Reading & Writing (MRW) programme – offered both as a standalone enrichment programme and as part of the MindChamps PreSchool curriculum.

See also: Play is Important in More Ways than One

6. Entice your child with comics and art & craft

For children who are struggling to enjoy reading time, you can pique their interest by turning to two of their much-loved interests: comics and art & craft. Some children see comics as less intimidating compared to regular books, while others are attracted by the rich illustrations. You can start to build their interest with comics first, with choices such as Calvin and Hobbes and Geronimo Stilton (the graphic novel series) that are great for vocabulary-building and instilling positive values.

On the other hand, younger children would be able to relate to the books that they are being read to, through book-themed art & craft activities. You can find some good suggestions here and here.

 

Find out how the MindChamps Reading and Writing programme helps to nurture your child into a Champion reader and writer for life - Register for a Complimentary Literacy Assessment for your child now.

What You Need to Know about Teaching Children to Share and Take Turns

Learning to share and take turns while playing can be challenging for young children – especially those under six – but it is a vital skill that they need to pick up during the early years.

According to AskDrSears, sharing teaches children about empathy and gives them the ability to see things from the viewpoints of others. Sharing also teaches children about compromise and helps them learn that if they share what they have with others, this good deed will come back to them one day. When they share, children learn to take turns for play-learn situations and cope with disappointments – two very important life skills that will get them ahead in life.

When can we expect children to share?

During the early years, children are still learning to make sense of the concept of sharing as they learn more about themselves and their favourite possessions. Here are some guidelines to help you through when teaching toddlers and pre-schoolers to share and take turns:

Toddlers

At this stage, toddlers believe that the world revolves around them and everything that comes into their sight belongs to them. Although putting forward the consequences for not sharing does little to get your toddler to learn to share, with encouragement and practice, he/she will slowly get there.

By 3 years old, your toddler will start to understand the concept of taking turns – but tantrums are still inevitable, especially if another child takes a toy that he/she was eyeing.

Pre-schoolers

While most pre-schoolers understand the concept of sharing in the simplest form, some of them might not be keen to put this knowledge into action, and can be impatient when it comes to taking turns. You can develop your pre-schooler’s sharing skills further by praising her for taking turns (especially when she does it well) and encouraging fair play. If she still refuses to share, do talk to her about how she will feel if her toy was taken away or if she is denied a turn in playing. Talking to your pre-schooler about other people’s feelings will help her see things from another person’s view, and this is an important skill to have in making friends.

See also: 5 Ways to Ease Pre-school Separation Anxiety in Your Child

How to teach children to share and take turns

There are various tools and methods you can use when teaching children to share and take turns. Some of these include:

1. Showing a good example

Children learn best from observing the actions of others, especially mum and dad.  So, take the chance to model good behavior when it comes to sharing and taking turns. For example, you can show how you share your favourite snacks with the whole family during movie nights at home, or how mum and dad take turns to use the bathroom.

2. Playing sharing games

Fun activities such as games help children learn and understand a concept better than drilling the basics at them. Here are some fun sharing games that you can play with your children to teach them about sharing and taking turns:

• Share Daddy/Mummy – Place one child on each side of your lap and do fun things like letting each of them have a go at “riding the rocking horse”. This teaches children to share a special person in their lives.


• Share Your Favourite Things – Give your child his/her favourite snack or toy, and get him/her to share them with everyone in the room. The message to convey here is that sharing is a way of life and that it spreads joy and happiness to those around us.


• Play family games such as “Snap”, memory card games or “Pop up pirate” where everyone needs to wait his/her turn to have a go. This gives them some first-hand experience about sharing the game with everyone in the family and the value of taking turns.

See also: Social Skills for Children - An Age-By-Age Guide

3. Introducing time-sharing

When children are having problems sharing a toy, you can use a timer to stop the squabbling and ensure fair play. Here’s how to use the time-sharing method:

• Think of a number in your head and get each child to choose a number


• The one who chooses the closest number you thought of gets to play with the toy first


• Set the timer for 2 minutes


• When the times buzzes, the toy goes to the next child for the same amount of time

If your children still refuse to share after explaining the time-sharing method to them, your last resort is to put the toy back in its original place and explain to them that nobody gets to play with it until they learn to share. Expect some sulking and protesting initially, but once they realise that they are better off sharing the toy, they will learn to cooperate and come to a compromise.

4. Bringing toys to playdates

If your children have problems sharing his/her toys during playdates, do ask the playmate’s parent to bring some toys along. Children, being intrigued with toys that are new to them, will soon realise that they must share their own toys in order to have a go at their playmate’s toys. Similarly, if your child is going to a playmate’s house for a playdate, do pack some toys for him/her to bring along and share with the other children.

 

Find out how children at MindChamps PreSchool are taught values such as compassion, confidence, gratefulness and more. Visit your preferred centre now to find out more!