BOOST YOUR CHILD’S BRAIN at home POWER

MOTIVATE LITTLE ONES INSTANTLY WITH THESE FUN WAYS TO LEARN

Whether you’ve been stuck in lockdown or just keen to get your kids to do their homework, there are easy ways to help motivate them. And now, it’s more important than ever.

“Two years ago, no-one could have predicted we would be in the grips of a pandemic, nor that daily routines would be totally upended,” says LiliAnn Kriegler, education consultant and author of new book, Edu-chameleon.

“Not only are you one of millions of parents working from home, but you had the responsibility of your children’s schooling. Armed without an education degree, you had to be your kid’s teacher!”

Although the kids are heading back to the classroom soon, here are Lili-ann’s five achievable strategies for boosting your child’s brain power at home.

MANAGE THE ENVIRONMENT

Organised space and personal work zones are motivating. Help children embellish tins with bright paper for writing utensils. A decorated carton, set on its side, makes a great bookcase and keeps things neat. Individualised space imprints identity, promotes competence and induces calm.

Time management is key. Program things at the same time each day to ingrain habits. It is proven that working in shorter blocks – 40 minutes at a time with breaks – is more productive than long stretches.

GIVE THEM REWARDS

Ticking things off on a list is enormously satisfying. Work with your children and print lists with tick boxes. Then enjoy guilt-free rewards like TV programs, video games, cards, board games, cycling or fun in the local park. The aerobic exercise is part of your secret plan! Perhaps if everyone does their duty, you could have [an] ice-cream or pizza night?

UP ATTENTION SKILLS

Attention is an acquired skill and it’s worth monitoring how your children approach tasks. Do they jump in before understanding the question? Do they distinguish what is relevant and irrelevant? Can they plan and sequence

the steps correctly? These skills are seldom explicitly taught at school, so you have an ideal opportunity to influence good problem-solving. Ensure they concentrate on one thing at a time. Multitasking doesn’t work (yes, it is proven!), so don’t have a TV, music or other interference in the background.

ENHANCE MEMORY

Using more senses engages areas of the brain and enhances learning. Walking in the garden as they read sends more blood to their brains.

As kids learn, encourage them to create mnemonics (memorylearning techniques). When they have five things to remember, teach them to choose a keyword from each and make a sentence. This works better than acronyms with first letters, because words are better cues. The sentence holds the information together and each word acts as a hook to retrieve the parts. This helps them to recall all the relevant information when required.

Representing ideas with colourful pictures and diagrams also facilitates memory. Ensure they practice.

Finally, regular review of work makes it more sustainable. Before they start each day’s task, briefly revise what happened the day before.

ADD VARIETY

After establishing good routines, shake it up occasionally with variety and challenge. Prepare ahead but announce what seems a spur-of-the-moment decision to do everything in the park, or under the bed with a torch, or with a picnic... in the garden. Challenges always motivate. Can they read more chapters than last week? Can they embark on homework as a mission, following a trail of clues with a reward at the end? Hopefully, a reward so worthwhile that next time you declare ‘Mission Arithmetic’, they jump to attention!