As a parent, you play a vital role in reinforcing and supplementing what your children learn in school. With some creativity, family time can provide real-world contexts for applying academic concepts and skills. This keeps learning engaging while strengthening bonds with your children.
This guide will explore fun ways to bridge classroom lessons with family activities and outings suggested by Red Kite Days. We’ll also link relevant video resources from LearningMole to help bring lessons to life. Let’s make learning a joyful, meaningful adventure for the whole family!
Making Maths Fun on Days Out
Maths forms an essential part of the school curriculum. Sometimes, though, textbook equations can seem dry and abstract to children. Family days out provide the perfect chance to see maths principles at work in real-life settings. Through playful interaction, you can boost your child’s confidence and skills.
Here are some ideas for making maths fun on days out:
- Practice counting – Get your child to count interesting objects at tourist sites, parks or markets. Ask questions like “How many birds/benches/stalls can you see?”
- Calculate the costs of treats like ice cream or rides. Use pocket money to practise handling cash and change. Get older children to work out the total costs for the family.
- Use travel time or distances given on signs to spark word problems e.g. “If we’ve walked 2 miles already at this pace, how long will it take to go the next 3 miles?” Encourage children to show working. Check answers together.
- Shape hunt – Spot spheres, cones, cubes, etc. on buildings or play structures. You can also look at maps and floorplans.
- Symmetry search – Notice any symmetrical patterns, designs or reflections.
LearningMole videos like Basic Maths Skills, Symmetry in Nature and Maths Word Problems reinforce these concepts. Make maths meaningful by connecting lessons with real situations on your days out.
Reading Around Us in the Community
Developing literacy forms another pillar of classroom education. Beyond school texts, though, stories surround us daily in the real world. Thoughtful outings present natural chances for your child to sharpen reading comprehension and make connections.
Try these tips for literacy learning during family days out:
Read plaques and signs together –analyse what they tell visitors at parks, museums or other public spaces.
- Scavenger hunt for letters or keywords related to the day’s location or theme. See who spots them first around the site.
- Make use of brochures, maps and guidebooks. Take turns reading out tidbits to each other.
- Prompt children to imagine and verbalise narratives based on sculptures, artwork or historical displays you encounter.
- Over snacks or meals, share reviews and recommendations for places you are exploring. Have children give their opinions too.
Videos like Writing a Book Review, Analysing Advertisements and Comparing Poems and Stories allow students to apply similar critical thinking during family outings.
Observing Science First-hand
Science forms a mandatory part of Britain’s national curriculum. Yet, in-class experiments can feel limiting at times. The good news is homes and neighbourhoods teem with opportunities to understand scientific concepts better!
Here are engaging ways to reinforce science learning on family days out:
- Notice living things – Identify plants/animals you see. Discuss their habitats and features.
- Observe weather/seasons – Point out real-life examples of phenomena studied in school.
- Use outdoor trips to complement classroom geology and ecology. Compare natural sites or manmade environments.
- When visiting farms, gardens or parks, link to lessons on organ systems, growth cycles and nutrition.
- While touring production sites, discuss relevance to physics, engineering and technology modules.
Pair the above with LearningMole videos on Food Chains, Famous Scientists, Earth and Space, plus Forces in Action for in-depth understanding. Use real situations encountered during family outings to illuminate dry textbook concepts.
Inspiring Arts Appreciation as a Family
Beyond core subjects, creative development matters too for well-rounded learning. The arts inspire vital skills in communication, emotional intelligence and fine motor abilities. As such, arts and crafts activities are often featured in classroom teaching.
During family days out, consciously cultivate art appreciation with these suggestions:
- Visit museums, galleries or public art together. Take time to immerse in works that intrigue each viewer. Exchange perspectives, then discuss themes and techniques.
- Pack sketchbooks and colours for spontaneous travel sketches/paintings. Focusing closely on a scene lets you notice details that might be missed otherwise.
- Click inspiring photos as potential material for later crafting. Print out favourites to display, turn them into cards or family albums, etc.
- Collect natural materials like leaves, pebbles, feathers or flowers. Reuse these in DIY crafts at home – wreaths, potpourri, pressed art, etc.
- Pick up arts/culture maps and brochures highlighting events, spaces and trails to explore across seasons.
For deeper insight, pair the above ideas with LearningMole videos on photography tips, studying artists, and 3D art techniques. Discuss videos during or after your family arts adventures.
Reinforcing Learning via Cooking and Baking
Involving children in preparing meals, snacks, or treats allows for taste-based education. Cooking blends core academic concepts with invaluable life skills while forming cherished memories. Through purposeful questions and commentary, you can connect each recipe step with classroom learning, too!
Here are some ideas to bridge scholastic subjects while baking/cooking together:
- Reread recipes aloud – practise literacy skills like instructions, sequencing, ingredient lists etc. Cover maths grounds, including quantities, ratios, scaling, measuring and timing accuracy.
- Discuss kitchen safety/hygiene as part of health education. Explain the workings of appliances through principles of electronics and physics.
- Explore science via ingredient interactions, changes of state, expected chemical reactions etc.
- Discuss nutritional value, flavour pairing, budgets etc. to link up with home economics type modules.
- Follow recipes from other cultures to inspire historical/geographical discussion. Consider regional agriculture; cuisine influences etc.
- Allow children to practise communication and leadership skills by guiding them to direct steps.
Accompany the above with informative LearningMole videos covering topics like Food Nutrition Labels, States of Matter, Healthy Living and International Cuisine. Learning through cuisine makes retained knowledge easier to digest!
Applying Classroom Concepts During Eco Adventure Trips
Given the richness of contexts and stimuli, nature-based adventure makes for natural applied learning. Whether canoeing, caving, climbing, hiking, or trails, there is ample scope for skill growth and concept reinforcement if you know how to tap into it.
Some tips include:
- Estimate travel times based on maps and markers to hone maths applications. Calculate journey distances, average speeds etc.
- Identify area wildlife and discuss behaviours by linking up environmental science lessons on habitats and creatures.
- Observe rock layers, formations etc, during outdoor pursuits like caving/ climbing and relate to classroom geology modules.
- Follow problem-solving principles during navigation or obstacle scenarios – map terrain, assess conditions, and cooperate on solutions.
- For water sports – calculate displacements, discuss principles of motion physics, water safety education etc.
- Click inspiring images to turn into photo journals, motivating artistic skills too!
LearningMole clips on relevant topics such as Staying Safe Outdoors, Reading Maps Effectively, and Disaster Management Scenarios will reinforce lessons gleaned during eco-adventures.
Motivating Independent Learning via Educational Apps and Tools
Beyond family outings, educational apps and online tools offer engaging ways for children to reinforce classroom learning independently. Interactive games and videos deliver content in bite-sized chunks, sparking curiosity and building confidence.
Here are some excellent digital resources worth bookmarking:
- BBC Bitesize – Vast library spanning core subjects across school levels via videos, quizzes etc.
- LearningMole is a user–friendly GCSE resource hub structured by exam boards. Covers academic and life skills.
- Khan Academy is a non–profit edu-site offering practice exercises, instructional videos, and dashboard progression tracking for students of all ages and levels.
- Duolingo is a popular free language learning app via quick interactive story-styled lessons. Suitable even for young children.
- World Geography Games – Fun quiz games testing geographic and cultural knowledge across continents.
- Scigirls – Hub to spark girls’ interest in STEM via videos of innovators plus hands-on projects.
Scan through such websites and apps with your child. Discuss which areas they would like to supplement classroom learning in. Guide them in setting clear schedules for review. By directing focused quality time towards these resources, you catalyse progress. Monitor their dashboard stats and celebrate wins together!
Making Learning Come Alive – In Summary
At its best, family time builds indelible memories woven with teachable moments. We hope the suggestions above spark ideas to reinforce your children’s classroom lessons while spending precious time together. Pay attention to your child’s interests, leaning on real-life community contexts to motivate learning. Sprinkle in relevant digital resources for them to direct more of their progress, too. Soon, your outings will burst with academic applications – enriching your child’s understanding of school subjects while strengthening your bond!
