We want the weekends to be fun for our kids, but it’s also important to motivate them to develop and refine learning skills and healthy habits. Learning is not confined to the classroom, and should be actively encouraged at home. If you’re stumped on things to do with your kids this weekend, these suggestions should be inspiring!
Fun Science Experiments
What’s more fun than a scientific experiment? With a little help from the internet, you can find many different kinds of experiments to play with over the course of a weekend. Not only will you have fun, you may stoke your child’s curiosity about different chemical reactions and start a love of science in them at a young age.
Gardening and Geological Exploration
You don’t need to go far to start teaching your kids about the earth. Get them using their hands by starting a garden in your backyard. As they plant, you can teach them about different kinds of soil and why your garden is a good location for the plants you have chosen. This can help you teach them about local geology and introduce them to all the varying soils in your region. Have them scout for different rocks in the yard, and teach them how to identify each one. To add even more excitement to your geological exploration, set up a fun scavenger hunt with the rocks you discovered, and tell them to find more just like them! No matter how you spend your time outdoors, kids will revel in the chance to play in dirt, and you’ll get to teach them about growing gorgeous greenery and local geology at the same time.
Cooking Skills
Learning to cook is a skill that your child will take with them into adulthood. Cooking can help children focus their organizational skills, as well as work a little math and science into a practical setting. Depending on their age, you can teach them different skills. Young children can have fun by exploring different textures of the ingredients, stirring sauces and soups, and pouring water and oil into dishes. Older children can be taught how to safely use a knife, but make sure it’s a butter knife or one that’s designed for kids. You can introduce them to how to properly use a stove and teach them how to ensure it is turned off after each use. Get them started by reading recipes, learning about measuring, and showing them how to use the kitchen scale for fun with numbers.
Fun with Computing
Like cooking, learning a computer language can be both fun and incredibly useful. Many schools are beginning to teach children these skills, but even if this is new to your child, it can be an excellent way to spend an hour or two this weekend. There are plenty of free programs out there to help both you and your child learn together. Often, these websites come with extras to help everyone learn, even when they are away from the computer. Scratch, for instance, offers printable cards that you can use as a fun way to remember concepts. If you want something even more hands-on, you could try making jewelry to introduce your kids to coding. This way, they not only learn basic concepts, but they create something they can wear and show with pride.
It doesn’t take a lot of time or money to have a blast over the weekend, all while learning something new together. By stimulating their creativity and letting them explore the natural world around them, you can instill in them a sense of wonder and curiosity for years to come. This is the perfect time to get out there and learn with your little one.
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