Childcare experts share seven fun learning activities to do with your child (aged 6-8)

An essential part of parenting is finding new activities to keep your children active.

When they’re around six to eight years old, they have probably learnt to read on their own, so it’s important to keep stimulating their skills, helping with new words and speaking properly.

Because of this, childcare and education experts at Little Ones London have shared seven activities that will stimulate your child’s brain and cognitive skills, combining educational purposes with playtime.

1. Listening games

Listening to others, together with keeping the concentration necessary to do so, is essential for your children to learn. Because of this, listening games are the best way to teach them to listen first and react later.

A few games of this type can be “Simon says”, with more complicated instruction than basic commands, and the “Yes/no” game, where they must answer simple questions without ever using the words “yes” or “no” encouraging them to think of alternatives such as “correct” and “I don’t believe so”.

1. Tongue twisters

Spending around 15 minutes every few days with your child teaching them tongue twisters is another way to efficiently improve their speech and memory.

1. Memory games

These can range from karaoke night, having your child and yourself try and learn as many lyrics as they can and then try to sing without reading, to “Kim’s Game”, which consists of asking your child to choose a few objects around the house to put on a tray.

You will then cover the tray and ask them to remember what they put on it.

1. Cooking time!

There’s no better way to teach your child to follow instructions while having a lot of fun together.

Just choose a simple recipe with them and involve them as much as you can in the process.

You can even make an event of it that they can look forward to, like “Baking Fridays”!

1. Action games

Letting your child move around the house, maybe even inviting some of their friends over, is never a bad idea.

You can organise a Treasure Hunt around your home, making up simple clues for them to read and understand to get to the final prize!

A way to stimulate their interest even more is to dress up like pirates or adventurers for the perfect role play!

1. Learning phone skills

Regardless of what many might tell you, letting your child learn how to use technology that they will eventually use every day for basic tasks is essential.

This does not mean leaving your children for hours with a tablet, but rather teaching them to use basic communication skills like making phone calls or video calls to improve their skills, teach them how to start and end a conversation and be polite over the phone.

1. Keeping a diary

Sometimes children will face difficulties in their every day life which they won’t be able to express properly, especially when they feel embarrassed or put on the spot.

Asking them to keep a diary is the most efficient way for them to express their feelings freely and in their own time and way.

This will not only teach them that expressing feelings is all right but will also improve their writing skills.