Use Household Tasks as Learning Opportunities for Adolescents
Because of public health measures requiring people to stay home, many adults are now managing their workloads and their children’s schoolwork while maintaining a home. While these responsibilities can be overwhelming, having the family at home means there are more people around to pitch in—you just need to create a routine that works for everyone. Introducing STEM is easier than you think. When a child’s own idea actually works (or when their ideas don’t work at first, but the child keeps trying until they do), it can be transformative - for them and the parents. For instance, research show that children learn math concepts deeply when they have multiple, varied opportunities to interact with math, apply what they have learn, and discover math in the real world. During chores, pre-schoolers naturally engage in conversations and experiments using early math concepts, such as measurement and spatial awareness.
Tips for Motivating Kids to Do Chores
Frame chores like an exclusive opportunity. Many activities are usually framed as off-limits to children because of their age, especially when adults use language like “maybe when you're older.” Reframing the task as an exciting opportunity for kids to get to do adult activities can make it seem more appealing.
Be clear about expectations. What constitutes a job well done? Make sure kids know what a completed task should look like before they begin.
Create a schedule. Using a chore chart or a checklist for tasks that need to be done each week can allow kids to pace themselves and make progress each day. A schedule avoids piling on too many chores at once.
Involve kids in the decision-making process. People of all ages respond positively to having agency over their lives. Giving kids a choice in which chore to do first can maintain motivation.
Make sure the entire family participates. Emphasising a collective contribution is key for cooperation on all fronts. For example, when doing folding laundry, make sure it’s a team effort instead of each person only taking care of their own clothes. That way, kids understand that chores are for everyone’s benefit, not just for their own.
Work gradually toward independence. A child might need a lot of guidance the first time they complete a task. With repeated practice, they can work toward doing the job on their own or with minimal supervision.
Give positive feedback. Tell kids when they’re doing something right. If supervising them while they’re doing the task, point out what they’re doing well along the way. If they make a mistake, demonstrate the right way to complete a task.
Create a rewards system. A sense of accomplishment and productivity is often enough of a reward for adults when they finish sorting all the laundry. Children may respond to more tangible rewards like having extra screen time or playtime or even choosing their next chore for the next day.
Cleaning and Organising Activities for Kids
Taking the time to show kids how to clean up after themselves and each other will help them maintain their living space independently and effectively while learning leadership skills like delegation, following instructions and taking part in teamwork.
Keep in mind that all children are different and age is not the only factor when determining the right chore. In addition to age, think about maturity level, physical ability, and interest when selecting the right chores for your kids. Note that for the older age groups, you can select chores from the younger aged categories to build an appropriate list. Set your child up for success and choose an appropriate and doable amount of chores and timeline in which to complete them.
Chores: Ages 2 and 3
Toddlers love to help with chores and while their help may not always be as helpful as we would hope, keeping their excitement and the habit of helping alive is worth the extra effort. Lots of toddlers love to see a visual reminder of their success, so making sticker charts is a great choice. Although chores may only be completed with your help each step of the way, you are creating positive habits for children to find chores and helping others a way of life.
Help make the bed.
Pick up toys and books.
Put laundry in the hamper or to the laundry room.
Match socks.
Sort laundry by colour.
Help feed pets.
Help wipe up messes.
Dust with socks on their hands.
Mop in areas with help.
Fold washcloths and dishtowels.
Set table.
Unload silverware and cups.
Pick up rubbish.
Put away toys.
Put away books.
Chores: Ages 4 and 5
The great thing about preschool aged kids is that they are still fairly motivated to help. Preschoolers also love individual time with adults. If you take some time to teach them new chores one on one, they usually love it. Many kids at this age are ready to do chores without constant supervision. They also love rewards. Try using a sticker chart that allows them to build up to bigger rewards. For some preschoolers, tying chores to an allowance is a great choice. This can also foster independence by allowing them to choose a reward.
Clear and set the table.
Dust.
Taking care of pets.
Help out in cooking and preparing food.
Carrying and putting away groceries.
Sorting recyclable trash bins.
Taking out rubbish.
Chores: Ages 6-8
Although enthusiasm for chores may diminish for school-aged kids, they have other redeeming qualities that work well for chores. Most school-aged children have an overwhelming desire to be independent. Parents and caregivers can guide children to become self-sufficient in their chores by using chore charts to keep track of their responsibilities. Note completed tasks as this will help motivate children to continue working.
Take care of pets.
Vacuum and mop.
Take out the trash.
Fold and put away laundry.
Chores: Ages 9-12
Kids at this age will appreciate a set schedule and expectations. Throw a lot of unexpected work at them and watch them get upset. If you can create a schedule or system with a little input from them, you'll have a smooth transition. It's best to find a system that works for your family. Try not to change it without the input and support of the people it directly affects. Part of this system should address rewards and negative consequences so that these results are laid out and understood in advance.
Help wash the car.
Learn to wash dishes or load the dishwasher.
Help prepare simple meals.
Clean the bathroom.
Rake leaves.
Operate the washer and dryer.
Cleaning tasks are also an opportunity to build on kids’ scientific knowledge about germs, illnesses and the spread of disease. Teaching kids about cleaning at home can supplement lessons from biology, chemistry and health courses.
Parents should avoid framing cleaning as a punishment and instead model positive behaviours can help children understand that cleaning is crucial for everyone to stay healthy and safe, especially now.
Cooking and Food Preparation Activities for Kids
Keep tasks small and realistic so kids understand the order of food preparation without making a mess. Cooking and baking can build upon kids’ existing skills and supplant lessons about science experiments, chemistry and math.
Small food preparation tasks that kids can do include:
Putting groceries away
Setting the table for a family meal
Feeding pets
Planting and watering herbs
Putting away leftover food
Mixing and chopping ingredients
Once these skills are mastered, children can also learn to help with more complicated tasks, like cooking a meal for the family. Reading a recipe teaches the importance of following directions, understanding chemical reactions and tapping into problem-solving skills.
Finance and Budgeting
Elementary and middle school math lessons often include financial literacy concepts like fractions, percentages, decimals and simple and compound interest. Parents can recreate these lessons for their kids by teaching them how to complete finance and budgeting tasks.
Small finance tasks that parents can do with their children include:
Setting personal goals for saving money
Depositing money into a bank account
Collecting and rolling change to be exchanged for bills
Playing board games that involve currencies
Earning money or a fake currency from completing chores
Calculating interest earned from money saved
Developing self-sufficiency with personal finance can prepare kids to budget money once they’re old enough to apply for a job. Parents can supplement school lessons about math and economics by focusing on budgeting and financial literacy.
For older kids, use whatever they are interested in and incorporate it in hypothetical but lifelike situations, e.g. if you could join the national football team tomorrow, what would we need to buy for you and what would it cost. If we only had X amount of money, how long would it take to pay it back? OR If you were to join this dance group, and they travel from V to W to X in the next three months, to do Y amount of concerts with a total of Z amount of people visiting (after Covid), what is the average distance they travel between places and the average amount of people visiting? Which of these places would you most like to visit and why? (Math and English questions)
Movement & Play
Practice yoga techniques and poses to build strength and flexibility and help relax.
Get “family fit” using activity points to encourage movement.
Create a backyard (or basement) fitness circuit course.
Use common household objects for some fitness fun and games.
Have recess at home by playing old school throwback games, jumping rope, or other ideas that work in your available space.
Try sensory play or play on the go to encourage kids’ imaginations whenever, wherever.
Do a nature scavenger hunt to get kids exploring the outdoors, if outdoors is available and safe.
Have active screen time using fun, kid-friendly physical activity videos.
Healthy Eating & Nutrition
Incorporate nutrition education into your home routine.
Start the day with a healthy breakfast, and keep them going with healthy snacks.
Introduce new foods with a taste test (and get creative with how items are prepared).
Try mindful eating.
Cook a dish or meal with your kids trying one of these recipes.
Grow fresh veggies out of kitchen scraps.
Go the distance to make your food and meals last longer.
Mindfulness & Emotional Health
Try journaling, breathing exercises, and more.
Explore feelings through art and colour.
Talk about feelings with these family conversation starters.
Use movement to express emotions.
Set intentions with your children.
Learn basic mindfulness techniques together.
Create a letter-writing tradition in your family.
Finally, help your child with the right learning mindset
Encourage reading in any way you can
There is no way to overestimate the importance of reading. It not only enhances learning in all of the other subject areas, it exposes children to a wealth of information and experiences they might not otherwise enjoy. It stimulates the imagination, nourishes emotional growth, builds verbal skills, and influences analyzing and thinking. In fact, according to every teacher I spoke to, reading to or with your child every day is the single most important thing you can do. Don’t about how well your child is reading in any particular grade. Different children acquire reading skills at different ages and in different ways. Just promote a love of reading by giving your child lots of fun experiences with print at whatever level she's in. Here are some reading milestones you should look for now (of course, your child's skill level may vary), and specific tips on how to help.
MILESTONE 1: Your child enjoys looking at books and being read to, but doesn't realize that the print — not the pictures or the reader — tells the story. How to help:
Have your child dictate stories or letters to you. Write them down exactly as he says them, and read them back to him, pointing to the words as you read.
Read lots of short, simple books aloud, including alphabet books.
Reread your child's favourite books as often as she asks (even if it starts to drive you crazy).
Leave magnetic letters on the refrigerator for your child to fool around with.
Talk about the sounds different letters make.
Give alphabet puzzles, alphabet blocks, and books to your child for birthday gifts and other special occasions.
Make an audiotape of yourself reading your child's favourite book, so she can listen to it while looking at the book, when you're not around.
MILESTONE 2: Your child pretends to read simple, repetitive books using his memory. How to help:
Point to words as you read books, lists, labels, cards, signs, and even cereal boxes to your child.
Let him finish a familiar sentence in a book, or say a word that's frequently repeated in a story every time you point to it (as in "Go, Dog. Go" or "Green Eggs and Ham").
Tape word labels (such as "door," "chair," or "bed") on different objects around the house, or in your child's room.
Teach your child to read her first name by writing it for her, labelling her belongings, and having her outline the letters (for a sign in her room) with beans, beads, crayons, or other art materials.
MILESTONE 3: Your child realizes that individual printed words represent individual spoken words and begins to recognize and read a few — such as dog, car, and no, plus his own name. How to help:
Read together every day.
Encourage your child to point to words as he "reads" a book.
Help her learn to write and identify upper- and lowercase letters.
Teach him how to spell and write familiar words and names.
Play word-related games (as in: "I'm going to eat something on this table that begins with the letter B. Can you guess what it is?" or "Let's say all the words we can think of that start with the letter T").
Together, come up with a list of short, simple words that rhyme (such as bat, cat, sat, rat, hat). Write them down in a column, so your child can see how part of each word is similar.
MILESTONE 4: Your child can read simple, repetitive books using the text or illustrations to figure out unfamiliar words. How to help:
Read a new book aloud several times before encouraging your child to tackle it on his own.
Listen to your child read and help — if asked — with problem words. Act like it's no big deal if he misses some. Concentrate, instead, on making the experience fun.
If your child misses a lot of words while reading, and starts acting frustrated, offer to take over the reading, or choose an easier book. Never force your child to read a book that's too hard just because his friends can read it, or his sister could when she was his age.
Help your child write and read his own stories and books. Accept whatever spellings she uses, even if it's only the initial letters of each word.
Get your child her own library card.
Treat your child as though he's an author
He doesn't have to be Sunthorn Phu or Shakespeare. All he has to do is grow up thinking that he can put thoughts and words onto paper. And the sooner he starts, the better. As with reading, you can help in different ways, at different stages of development. Look for these milestones, and use these tips:
MILESTONE 1: Your child can scribble or draw a picture and associate words with the picture (such as, "This is the sun" or "This is me"). How to help:
Provide lots of materials (paper, markers, crayons, paints, chalk, etc.) and time for drawing.
Ask your child to tell you about the pictures she draws, and label the objects as she points them out.
Ask your child to dictate stories or poems to go with the pictures he draws, and write them down for him. Then, read his work aloud, exactly as he dictated it.
MILESTONE 2: Your child begins to produce marks on a page that resemble written words, and can "read" you what he's written. How to help:
Encourage your child to "read" you his words, and express your enjoyment ("What a wonderful story!" or "Thank you so much for sharing that with me").
Keep providing the materials and time for your child to write her own stories and books.
Write stories and poems alongside your child, and read to her what you've written (even if you think it's awful — your child won't judge it).
MILESTONE 3: Your child understands that sounds are represented by certain letters, and begins to write actual letters to represent real words ("sn" for sun, for instance). How to help:
Encourage your child to write notes, keep a journal, or write her own books.
Offer to rewrite his words or sentences, using the real spellings.
When reading together, point out how most sentences have the first letter of the first word capitalized, spaces between each separate word, and a period at the end.
Mention who the author is when you read books together, and talk about what authors (and illustrators) do. Point out that when your child writes stories, he's an author, too.
If you wish to keep things for posterity, there are copy centers (especially near universities) or other more professional places that also offer to bind your child's creations in soft or hardcover for often very inexpensive prices. This would make a great present and will be something they can cherish forever!
Teach your child how to listen
Many children today don't have a lot of time to just sit around, listening and talking to family members. Between parents' jobs and children's after-school activities, it's hard, sometimes, to get everyone in the same room for a family dinner once a week. But being able to focus on what other people are saying is an important element in learning. So, whenever possible, try to build your child's listening skills. Here are some strategies that will help:
Read aloud to your child on a regular basis — even after she has learned to read by herself. Ask questions as you read, to make sure your child is understanding what she hears.
Limit television, computer, and video game time. While they're all entertaining, and can even be educational, they tend to promote tunnel vision. Make sure the time your child spends in front of a screen is balanced by time spent with other people, talking face to face.
When you speak to your child, make eye contact and gently touch his shoulder or arm, to secure his attention.
When giving directions, ask your child to repeat back to you what she heard you say — to make sure she really did hear, and does understand what she needs to do.
Model good listening behaviour. When your child wants to talk to you, for example, stop what you're doing and look at him while he's speaking. When he's finished, say something that indicates you heard him, even if you only repeat back what he said.
Play talking and listening games with your child like Charades, Red Light/Green Light, Duck, Duck, Goose, and Twenty Questions.
Teach your child that even if an adult is saying something he finds boring, he still needs to listen, look at the person, and show respect.
Spend time with your child doing quiet activities that encourage conversation, such as taking a walk together, taking a ride in the car, folding laundry, picking strawberries, etc.
This is a long list, because we all have our daily lives set up in different ways, with different people and in different places. Some of these suggestions will fit you amazingly well, while others may seem difficult. Start with those that seem easiest and work your way up to those that seem less obvious. Give them all a try. Some will not work at all and that is OK. The idea is to try the best for our children, and teaching them the determination to try different things, even if we don’t want to, because we do not give up so easily, is perhaps one of the most important skills we can give them.
Please get in touch if you have questions or suggestions, as always 😊
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