Posts Tagged ‘puppets’
Keeping active children focused
Children who can’t sit still for long periods of time won’t learn any better if they are made to. The advantage of homeschooling is to be able to teach to the child in the best way possible. For an active child this may mean a creative lesson plan.
School is more than books and worksheets so if you have a student who is active, don’t rely on just those resources. Some desk work needs to be done but if you alternate desk work with an active learning activity, the child will have a chance to move in between you will find that they will learn better. Manipulatives make great active learning activities. Math lessons can involve stacking blocks, measuring furniture, racing cars and all sorts of other active learning ideas. Spelling can be made active too if you hang letters around the house and ask the child to run around and find the letters to spell a certain word. Bring puppets into English class to help act out stories or create a craft associated with the story or chapter just read so that the child can be rewarded with an active lesson following a sit-down reading assignment. Music can be a great active learning activity too. Rhythm, rhyming, sound science and more can all be taught through music.
Allowing an active child a chance to be active in “class” can help them learn and make your teaching day less frustrating!
In high school, I took drama class. We acted out plays in front of audiences, memorized soliloquies and learned lighting techniques. As a home schooled student, your child doesn’t have to miss out on drama class!
Of course, a group of kids can get together, dress up and play act, many times they do that anyway. But stories can also be acted out by using puppets. Children can make their own puppets or you can use bought ones. A great way to check for reading comprehension is to have them act out the last part of the story they read using puppets! It is also a great creative source for them to tell their own made up stories.
Puppets are great manipulatives too. For those kinesthetic learners puppets can help with reading, history and more because they can have movement with puppets!