Our Blog Posts

HOW TO PROMOTE OUTDOOR PLAY IN CHILDREN

“If the world is a canvas!! Let them paint, draw, collect, share and build!”

This beautiful quote seamlessly encapsulates the idea about how we can encourage the children in outdoor play activities and games.  These activities are considered to be one of the most vital parts essentially needed in the growth of child’s well-being and healthy learning approaches. Helping them integrate it into their daily lives is a big obligation in modern parenting — yet many parents in today’s scenario are dismayed to find their wards not interested in playing outdoor sports rather tend to swap active outdoor recreation for more sedentary activities that largely includes screen watching often to the detriment of their health and decreasing quality of life.

In this blog, we’ll help you by elucidating few key points how you can get your kids step out of their bedroom areas and spend some constructive time in outdoor playing simultaneously improving their health, continuous learning process and above all adopting an energetic adult lifestyle and witness how you’ll soon be on the way to experience all exciting outdoor adventures with your kids with active participation.

• Keep Yourself Buoyant and Excited

Start out with a leisure walk in the park or an excursion to a local playground, then work your way up to bigger outdoor adventures. If you look excited to spend time doing outdoor activities, your enthusiasm will rub off and make your kids more thrilled to be outside, too. Lead by example and bring out your inner child during playtime, encouraging kids with a sense of wonder and excitement. Point out everything as if it is the maiden time you have seen it, and don’t be afraid to add some extra pep to your voice as you lead outdoor activities.

• Plan Few Games That Promise Action and Adventure

You can even modify a simple playing area into a magical outdoor adventure. Take dress-up clothes outside for a small replica of a constructed house or even a palace made with the help of few household items like table, chairs and bedsheets to adorn the area. The more imaginative and diverse your activities would be, the more kids will want to get out and enjoy the sports.

You can also try few simple games like:

Making Chalk Roads: Using chalk and drawing shapes of various sizes and lines that are straight and curvy. Have the kids jump from shape to shape and walk on the lines without falling as this fun game helps them exercise motor skills.

Planning a Nature Scavenger Quest or a Nature Ninja for a Twist: You can play this game in your backyard or local park. Make a list of items with the help of words or even pictures. Give the kids a bag and accompany them as they search for items on the list. Use this time to help them discover new things.

Planting Seeds: This activity will help in inculcating the hobby of gardening in children. This activity can be done in a small community park or by using small cups or pots that are displayed in the balconies. Allow your kid to help you dig in the soil or fill pots, plant the seeds and water them. Teach them that if they will act patient, they will get to see their planted seeds finally nurturing into big shrubs and trees or even flowers sprouting during the spring season.

• Build Bonds & Companionships

Kids naturally inspire each other, and they will likely want to spend more time outdoors if they have friends of their age to enjoy with. While it may take a little extra effort to plan and supervise larger groups of kids, the joy and confidence children gain from exploring the world with other kids their age are worth developing.

• Teach Not With Your Words But With Your Actions

Practice the art of demonstration and not just discussion — Kids imbibe and emulate a lot about behavioral and outdoor skills just by observing you and following you in every action.

Just remember dear parents that kids aren’t going to switch easily with their outdoor playing habits in just one day or even one week, and that’s completely OK! Give them some time and patiently encourage them to adapt these outdoor playing habits even if they start small as they engage themselves and explore the outdoor spaces!!

READING NEWSPAPER – A NUDGE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!!

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered as a precious gift” –

These profound words quoted by Kate DiCamillo well known as an American children’s fiction author are the most relevant and evocative, especially during the present scenario, where children these days are mostly confined to the four walls of their homes after their regular school time.

Witnessing a drop in the AQI (Air Quality Index) levels in the recent past parents must be curious to know how they can engage their children with some recreational, productive and other tangible ways that can help them make their children adapt to effective reading and learning habits while staying indoors. 

Manav Sthali Global School has the answer for this.  Yes!! It’s the same old conventional black and white pack of papers that is read all over the world with much interest and keenness – The Newspaper. It not only enhances the child’s knowledge about the world but also develops a habit of justifying things with fact-based and fool-proof reasoning before believing anything easily. Newspapers also teach them the art of sitting down patiently and contemplating over things before making their final opinion.

All of you all must be well aware children can be shirkers at times when it comes to learning, reading and writing. They often make excuses to get away from their regular studies and indulge in their own play. With the education system trying to implement various alternatives like online learning in order to safeguard children’s physical health thus, making the world rise towards the technological advancements with each passing day, the little learners are only becoming addicted to the Information Technology. Their eyes are fastened to screens daily, be it for watching T.V. or playing games on mobile phones and laptops. Reading has now become restricted only to their school textbooks for the purpose of achieving good grades in their appraisals.

In these developing times, it is quite challenging to get kids to start reading newspaper instead of using any electronic gadget during their recreational time and turning it into a habit even more so. But acting as their Rock of Gibraltar we will suggest few research-based “best practices” that would help your child in inculcating this daily habit.

• RECOGNIZE YOUR CHILD’S INTEREST – Do not force children to read portions in the newspaper what you desire. You can figure out their area of interest and ask them to read that particular section. For instance, if a child has passion for sports, you can suggest articles from the sports section. This will encourage him/her to read about something that he/she would really love and will also grasp some knowledge.
• CREATE A ROUTINE – Read the newspaper with your children daily. Ask them to read while you sit beside them so that any mistakes can be rectified on the spot.
• INTEGRATE SCHOOL LEARNING WITH NEWSPAPER READING – You can use newspapers as an extension of your child’s school textbooks. For example, you can select appropriate paragraphs from the newspaper and give your child reading comprehension exercises. You can also teach grammar and do vocabulary-building exercises with them to help facilitate language development.
• INSPIRE YOUR CHILD TO MAKE A NEWSPAPER SCRAPBOOK -You can also teach your child to make a scrapbook by clubbing together interesting articles, advertisements, comic strip series, word scramble games, etc., published in the newspaper. This will not only make them pick up the newspaper frequently but will also aid them with a meaningful hobby to follow for life.
• MOTIVATE YOUR CHILD TO CONTRIBUTE ARTICLES – This is an effective way to encourage your children to regularly send their entries to sections that invite contributions such as short stories, poems, drawings and pictures of craftwork.

Help your child become a lifelong learner by developing in them a love for reading newspapers with these tips. This will surely help them become a more socially attentive and responsible citizens.