Children are curious beings, and for the first eight years of their life, their ability to observe and absorb information around them is much higher than adults. Early years pave the way for their cognitive development and informal learning, and how they learn often determines their success in their adult years. 

This is why it is very important to ensure that children as young as three years, especially pre-schoolers in today’s world, are exposed to the right learning approaches. 

In this article, we have discussed five useful approaches to help your preschool kid learn faster and smarter. Let’s explore. 

1. Learn Through Play Approach

Practical experience is one of the most effective ways to teach children new things. If you’ve noticed, demonstrating how to pour water into a cup is a much more successful approach than giving them instructions on how to do it. The learn-through-play approach is also called hands-on learning, which is the process of learning through action. 

Remember, they are kids; their ability to see and replicate an action develops their thinking skills. Physical participation in any activity stimulates the brain, engaging the right senses and boosting cognition in the right way. 

Another example of learning through play is facilitating them with educational games, such as buying age-appropriate puzzles or downloading a word search printable. You’ll be surprised at how fast they grasp the idea, and learn too! 

Learning through play approach enables them to be more independent as well. They are excellent at thinking logically, so when they are learning a set of skills in the form of play, they are trying to fill in the blanks by using their logic. 

2. Involve them in Setting their Learning Goals

One thing that parents unknowingly practice is that they passively feed information to their kids without explaining the concept. Children have a thousand questions, and instead of reinforcing what needs to be done, talk to them about why something needs to be done in a certain way. Let them take charge of their learning goals, and if you are concerned, walk them through it. 

Let them participate in their learning goals by asking them what they think of something. It could be a book or game to help them learn about a new idea. Talk to them about the cover page, and listen to their ideas and thoughts. Be smart about using their thought process to drop relevant information that will maneuver their thinking abilities. They will be more engrossed in reading the book and understanding its concept. 

3. The Learning Pit

When you notice your preschool kid is having difficulties understanding a new concept, take a step back. In other words, fall into a “learning pit.” In this approach, the challenge or difficulty is considered a key player in learning faster and smarter. 

As a parent, take advantage of this opportunity to show them that it is okay to find something hard, but there are ways to dissect through it. And this very process is called the learning pit. Some strategies may include taking a break from it, coming back to it with a fresh mind, or encouraging open-ended discussions to help them understand the concept better. 

This is a fantastic way to improve their learning abilities. It’s essential to show your children that nothing will be straightforward in life, and when something is difficult to figure out, use other avenues to work your way around it.

4. Encourage Emotional Responses

Teaching your children to handle their emotions early is a blessing in disguise. This particular approach has life-long benefits. Emotions ranging from anger, disappointment, curiosity, and excitement can all be incorporated into meaningful learning, enabling them to think about how a new concept feels. The additional upside to this is that when a child is given the chance to think emotionally, they remember the concept better. 

For example, when you teach them about nature and surroundings, bring up emotions that they can resonate with. Why is it important to plant more trees, and how it impacts our wellbeing can be easily explained to preschoolers by talking to them about it from an emotional perspective.  

5. Enroll Them in Sports

Did you know that children who participate in sports activities regularly do better in school than those who are not physically active? This may sound irrelevant to many parents focused on improving their children’s ability to learn faster academically. Sports are not all games and fun. Following a set of rules, going forward to win and stay focused, and cooperating with team members are all beneficial life skills that will help any child outperform, even in their adulthood. 

Being active in sports helps immensely with a child’s mental health and physical health. They can learn faster, absorb more information than others, and, most importantly, develop the urge to do well in everything in life. Therefore, if you feel that sports will rather distract them from their academics, you’re wrong. 

Conclusion

One of the most effective ways for preschool kids to learn faster is by associating encouragement and positivity with academics. Do not make it about grades only. They will completely misunderstand and in fact miss out on the importance of the learning process, which is rather crucial for early learners.

Celebrate your child’s wins as much as you can by cheering for them. Reward them, when necessary, it will keep them motivated to keep learning and do better in school.  And, always remind them that they make you proud. Happy parenting! 

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.