Children are often expected to focus on studying in school and doing homework at home to succeed in future education. In many countries, having extracurricular activities is considered essential to develop new skills, apart from academic development. Extracurricular activities help children ignite a spark in some particular skill sets, whether it is about sport, art, music, or languages.
Extracurricular activities help children become more confident and stimulate a desire to learn new things, but how to choose the right ones for your little one?
Discover what your kid loves
An interest drives enthusiasm in learning. Thus, discovering what your kid loves is necessary before signing up for any extracurricular activities. Generally speaking, kids love to do what they are good at. Even though they need a little help to discover what they are talented at, it doesn’t change their natural passions.
So, you may start with a list of diverse sets of after-school activities with rankings for your kids.
A few steps you can do:
1. Make a list of a variety of options.
2. Let your kids rank those activities in terms of interests.
3. Evaluate whether the extracurricular corresponds with kids’ personality, natural talents, interests, and strengths.
4. Decide which activities are safe to explore.
5. Consider whether the activity supports the development of core skills, such as creativity, problem-solving, communication, cooperation, and critical thinking.
6. Let your kids pick one from the shortlist.
“What matters the most is the passion and enthusiasm coupled with the abilities that will drive them to carry on through unforeseen challenges. More importantly, your child will benefit the most from an extracurricular when they have a passion for it,” says Mr. Suria from Tutor Time International Kindergarten, located in Hong Kong.
Here are few examples of interesting extracurricular activities for children:
· Creative Arts: Helps boost creativity, cognition, and gross and fine motor skills development.
· STEM Classes: Helps spark an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics areas and supports the development of independent thinking, concentration, problem-solving, critical thinking, and many more.
· Sports: Helps support physical development, develop gross motor skills, build persistence, enhance teamwork and cooperation skills.
Find balance between their activities and their studies
Parents get nervous as other kids are doing a range of activities outside the core curriculum courses to develop or enhance language, physical, social, and cognitive development.
Extracurricular activities are essential to kids’ education and personal development, but they are not a decisive factor to succeed or fail in a life-long journey throughout childhood to adulthood. Also, having too many extracurricular activities can also cause stress to your child, and it is advised to not exceed two/three weekly activities.
When deciding whether an activity is suitable, parents should consider the required time commitments and make sure their child gets a healthy amount of sleep to perform their best in school. Kids don’t have to engage in all areas to be diverse, as everyone is unique.
All things considered, it’s essential to consider whether the activities can have positive long-term impacts as well as aid academic development.
Budget for the activities
Budget can be the primary factor to consider when choosing an activity because the cost of extracurriculars varies widely.
The majority of the family have a budget to spend on the whole family’s necessities and kids’ education and hobbies. Not all can afford to let their kids pursue their interests and passions. So, parents usually have to consider whether their spending is really worth it.
Notwithstanding, some young kids begin to show their natural talents and interests, while some won’t until they are older or until they explore extracurriculars. It’s wise to go through the question list and narrow down the options on the shortlist within the budget.
