9 practical tips to motivate children’s desire to learn

10 Mar 9 practical tips to motivate children’s desire to learn

There are words that, just by naming them, seem to take away the desire to use them, for example, study, effort, obligation, will… or any other that requires an impulse and motivation on our part to put them into practice. And if it is difficult for us as adults to use them and much more to apply them, let us imagine how the use of them will result in the world of our children. For this reason, this time we offer you some practical advice with which you can motivate children’s desire to learn, in a simple way.

We need to find shortcuts that take us to that place we want (study, fulfill an obligation…) but with the least use of words that sound like ‘ must be done ‘. We suggest you use more those that lead us to: ‘I want to do it.

Having To Study In The Face Of Children’s Desire To Learn

We have the clearest example when we say to our children ‘ we have to study ‘ instead of ‘ I want to learn ‘. The initial difference is quite clear. In the first, someone ‘forces you to carry out that task’ while in the second it is something ‘that comes from ourselves.

But how to increase the ‘I want to do’ versus the ‘I have to do’? How to make children like things that they don’t like or things that adults decide they have to like or learn?

Below we propose a series of practical tips so that our children do not stop wanting to learn.

The Language We Use And Children’s Learning

The first thing to keep in mind as clarification is that the child likes to learn but not to study. Therefore, if we can play with the language, there we have a first tool to try to motivate them to learn: language care.

In addition, let us bear in mind that for a child to motivate learn three things must happen, according to what the pedagogue José Antonio Marina tells us and that we have adopted:

• The first one is that the child feels that he is going to have a good time. For this, we must take care of and prepare all the details related to the teaching or learning environment.
• The second is that the child has to feel valued in learning. He is going to seek the recognition of parents or teachers, therefore, it would be good to prepare a series of affirmations or phrases that make the child feel appreciated by the adult. Examples: ‘you are making a great effort and it shows in the drawing’, ‘I appreciate the effort you are putting into this task, because it is giving a great result’, ‘I realize that you are doing a great job and I congratulate you for it’.

Tips To Motivate Children To Study

• Carry out an external or internal reward system, where the child participates at the time of doing it, this will be of great motivation for him or her.
• Associating learning with games always gives good results: enigmas, riddles, didactic poems, hieroglyphics, or working with logic is a safe bet.
• Make a list of reasons why it will be worth the effort and worth the effort. Always have it insight so you don’t lose focus.
• ‘Divide and rule. It always pays to divide tasks into small goals and improve little by little.
• Encouraging participation both at home and in the classroom is also a great motivator for children, we make them feel important and let them understand that we take them into account. And they like that a lot!
• Use a sense of humor to promote positive emotional states that help them feel motivated. Even singing before starting the task, seeing a funny drawing, telling a joke… All this will favor their emotional state
• Using words like ‘challenge’ or ‘challenge’ for some children is also a great motivator, so if it works for you, keep using them.
• Make a ‘collage’ of each topic they study or each task they have to learn. Collages will be present and it will be a fun way to keep learning present. Schemes are also very useful tools for learning.
• Making your own newspaper, story or comic is also another way to consolidate knowledge.

As you will see, these practices require attention and time from parents. But remember: the best advice is not to give any advice, so just by being the best role model or example for your child to follow, the learning will take care of itself.

You may also be interested in Motivation tips for older people