Turning Everyday Activities into Fun Educational Games

Even if you can only spend minutes a day playing fun educational games and activities with your children, it's worth it, because you will have taken advantage of a special bonding opportunity that is as precious as it is irreplaceable. Every place on the planet-especially in the home-can be a learning center, especially the dining room table.

Dinner Activities
Dinnertime should be a time for nutritious food and healthy conversation. Mealtime is a perfect time for children and parents to exchange ideas and share their daily adventures. It's also a perfect time for parents to set good examples by displaying exemplary table manners and reinforcing them in their children. In addition, by taking advantage of their captive audience, parents can teach their children without emphasizing the educational aspect.

While there are many educational board games and activities that parents can purchase and play with their children, life, in general, is filled with opportunities that allow parents to impart knowledge to their children, easily and smoothly, through conversation and actions.

Table Games

• Nutrition. Teach your child the nutritional makeup of each food that is placed on the table. Explain the need for each food group and show your child how to determine which fruits or vegetables are best for optimal health. Designate certain days for each child to decide what should be served for dinner. Help your child determine which foods go well with one another and what the nutritional value of each food group is. By turning dinner into a game, your child will not realize that he is learning the fundamentals of healthy eating, which will stay with him into adulthood.
• Concept of time. Meals should be eaten at set times in each household. Not only do set times keep the system regular, it will keep your child on time and on task. It also creates the perfect opportunity to help your child learn the concept of time. Emphasize that 5 o'clock is the time dinner is served, but it then takes two minutes to say grace and approximately 30 minutes for your child to clear his plate. Allow him to have a clock in front of him, if necessary, so that he can see the hands move.
• Etiquette. Table etiquette is not a hard concept to learn or understand, but when it is not consistently practiced, it is an art that can easily be lost. How to set the table is also a dying art. Teaching your child the etiquette of how to use utensils can also be turned into a game. Serve dessert, but before anyone is allowed to dig in, a few questions must be answered. Go around the table and ask questions that pertain to the meal.
• Sample questions:
  1. When setting the table, where do you place the salad fork?
  2. What fruit did we have for breakfast?
  3. What has more fiber, the cereal or the milk?

Make sure the questions are age-appropriate and that your child knows the answers. Letting your child ask some of the questions will show your trust him.

Traveling Activities
Whenever you travel with your child, take advantage of counting games, ABC games or games that involve spotting unusual items. Counting games might consist of counting red cars, doghouses, Volkswagens, recycling bins or deer on the side of the road. A popular alphabet game is one where the child finds-in order-the letters of the alphabet on the license plates of passing cars. You also could search for license plates from each state. Have your child write down the states as he finds them. In the course of a trip across town or across the state, it's amazing how many license plates from different states can be spotted.

Quality Versus Quantity
After dinner offers a lot of free time for families, but it may be a time when young children are winding down and not at their peak. They may balk at games that require thinking. Before starting any game, take into consideration the mood of your child. If your child is not up for fun and games, don't push the issue. Your child may associate the game with bad feelings, thus making it harder to play the same game the next time.

Dos and Don'ts:

• Do teach whenever possible.
• Don't ignore questions.
• Do spend quality time with children and teach life lessons whenever possible.
• Don't force a cranky or tired child to play an educational game.
• Do look for opportunities around the house that present themselves as perfect teaching moments.
• Don't try to play a game with your child when you are in a cranky mood.
• Do stop teaching if your child appears frustrated. Find out what the problem is, and either go on with the lesson or not, as warranted by your child's mood.
• Don't get angry or upset if your child forgets something he has learned or doesn't appear to be interested in the subject matter. Some things are not retained as well as others.
• Do take advantage of long trips by interacting with your children. Take along a few toys, as well, but plan to set aside quality time to spend with your children.
• Don't insist a child stop his play so that he can have educational time with you. Don't call it educational time at all or you may lose him completely.

The key is to make educational time appear to be fun time. If you stress, push or get angry or frustrated, you may ruin the idea forever. Have a smile on your face anytime you play educational games and activities with your child. Children are perceptive and intuitive. They know they're learning, but they love spending time with you and hearing you say how proud you are of them. Because you are important to your child, when you become the teacher, your child learns.