5 Productive Ways to Avoid Brain Drain During Holidays

After months of studying, a break from school activities, class assignments, and homework is a welcome respite for kids of all ages. Although a break from lessons, textbooks, and tests sounds good, parents and teachers must be aware of the phrase ‘brain drain during summer and winter holidays’. The term ‘brain drain’ is used to describe the downside of long holidays on kids’ learning abilities. The lack of engagement and stimulation of the mind during the holidays caused by not learning new lessons or revising old lessons can lead to setbacks in children’s reading, writing, and comprehension abilities. Here you can read about some productive ways to avoid brain drain during holidays.

How to Keep Your Child’s Mind Sharp During Long School Breaks

Without structured learning and scheduled work, we tend to get lazy and forgetful. It can happen to adults and children alike. During long school breaks, children experience learning loss wherein they forget what they had learned previously and lose the ability to grasp new concepts quickly. To avoid learning loss during holidays, parents must maintain a comfortable schedule for their kids by filling their days with fun and educational activities.

Here are a few creative tips to make your child’s holiday fun and educational:

1. Encourage your child to indulge in some light holiday reading to improve his or her reading skills. Find out what topics interest your child and pick books written on those subjects. Build a home library for your child and put a small study table with a pretty reading lamp on it. Ask your child for decorating tips and let him or her make the reading/study corner their own.
2. Children love to recount their day-to-day activities in detail to their parents, grandparents, friends, and anyone in a hearing distance. This quirky habit of your child can work in your favor if utilized creatively. For instance, after a day at the zoo or summer camp, motivate your child to share his or her experience in detail with family and friends through story writing. This way, he or she will develop an interest in creative writing.
3. Nowadays, audiobooks are all the rage for both adults and kids alike. Audiobooks can help improve your child’s listening skills. Play an audiobook in the living room, for example, a storybook with good narration, and quiz your child on the content. This activity will help you assess your child’s comprehension ability.
4. Practical applications of academic lessons will not only gain children’s attention but also retain their interest in science and math subjects. With the use of Virtual Reality (VR) programs, instructional videos on YouTube, and creative ideas on Pinterest, parents can aid children in harmless science and mathematical experiments at home. For example, children can learn about soluble compounds and oxidization from things in your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets.
5. Holidays are the right time to catch up on studies , prepare for standardized tests, or join new courses. Everyone’s way of studying/learning is unique. Enroll your child in online classes that offer personalized lesson plans to suit his or her learning ability. Online classes during the holidays will give parents some much-needed respite as well. Many tutoring services offer customized online classes so that your child can make the most out of his or her holidays.

Learning loss in children should not be taken for granted. Therefore, share these productive ways to avoid brain drain during holidays with other parents and teachers as well. Studying during holidays won’t sound fun to your kids, but by using the above-mentioned creative ways you can make it fun for them. Our goal is to keep our children’s minds sharp at all times.