Many summer camps have been halted this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving parents scrambling for ideas on how to keep their children engaged.
Experts at Virginia Tech are helping with ideas on how to make learning fun at home.
“Take things that they’re interested in and then figure out how can you make this interesting and fun,” said Erika Bonnett, a 4-H program development specialist with Virginia Tech.
Bonnett spoke during a recent “Tech on Tap” online community speaker series through the university. She recommended using a “do, reflect, apply” approach to learning.
“You do the activity, you experience it, you have a good time and then you process it, you talk about it, you talk about what happened during the activity, what worked, what didn’t work,” she said.
Virginia 4-H has launched an “at home activity template” program with more than two dozen online printable sheets with STEM, health and civic engagement activities for children and parents ranging from building a windmill to experimenting with magnets.
“It’s a great way to kind of walk through the process so you don’t feel like you have to be an expert at everything,” Bonnett said.
And parents don’t have to follow the instructions step-by-step. She said you can take the idea and run with it.
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