How to teach your child to learn


Teaching your child how to learn and how to write is not a Herculean task, but it is not that easy too. There are some ways which can make your child interested in learning. In this article I have discussed some ways and tricks which make learning interesting for toddlers and kids.

How to start with teaching a child


The pre-school phase of a child is one of the toughest growth phase in the life of parents! Yes. The kid enjoys the love and affection that is bestowed on him by parents and family members and is very fast learns how to throw tantrums, how to get things done by unwilling parents and elders and not to learn what he is being taught. You want them to get enrolled in the best school possible and try bottleneck to imbibe some good manners as well as some amount of learning into him tiny brain. But they seem to be unperturbed. But life is life, and is tough. You have to make them do things like knowing how to learn, how hold the pencil, how to draw, how to color an object etc, so that when time comes you don't need to scratch your head and your child perform well enough in school admission interview.

Teach your toddler how to write


First things first, let forget about teaching. Just start enjoy doing things with your kid. Pens and pencils are pointed objects, hence so far you have kept such things out of your child's reach. But if the child has started observing elders while they are reading, writing or trying to hold the newspaper then think again. Your kid may have just arrived the learner's zone formally. Let him hold a pencil(not a pen though). Give him spare papers or simply old newspapers. Let him scribble his heart out. In a few hours/days he will find his right grip.

Now start with colors. Wax or plastic crayons are the best. Never give them sketch pens, though they are very much attractive for kids. You will not be able to keep your cool when your child starts scribbling on bed-spreads, sofa upholsteries!

You may have noticed one very important point here, for the kid both hands act like the left hand. It happens because they are not accustomed to using their hands. Most of the time we do not let them touch any objects at home as safety measure or for the fear of spoilling. But like us the child also learn by using his hands. The more he uses the more he will be accustomed to.

A child's fine motor skills remain underdeveloped. He can make large strokes on paper or on anything. But they cannot perform an activity which needs fine skills or minute detailing. So the kid needs to use more and more and learn to make finer movements. Here are some steps to develop fine motor skills in your child which will help him learn writing letters and coloring very fast and easily.

Steps to teach drawing to your kids
  1. Give a sheet of paper and draw a big square or rectangle on it. Ask him to fill the rectangle with scribblings.
  2. Draw smaller sqaure or rectangle. Do as the first step. Gradually reduce the size of the box and he will learn to confine his scriblings within a confined space. This will act as a guideline for him to control his movements.
  3. You can make your own teaching apparatus by cutting cardboard boxes. Cut out shapes like sqaure, diamond, roset or circle etc(whatever shape you can make). Place the cardboard on a peice of paper and ask him to fill the shape. This will come handy for future when you teach him shapes.
  4. What I myself found very very easy and interesting while teaching my own toddler son is to draw simple objects like bird, butterfly, car, flower, star, house, ball, boy etc and to fill color. A male child is typically very fond of anything with wheels so draw enough cars, buses etc and ask them to fill colour. You do not need to be an expert artist. Simple sketches should work. This way they learn real fast since they watch you drawing, and colouring. My kid learnt drawing at the age of 2 and some months not because he is very talented but he was encouraged to draw more and more.


Mahatma Gandhiji also has insisted on the need to learn drawing before a child learns to write. It was his own experience that drawing is the best way to improve handwriting in a person.

Teaching apparatus you can make at home


Call them teaching apparatus or teaching aids or simply playthings but you can always make such objects yourselves. These teaching aids not only helps you to develop your kid's fine motor skills these apparatus also help you to keep your child engaged. According to clinical psychologists these apparatus or activities make keep your chilc busy, develop their fine motor skills, make their hands work like a pro and tremendously effective in learning future life skills. Here are some apparatus you can make.

  • Clean and dry pulses like Rajma and whole moong in equal amount, say half cup each in a transperant plastic glass. Now mix them and ask your kid to separate both. These increase his observation skills and since while separating he requires lots of attention, the kid will learn concentration, attention etc. These is a great way to tame hyperactive child who may or may not have Attention deficit disorder
  • Give him/her a small jug full of water. Ask him to pour water in glasses.

  • Give plastic containers that they can hold with hands(Should not be too big). Let them cork and uncork them. This is a simple activity but very helpful in developing hand movements.

  • Take a long shoelace. Clean and dry it. Take at least twenty large-eyed colorful beads and let the kid make a rosary. If you have clay at home you can also make the beads yourself and colour them with the kids, which will increase playtime. This act also helps them to develop concentration.

  • Similarly you can make several holes in a pretty shape of cardboard and ask the kids to lace it with the help of shoe-lace.

  • Buy your kids lots of puzzle games. They are not costly but help observing and learning. You can also check into the books and stationery stores which stores very innovative learning toys for your kids. Instead of buying laser guns and costly cars you can buy these stuffs which will help to achieve some amount of learning.


Everything that I have mentioned above have been practised by myself with my two kids. I can boast of the fact that I have transformed the act of teaching and learning a much easier job than I assumed myself before.


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