Childcare: Between Distraction and Education

Children have a different way of learning how the world works like. Workshops and playing games are a great way for them to learn, they find it fun and this is why generally teachers use these types of activities.

What are children workshops?

These are activities take place under a common subject and is intended for children to complement their training. These workshops can last a few hours or take place over a few weeks, as with summer workshops for example.

The important thing is to find a topic that keeps the child’s attention. For example, if your kid is a fan of robotics and likes drones very much. You may even have a drone to play. However, if you go to a workshop, you will learn to program it in a concrete way and you will understand the reason for many questions that you asked automatically without understanding.

Therefore, the occupation of workshops is to increase the information that children have on a specific topic. This information must be true and contrasted by great experts in the field that can help solve some of the questions that a child may pose.

Characteristics

These workshops may have different durations. However, whether they are for a few hours or if they last several weeks, it must be taken into account that the attention of children does not remain in time and then it is necessary to change activities frequently.

This means if you do – for example- a cooking workshop you can’t take to long cutting vegetables or telling how a blender works. Children are impatient and get the information quickly, so it is better not to repeat themselves and move on to another activity to keep their interest. This is linked to dynamism, which is one of the secrets for this type of workshops.

On the other hand, it is also essential that these activities be practical and not theoretical. It is about helping them to put into practice what they have learned and enjoy everything as much as possible, so you have to play with objects and understand how they work. Following another example, in a theatre workshop it would be important for children to represent and not just to practice their roles.

Advantages

Children who participate in group workshops acquire a series of transversal competences of great importance. In addition, they learn by having fun, so they will establish concepts and work on them with more pleasure. Another of the fundamental benefits is that the workshops help them to see the application of the concepts they learn during the most theoretical training in schools. Usually, educators forget to convey the reason for everything that is studied and these workshops can answer these questions.

With regard to transversal competencies, we must basically highlight social and civic. As they move in teams or with several people, children are not in an individual position but must learn to collaborate, to share the material, to improve ideas with those of their friends … They also highlight other advantages in terms of skills such as it can be leadership competition or communication. To do this, you can establish leadership roles and promote the exposure of concrete projects that they have done aloud.

To recap, it’s not just about playing and / or learning new concepts. The workshops can represent benefits as remarkable and important as those just discussed.

Workshop examples

These types of tasks are very varied and usually focus on one in particular; although it is true that transversal knowledge is also worked on. Here are some of them:

• Music Workshop. In this case, it is not about conducting theoretical classes or focusing on an instrument, but rather very varied exercises are used. For example, learning rhythms can be worked with the help of percussion, songs are learned or basic concepts are given to know some instruments. As previously mentioned, music-related skills are treated at all times, but in a more dynamic way.
• Funny science. It is one of the current fashions, which is based on doing science experiments such as Chemistry, Physics or Biology. These applied sciences can fit into different levels and, being quite manual, children tend to like them a lot.
• Arts and crafts. This is one of the workshops that most attract children once they are involved, although initially they do not ask for it. Thanks to them you can carry out your creativity and imagination.

It can be concluded that the workshops for children are very diverse and can greatly improve some of the concepts learned in schools and institutes. In addition, it is one of the favourite alternatives for children and adolescents so it refers to their training.

If you have any enquiry contact us! We can help you.