In the book of Psalms, Chapter 139: 13-14, David tells us that we are knit together in our mothers’ wombs, wonderfully made by the Creator Himself.  Last week, I suggested some strategies for auditory learners and the week before, strategies for visual learners.  Please visit me at NinaWheeling.com, if you are interested in those ideas!  This week, we’re going to talk about children who learn best by DOING, by using their hands, bodies, and senses:  kinesthetic learners.

As described by Shero.com in an article regarding learning styles, “Kinesthetic learners like taking a physically active role. Kinesthetic learners are hands-on and thrive when engaging all of their senses during course work. These learners tend to work well in scientific studies due to the hands-on lab component of the course”.

Kids who “learn best by doing” are kids who enjoy using their hands and making things.  They make sense of the world by seeing how things work and literally by putting things together.  These children are often creative and artistic. 

At home, these kids enjoy things like building with Legos, building blocks, puzzles, puppets, molding with clay, painting with water colors, and coloring with crayons.  They may like physical games like sports and getting active with games involving balls, hiking, riding bikes, and being a part of a physical team sport.

How does this translate into the classroom?  Their notes/notebooks may have more images and action than words and sentences.  These kids benefit from creative choice; creating a flowchart rather than an outline and using color rather than just using blue pen on a white piece of paper.

While some of our visual and auditory learners may shy away at opportunities to “act out” an event in history, our kinesthetic learners may thrive in a more theatrical setting. Using their bodies actually helps them process and understand events or theories.   In the classroom, we incorporated music and dance in the classroom as much as possible.  Some of my auditory learners wanted to crawl under the desk when I made the class stand up and do the “Geography Dance”, but my kinesthetic learners couldn’t get enough!

These kids enjoy experiments and watching/hearing/smelling/feeling a process occur.  In the good old days, we could incorporate taste too, but that has become a bit tricky today.  But at home, that’s a definite option!

Here are some ideas for our kinesthetic learners as we read with them at home:

1. Before reading a book with your little one, review the five senses.  As you read together, identify when in the story the characters use touch, taste, smell or hearing as a part of the story line (sight may be too easy, but it’s possible).
2. Provide opportunities for your child to act out a favorite story for other family members. Your little one will pay extra attention to the PLOT, knowing that he or she will be performing it later.
3. Make up a dance!  When trying to understand rhyme, the five senses, nouns and verbs, addition or subtraction, the planets, etc., be creative.  Take a tune you all know and make up some fun words and a dance.  Read books on these specific topics for word ideas, and then let your kinesthetic learner CREATE.
4. Put together an inexpensive art basket. Have crayons, paints, paper, scissors, glue, play-dough, felt, googley eyes, and pipe cleaners (sorry, I can’t do glitter, ha!).  The Dollar Store has all kinds of cute art supplies.   Let your little create some art work based on plots or themes within their story books.
5. Get outside! When reading about the beauty of the world, allow your little to play in that dirt, find acorns, decorate with fall leaves, collect water from the river, and hike through that path looking for wildlife.
6. Allow experimenting.  Provide vinegar, baking soda, and easy ingredients to physically observe how elements interact and processes occur.  Be prepared for a needed clean up but for a lot of fun.
7. Garden with your little one.  Plant seeds and explain (if you can) DNA, design, even intelligent design, as they sprout into living plants.  The Giving Tree is a wonderful book to use here and just talk about all of the gifts that trees literally give us.
8. Play Pharrell’s “HAPPY” when it’s time to clean up!  It worked in my classroom; kinesthetic learners will think it’s a dance party!

As we “BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS” we can allow our kinesthetic learners to be creative and to even teach us how to have a little bit of FUN at the same time!

THANKS FOR JOINING ME! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE FOR A WEEKLY IDEA ON HOW WE CAN “BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS”….and please SHARE! Thank you!