What is your child's learning type?

What is your child’s learning type?

Knowing your child’s learning type can greatly enhance the quality of their development, and more importantly the enjoyment they get from learning!

Educators have long been aware that learning is not one-size-fits-all. Some kids process information best by hearing it explained, some learn by seeing it demonstrated and others learn best when they make things with their own hands. There are three basic learning types: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Most people learn through a combination but have a clear preference for one – their “primary learning type”. Your child’s primary learning type is the main way that a child takes in, processes, and relates information.

Why is it important for you as a parent to understand your child’s learning styles? Knowing how your child learns can greatly impact his or her success. By teaching them in a way that’s most receptive to them, you are giving them the self confidence that they need, more importantly, teaching your child in a way that’s not natural for them could make them frustrated and not interested in learning new things, especially when they later enter the classroom.

So how do you find out your child’s learning type? Just take this short quiz to see, and then continue to look for signs in everyday situations with your child. Once you are done with the quiz, you will also get expert advice on the best approaches to teaching your child’s particular learning type!

Upon taking the quiz above,  I found that my son is a kinesthetic learner. I then opened the link at the bottom of this post and read about ways to keep him engaged while teaching him something.

 Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find out how your child best learns and then use that to make his or her learning and development better? Studies show that you can start seeing your child’s learning type as early as the age of 1, and using the right toys with their learning type in mind is a great way to set up your child for success!

Check out Spark Box Toys, I found them while looking for the age appropriate toys for my little one. Spark Box Toys brings expertly selected age appropriate toys to your home. When you are done, send back for more. They have a great learning and education section on their site, and they categories all their toys based on what learning style each toy falls into!!


Visual learners

• After reading a story (either alone or together), they might retell the story with a strong focus on how the pictures looked like. Or for the older children, how the story "looked" like. They will often describe scenes, characters and events with great detail as if they have seen picture representations or movie clips.
• When they are recalling something or when asked to create something in their minds ("Describe the perfect pie" or "What would a friendly dragon be like?"), they will often look up and to the left. When the eyes point in this direction, the brain's visual area is being actively stimulated. Note that the questions or requests should not demand for visual cues ("...look like") as this would trigger anyone to activate their visual part of the brain.
• They will show great abilities to recall minor details of things that they have seen or imagined. 
• When describing something, they will often focus solely on the visual ("The dragon breathed red fire from its nose").

Auditory learners

• Can be often seen talking to self.
• They show uncanny ability to repeat back what they have heard down to the last detail (e.g., words, intonation, timbre, accent, etc... of the speaker).
• Usually are articulate and show above average skills in spoken language.
• Sometimes can be heard speaking in mild rhythms or with slight physical movements to match their speech rhythm.
• Remembers and follows spoken instructions well.
• Is good at memorizing by steps and procedures in sequence.
• When describing something, they will often include many auditory clues ("The dragon's fiery breath made the forest sizzle").

Kinesthetic learners

• Move all the time.
• Touch and feel everything (e.g., rubbing hands on the walls or brushing the wall or door frames as walking or passing by).
• Good with hands (e.g., construction type toys).
• Physically well co-ordinated and generally good at sports.
• Shows better comprehension when allowed to use concrete objects such as manipulatives.
• Has a hard time recalling sequence of items or instructions without aids.

http://www.fitwatch.com/ebooks/Learning-Styles-Children-FitWatch.pdf