What can be interesting ways of teaching children that children do not find education monotonous?

Teaching to kids and children is sometimes a very difficult task as they do not know why people are after them and always want them to learn alphabets or names of the things and like that. The mind of children is like a blank slate and though one can pursue them to do anything but in a short time they become bored with a monotonous activity. So, anyone who have to teach the children have a tough time.

Having said that there are still some ways which can be adopted to teach the children and some of them are as follows -

1. Playing games - There are many games for children which they would like to play and enjoy. These games are designed in such a way that the child gets engaged in them and in the process learns many new things. Just for example if you ask a child the name of an animal and ask him to find it in a bunch of folded papers where different names are written then he wold open them one by one and try to read them and discard till he gets his favourite animal. He will learn so may names in the process. So, in Psychology, we call it inclination to interest area. Every person has an interest and liking and one will act in that direction in which ones interest lies.

2. Rewarding the child - This is an age old method in which if the child does what it is told to do then he is to be rewarded. This reward can be in any form. It could be a chocolate or playing games with friends or a toy or an outing or some food of choice. This method works only when the child has interest in all those rewards. If the child is already given an ice-cream and someone lures him for another ice-cream if he studies for some time then he might not agree as he may not be inclined towards the second ice-cream.

3. Comparing with other kids - This is one way that can be used and is based on one of the natural traits found in humans and a child is also having that. This particular trait is actually the trait of jealousy. We have to tell the child that such an such child presented a song in the school and got a prize or took part in a word puzzle and got accolades. Hearing this our child might be inspired that if he can why he cannot. Intelligent teachers and parents sometimes take advantage of it.

4. Minimise pampering - Nowadays we give the child whatever he or she wants and he seems to be contented. This is a sorry situation. When he gets everything for free he does not know its value. So, linking his choicest foods, and other indulgences to his study and reading is one thing that parents can manage as it is beyond the reach of the external teacher. This is a very effective tool and one can certainly try this.

5. Inspiring and encouraging - This is one of the common methods and in some cases it is found very useful and effective. For example suppose the child is fascinated by aeroplanes flying in the sky and wants to fly it, when he becomes young, then we can tell him that if he studies and reads school books then only he will be able to become a pilot and fly the planes. There are many such inspiring things that can be used to inculcate a desire of reading in the mind of the child.

It is a real tough job. Teaching a kid requires a lot of patience. We have to be with them. We have to play with them and while playing we should teach them. If you ask a kid to sit and hear what you are telling, you may not get the expected attention from the kid. We have to understand the mood of the child and accordingly, we have to b adopt ourselves.
1. Let us insist on them to learn the way we wanted. Ask the kid to sit with you and start telling her some stories and try that the kid will understand it properly. While telling the story we should highlight the moral of the story and tell the kid what are the dos and don'ts in our life. This will help the kid to get morals.
2. These days many good rhymes in English and other languages which will be liked by the kid. You have to allow the kid to see those videos and whenever we get a chance we should tell them the teaching behind. How to identify the colour. Alphabets and numbers. animals, birds etc can be taught. These videos are available in English, Hindi and Local Language also. So they know names of all these in all the three languages. Recognising the alphabets can also be taught using these videos.
3. Many games are coming. We can purchase and start teaching them how to play those games. Very good models are available and in that matching the animals with words, Matching the words, Arranging various blocks in a way so that an animal shape will come. These will be help full to them.
4. Phonemic awareness, Vocabulary, reading and fluency are very important. These should be taught to them by showing various videos and games. Make them to listen some audios is also good.
5. Above all we should have patience and we should not lose our temper. We have to manage them by making them feel that we are giving them sufficient time and we are also behaving the same way they want. That will make them to follow and understand the lessons well.

Turning learning into a gamified experience has been shown to have a positive impact on the learning experience of the younglings. As pointed above by members, one can create a gamified learing experience in this context. This will not only improve the child's learning ability. But also help it to solve problems in real world from the very start. A skill the youth of today sorely need. Hope this helps!!!

To engage a child for teaching is really a Herculean task and these innocent kids have their own worlds and would not like to come out the dream world unless they are threatened or you take some extreme steps to change their habits but doing so it will create a negative impact on their mental growth.
However, if you could employ certain tricks in course of encouraging for speedy learning, they would listen to you during your teaching session. You may apply the following tricks -
1) Engage with him for free talk asking him varied questions relating to likeness of colours, his great heroes, his best friends etc. A free talk with them will make them responsive to the situation.
2) Provide him some colourful rhyme books and numerical charts so that they are hooked to such books and charts.
3) Children like stories and they hear stories with great patience and hence to engage them for teaching, you lure them telling there will be a story session in night if he takes part in the teaching programme this time.
4) Children would not like that the child next to door is better than him in any angle. You tell that the child next door knows so many rhymes that everyone is praising him. Such talks will encourage him to learn the lessions in a more attentive ways since it is the Psycology of the children to remain superior among the other children living close to their areas.
5) Give your children some sort of temptations such as offering him a foot ball of bigger shape or toys of their choice if they could master at least five rhymes in ten days or they learn numbers up to 20 within ten days.
6) Your home atmosphere should be congenial so that he picks up the learning fast.
7) Your wife should be supportive in nature encouraging her children to follow up your teaching sessions attentively so that they earn the best reputations of their teachers in the schools.

Little children cannot do a thing for long. They get bored. They shift their attention to a new act after some time doing one thing. So anything should be made interesting for them and also for short duration too. After a little while they should be drawn to a new thing and probably they may soon get tired of that may even shift back to the earlier act too.
So it is always better to follow a method of ' Learn while you play and play while you learn". Even study matters should be presented in a way of storytelling, action songs, plays etc. That will help them to get involved and learn easily too. We have seen how they easily learn rhyming action songs in nursery school!
So when you sense that the child starts getting bored (from body language, strayed attention, rubbing eyes etc) you should stop that and ask the child to play with you, eat a sweet or candy or drink some milk or something which the child will like. You may ask him to lie down for a while or watch a bird or tree or a moving vehicle on the road etc. Then after a while you can call him back and start a new lesson or activity or restart and continue from where you stopped earlier. You have to be patient and perseverant without using force or coercion.

Teaching children in schools is different from teaching in house as tuition. In many places home tuition are conducted by some teachers and freelancers by calling the aspired students to the house of teachers. I took tuition to the students of MBA level in my house. When I teach subjects to the children of my known friend to the level of tenth, sixth standards without any difficulty as their parents co-operated well but now it is difficult to me to teach a student of 6th standard at her house as her parents are commenting this and that in the middle as well they call the child for taking tiffin or bringing coffee for me etc., and the child get diverted.

We all know that children do not like sitting in one place for a long time and it is true as they get distracted very easily and they have so much energy in them that it makes them move, run and keep on doing some or other activity. So it is always better to start with some activities that are not only interesting to you but to them and like doing it. It should be fun, active, learning and at the same time teach them something. Here are some things that can help you to teach your nephew to learn and does not find education/studying monotonous:

1. Create a schedule: The first and the most basic thing is to make a schedule for your child/nephew. Itis normal to get resistance from your nephew at first but you need to emphasis on it and make him follow it like an order. After a certain period, he will follow it and this will help him to adjust even in school, playschool and at home.

2. Learning by Playing Games: There are many games that help to learn things like alphabets, colours, animals, birds, relationship, flowers, fruits, vegetables, numbers, signs, shapes, etc. Let them move, find and even group which will make them enjoy as well as learn things easily.

3. Teach then very basic things: We all want our children to knows basic things but we need to teach them the correct way by showing them and explaining them the need for it like washing hands, keeping oneself clean, tidying things, gardening, closing and opening the door be it bathroom, living room, refrigerator, etc, things that are dangerous and need to be cautious like the gas stove, electrical switches, appliances, scissors, knives, etc.

4. Outdoor activities: Do try to engage him in outdoor activities like outdoor games, running, picking or finding things, exercises, which will help to reduce their stored energy and even help them learn and play. Let the activity be at least 15 minutes and not more than 30 minutes.

5. Indoor and one place activity: Everyday schedule one activity that will keep your nephew or child to sit in one place for at least 20-30 minutes and do the activity like colouring, maths, writing, etc. This will help him to learn to sit in one place and add concentration.

6. Story/game/TV time: Keep one time for story, game or TV time where you will sit together and enjoy what he loves. In this way, he will love and would try to listen to you. Do tell him good moral stories, watch some children movies and play some video games that involve children interaction and help him enjoy than always pressurising him/children to study.

Thank you to all the members for answering my question. Your suggestions are very helpful and appreciated. Teaching young children is a difficult task which becomes difficult for many parents also, in such a situation, the tips given by all of you will work with me also for those who have to teach young children at home only.

Indeed, it is a tough job to make children study. Easy way is to hire a tutor and give him this responsibility. However, you can teach your child if you have enough time.

• Create an environment which encourage your child to study

• Children always like to play and if the method of teaching is blended with play , they will take interest in study because until they have interest in study they can't be forced to focus on their study.

• Patience is the essential quality of a good teacher especially while teaching small children. They need to be encouraged to read their books and try to make it interesting for them.

• Let the children not be forced to study a particular subject. Let your child decide what he wants to read at the given time.

• Make a time table for all the subjects which they can study and revise what they are taught in school.

• Help them in their home work by facilitating them what they have to do in each subject.

• Dont dictate or force them your own volition, rather make them study freely.

• Encourage them to do experiment or ask questions and try your best to satisfy them. Let it be fun for them instead of it boring and prosaic.

• Keep an eye on how they are performing if they do good, appreciate them, if they do mistake, rectify them in easy way.

• Periodic revision of previous lessons/chaptors is essential, so that they don't forget what they have learnt so far.

• A teacher should be a good listener. so let them vent what they have in their mind regarding their study.

• They should be allowed to play and spend their time with their friends too.
.• Give them gifts for their good performance in test/examinations.

• Dont chide them if they don't get good marks in their test/examinations, rather encourage them to improve their performance in next test/examinations.

• Every child can't be expected to be highly intelligent, so don't expect more than what your child can do.