Your child’s learning style may be something you’re familiar with or it may be something you’re only just exploring. Let’s take a quick look at the main learning styles of children:
- Visual – this is the learning style of those children who love art and enjoy looking at the world around them. Children like this are incredibly observant. They notice the changing colours of the leaves in the Autumn, they see the minute motes of dust floating through the air, they stare at the print on fabric and the pattern on a butterfly’s wing. You’ll know if your child is an auditory learner – they’re super-keen to see the pictures in books and love watching cartoons!
- Auditory – our little musicians, singers and actors. Whether they’re performers or enjoy being an audience, these children eat up sound – they respond well to audio books and to music on the radio. They notice the different instruments in a piece of music and they may or may not love to sing.
- Kinesthetic – the movers and shakers of our world, these children are rarely still. They want to explore every corner of the museum and not just the things in glass cases. These children interact physically as often as possible and quite often when not possible too!
Your child’s pre-determined learning style is just a tool for you to better help them learn more effectively. This independent college in Hendon believes all children are individuals and should be taught as such.
It’s highly probable that even if you’re not 100% certain of your child’s learning style, you’re now recognising them in one of the common styles listed above. Let’s look at some of the ways in which we can accelerate the learning of all children through their learning styles.
Helping visual learners
There are so many ways in which we can help visual learners to process information faster. When it comes to artistic subjects, visual learners are dream students – it’s when we get to more factual content that they may struggle to remain interested. However, you can help a visual learner early on by introducing appealing images alongside facts. Pie charts and well-labelled diagrams will interest a visual learner for much longer than a list of numbers will.
Inspiring auditory learners
Podcasts, radio plays, audiobooks and old-fashioned lectures are what these children enjoy. They never tire of listening and if you add music into the equation, they learn even more effectively.
Exciting Kinesthetic Learners
These children need to be involved physically in what they’re learning. If it’s maths, they want to be counting their friends on the field – not numbers in a book. If we’re talking about Geography, they want to run around on a giant map or even better, to make their own in the sand on the beach Incredibly exciting to be around, these children are energetic and need to feel the freedom of physical motion as much as possible.
Whatever your child’s learning style, there’s every reason to feel confident in your own skills as a teacher.
