Best Study Tips: Successful Learning For School Age Kids

I will share with you some great study tips that hopefully will help your kids.

As a mom I can definitely say we had our struggles trying to help our kids study. That is until we figured out what study tips worked for them.

I will get straight to the point and list out different ways that helped my kids and might help yours. There are some other ways I’ll list that may help also.

But to figure out the best way to help your child study there are some questions you need to answer.

What motivates your child?

• That might be just diving in and getting their studying done once they get home from school.

• Maybe your child needs some down time after school so you wait 30 minutes to an hour before they start studying.

• It might be having a yummy (healthy) smoothie to drink while they study or some other nutritious snack.

• Maybe it’s having a little background music on.

• Or having a study partner whether that is you, a sibling, or a friend.

What about where they are studying at or should study at?

• At the dinner table
  • That might work well especially if you are in the kitchen working on dinner and they may need help here and there.
  • On the other hand are there to many distractions that your child just can’t study.
• In their bedroom
  • At a desk
  • On the floor
  • Laying on their bed
    • The problem with studying laying on a bed is that your body will generally get tired. It will associate you laying on the bed as time to go to sleep. I don’t know about you but if I lay on a bed trying to read or study I will just fall asleep. So I do not recommend that place or position.
• Outside
  • In the grass on a mat or blanket
  • At a table outside
  • On a swing
  • Siting in a playhouse
  • On a balcony
    • I think there is something to be said about being outside learning/studying. There are so many wonderful senses at use when outside.
    • Plus the added bonus of the sounds of nature can be peaceful and relaxing.

How they are positioned?

• Are they laying down
• Standing up
• Walking around
• Sitting

Are they getting movement in while studying?

Everyone moves a little even just sitting down. But does your child like to really move while studying?

• Walking around while studying
• Swinging on a swing
• Standing on their head and various positions constantly moving

Movement may be the key to your child’s learning/studying behavior. Our bodies were built to move and we are used to movement. It actually takes a lot of work to keep our bodies still. Think about it, can you sit still in a chair for long without movement? You end up needing to shift your weight, move your arms, hands, feet, and try to get comfortable.

A big study tip is not to make your kids sit still to do homework or to study. Let them have some movement while doing it.

Here are some great ways of studying with movement

• Study while in a swing.

• While sitting on an exercise ball

• Study while stretching or doing hand stands, head stands or light exercises.

• While walking

• Hula hooping or juggling balls if your kid enjoys that type of thing.

• Study while doing yoga positions

There are so many ways to study while moving or ways to reward yourself with movement in between studying.

My daughter would choose the swing outside or the swing in our sun room to do her reading or studying as that is what she needed.

Try some different study tips with your kids and see what works the best for them.

If your child likes to sit at the kitchen table or a desk and study on their own then that is fine. If they can’t sit still long then maybe that’s not the best ideal place for them to study.

Or take away the chair and give them a big exercise ball to sit on so they can get some movement while studying.

One thing I will say is don’t have them studying from a young age with complete silence.

• I know some may argue against me on this point but it’s just like when you have your first baby and you try to keep everyone as silent as a mouse around the sleeping baby. All it takes then is for some little noise to startle and wake the baby.

• But if the baby is used to a continuous noise/noises then they will adapt and get used to sleeping through some light noise. So if your child is used to complete silence while studying at home then when in school and they are taking a test it may be difficult.

• It can be quiet in a classroom but you know their will be noises like someone coughing, a pencil gets dropped, someone sneezes, a door gets closed or opened, the rustle of paper, and on and on. So unfortunately that student will have a hard time concentrating and will get distracted. If they are used to having to focus on their work with some distractions already, then test taking will be easier for them in that regard.

The opposite is also important. I don’t believe that a child should study with really loud noises or music. If the environment where they are studying is always very loud then they will have issues on taking tests in a very quiet room.

Try to find that happy medium where they can be successful at studying. But also then successful on taking tests at school.

There are so many different ways to study – Different study tips that help each kid

Do you know what type of learner your child is? Visual, auditory, reading, writing, or kinesthetic as those are the basic learning types. That might help play a part in how they will be able to study the best.

Reading/Writing/Auditory/Visual/Kinesthetic

Feel free to lump several of these together since I feel they can go hand in hand and create a great result when using together. But with that said your child might prefer only one of these ways of learning.

• Reading
  • Some kids study best by reading the information over and over.
  • Maybe have them read the information out loud to themselves, a sibling, or other like a stuffed animal.
• Auditory
  • This type of leaning is best when they hear the information spoken.
  • Let them use your phone to record themselves reading. Then they can replay it and listen.
  • You read out some information for them to listen to and then talk about it.
  • Have them listen to a recording of information they are learning from an audio book or podcast if that information is out there.
• Writing
  • Some study best by re-writing the information. I think this is a great way to study. Have your kid write out the information on flash cards. Then they can quiz themselves with them. Or incorporate other skills and let someone else quiz them.
  • Maybe it is just re-writing all their notes from school with pretty colored pens.
  • Or highlighting all the important information in their notes or book. And then re-writing all that important information down with their colored pens in a new spiral.

• Visual
  • As I just mentioned seeing the information on flashcards is a great way to study. But with visual learners they may need pictures or charts to really help.
  • Say your child is working on vocabulary words. Have them draw a picture of what that word looks like to them. Then use the picture with the definition and have your child associate the picture with it. I actually had forgotten this one till I started writing this blog. We did use this with my son and it really helped him visualize the answer for his tests.
  • Another way to help a visual learner is to create charts or graphs with what they are studying. This may be hard to do but you never know till you try. Or they may be able to create them on their own. And then discuss them with you.

• Kinesthetic
  • With kinesthetic learning your child needs to be able to move to learn.
  • Another great way is kinda like flashcards in regards to writing out the information but then they will use the cards to match them up. This is great for vocabulary words. They write out a vocabulary word on one card and then the answer on another card. When all is written out they mix all the cards up on the floor and then match up the vocabulary word and definition. This works well when kids are learning math too. This is a great way to incorporate writing and visual ways of learning also.
  • Instead of writing out the flashcards your child could write out the vocabulary definitions on the sidewalk in chalk. And then you can call out a vocabulary word and they could find the answer and write the word next to the definition.
    • We did this in various ways with my son. Sometimes I would write out the vocabulary definitions and he would then have to go around and write in the vocabulary words. When he would get them correct he could then erase them as we went along.
    • He really enjoyed studying that way and it really did work for him. He even mentioned one time that when he was taking the test at school he could vision the definition and word on the sidewalk. On days that we couldn’t go outside we would play the game of matching them up on the floor.
  • You could write out or type out the vocabulary words and definitions on paper. Then they could cut them out and then play the game of matching them up. Each time your child gets one correct it could leave the floor. My son would probably get a little embarrassed for me saying this but he did this up into junior high because he knew it was an easy way for him to learn and be able to recall it.

I really don’t think anyone should be ashamed of what works for them to study no matter how old they are.

Here are some additional study tips that might help your child

• If what they are studying is say something in nature such as plants. Then take them on a walk and talk about what they are learning as they are looking at the plants.

• What if your kid absolutely loves sports. Then find a way that you can help them study while playing catch. While kicking a ball back and forth in the room or outside.

• Make a game where your kid studies for 10 minutes then you kick the ball back and forth for 3 minutes and on and on.

• Or maybe you are working with flashcards or you are calling off items off of their homework paper and when they answer correctly they get to throw the ball into a hoop or container.

• If your child is motivated by food then it could be munching on a healthy snack while studying. For example: They could have some veggies like small carrots or celery to munch on.

• The use of all your senses when studying, I believe, can help you out in numerous ways. What about peppermint candy or gum. I’ve heard how peppermint can help with memory and help calm and relax you. I’ve always told my kids to take a piece of peppermint candy or gum and suck/chew on it while taking a test.

• Maybe the motivation is to get to watch their favorite movie, cartoon, etc. So after they have successfully studied or learned what they needed to then they could chill and watch TV.

• I believe it’s good for your kid as they get older to do some studying on their own and then you quiz them or ask them questions so they are then talking about what they learned or read.

If you are struggling with time to help your kids out realize you can interact with them while cooking. I’ve done that many times where I would be trying to cook and I would also be quizzing my child on what they learned or asking vocabulary questions. This is when flashcards really work well as you can be reading off those.

Use these study tips and find what works best for your child and help them to be able to study effectively.

Make sure that the place where they are studying at is beneficial for them and make sure they incorporate some movement at least in between studying on breaks.

last but not least make sure that you are being positive towards your child and with them studying.

Don’t yell at them when they get a wrong answer if quizzing them. Be positive and help them understand the material/problems/vocabulary or whatever it is.

Be patient with them and supportive so that they can learn and be able to recall it or solve problem at school.

Make a routine of when is best for them to be studying so that it is expected at a certain time period. So that will become a good habit for them. And it will be in their routine. They will know what they should be doing when. They may still dread it but they know when finished they can go play or watch TV or whatever down time they enjoy.

Feel free to let me know of any study tips you found helpful with your kids. We parents are out here to help each other and our families.