Sorry I missed yesterday’s 5 Days of Teaching Creatively Blog Post. It really was a great topic: Homeschooling in a Crisis. You should definitely check out some of the great posts. Unfortunately, I was having a different sort of crisis – a BLOG crisis! In fact, I even had to take my blog offline for part of the day! Eek! I’m sure it’s a subject I’ll blog about at some point in time, though, because with a special needs family situations definitely come up!
But on to today’s post! The LAST day of the 5 Days of Teaching Creatively Blog Hop! This has been a real treat for me – not only writing my own posts but reading the others as well! Today’s topic is hands-on projects, and having tactile learners we definitely do a lot of hands-on projects. Children that are tactile learners learn best with hands-on projects! I mentioned this in my TouchMath review how much they really enjoyed the TouchNumerals because they could physically manipulate the numbers and touch points, which just really helped their understanding! We also do a lot of hands-on projects to help with their therapy of sensory integration. Working with different media, textures, etc. is a great way for them to have different sensory experiences.
Hands-on projects are a great way to learn many things – including nature. We do a lot of fishing, and we always encourage hands-on learning with the kids while we’re out at the lake. They can get hands-on with the fish and bait, dirt, rocks, grass, trees (bark rubbings are a fun project if you have many different types of trees around), wild flowers, weeds, bugs, etc. It’s not only a lot of fun, but they learn a lot, too! I always try to put myself in their shoes. How would I prefer to learn? By standing back and watching as someone just told me about something or by actually touching it, turning it around, examining everything about it? That is what hands-on learning is all about, and that’s what makes is so enjoyable AND so educational! Whether you are a tactile learning or not many of us learn better through the actual experience than through text or even just pictures. You don’t have to go with a set “lesson plan” to make it a hands-on project. Just go with an idea in mind of things to look for and explore! For example, on one of our fishing trip we went with the idea of finding different types of bugs and comparing how they are the same and different. We were able to discuss the difference between insects and other bugs, their life cycle (like how that caterpillar will turn into a butterfly), and more! We make sure to devote at least one day a week to be completely hands-on, and that is definitely something I encourage everyone to do! And have fun!! 🙂
Hands-On Projects is the final day in the 5 Days of Teaching Creatively Hop! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have!
Don’t forget to enter the AMAZING 5 Days of Teaching Creatively giveaway! 3 winners and $1000 worth of prizes!! It ends tomorrow, so you definitely DON’T want to miss it!
Be sure to check out the Blog Hop below for other great ideas for hands-on projects!