Learning from informal activities

1. Bake and decorate a cake with your child: you can let
him choose the type of cake he wants, and then help
him follow the instructions from the relevant recipe.
From this activity alone, he can learn about weights
and capacities, the effects of temperature and time on
the baking process, units, proportion, aeration, and
the chemical reactions that take place when the cake is
baked.
Of course, there is no need for him to learn all or even
some of these things, as long as he is enjoying himself!
For a bit of additional fun, you can let him taste the
cake mixture or ingredients if they are edible.
2. Show your child how you do your grocery shopping: he
can help you make a shopping list, learn how to navigate
the supermarket to find what he wants, compare prices,
weigh items, remind you of what to buy, etc. You can
even give him a small budget to buy whatever he wants,
so that he can see for himself how money is used in
practice.
3. Let your child help you plan a holiday. He can learn
about his destination from books, brochures, and the
Internet; he might also find out where he is going on a
map, plan routes, calculate expenditures, choose what
he wants to take with him, and so on.
4. Your child might like to observe how animals behave
in different situations and how they react to different
stimuli. For example, he can wiggle a string in front of a
cat to see how it reacts, make a habitat for earthworms,
learn how to communicate with various animals, or try
to teach a pet new tricks.
5. Let your child see how far he can throw different
objects. Encourage him to measure distances and
angles, and let him experiment with various angles and
objects of different shapes, materials, and sizes to see
how the trajectories are affected.