Guest Author - Cavelle Natasha Layes
I am a firm believer of the "hands on" learning technique. I think children are more likely to remember what a flower needs to grow if they plant the seed themselves, and that it is easier to explain aerodynamics through the use of paper airplanes then plain old notes.
Of course something’s like history for example are harder to teach "hands on" but it is definitely not impossible. There is plenty of things you can do such as take the kids on a field trip to local places like the Fortress of Lousibourg, or even by making crafts.
I have dedicated this Craft Section of the site to making learning about our land, culture, and people fun for kids of any age. I don’t think any child is really too young to start learning about the Country they live in and how great it is. You do not need to go into great detail with a 2 year old but doing something simple like making the ocean mobile will teach them what kind of sea creatures live in our ocean. You can even use Canada's great outdoors to teach colors and numbers.
I have tried to make most of the crafts on this site do-able at any age, which is why for many of them you will find two different sets of directions. The first will be a more basic way of doing the craft. These crafts will not be in as much detail, they will have templates to color instead of expecting a large amount of drawing, and they will take a shorter amount of time to complete.
The second set of directions will be geared towards an older child audience with more small details involved. The children in this group will be expected to draw and color their own pictures (although the template will still be available if needed), there may be a few extra steps to make their project more unique, these crafts may take a little longer to complete.
So it would be easier for you to distinguish what a particular crafts age group is I have marked them with flowers. Crafts that are meant for younger children will be marked with a flower next to its title, crafts for older children will be marked with two flowers, and crafts that can be used for both ages will be marked with three flowers.
As often as possible I will add a bit of Canadian history or culture that you can teach your child while creating the craft. For example, accompanying the paper towel roll totem pole would be some child friendly explanations on where they came from and what they were used for. Some crafts will also include questions to ask your child like after explaining what the totem pole symbolizes and what each picture means you could ask, "If you were making your own totem pole what pictures would it have on it".
There is so much you can teach a child and I do not believe it when people tell me "they just don't want to learn". Children are naturally curious and they all LOVE to learn, you just need to make learning interesting for them. Just change your approach and remember the more they are involved in something the more they will enjoy it and therefore, remember it.
