As children grow from toddlers to children attending kindergarten, they need something to occupy their time outside of school hours. You might ask yourself, what is my kid into? The best and easiest way to find out is by asking. With a little help from your child and some encouragement from you, you can help your child find a hobby that they will enjoy in their spare time.

Trial and Error

Once you’ve settled on an activity to try that your child is on board with, be ready for the good old trial and error period. Before you have your little one commit to any after school activity, give them a time frame in which to work with. For example, have them try out karate, gymnastics or dance, for a month before they decide on whether to continue or to call it quits.

There’s a wide variety of after school programs to choose from, you’ll just have to have a talk with your child and see if any of the options appeal to them. And for starters, be easy on them. With school and homework taking up their time, you don’t want to over-schedule your child and run them ragged.

Activities While They’re at Home

Since home is where your children spend most of their time when not in school, you can encourage them to use their time wisely by taking up arts and crafts. Not only is this a fun way to spend some time, it produces wonderful pieces of art that you can save. With so many great activities to choose from, half the fun will be trying a bunch to see their favorites. Anything from painting, paper mache to crocheting and sewing are all available depending on the age and interest of the child. You’ll never know what your child might like until they give it a try.

Heading Outdoors for Some Fun

With the sun on your face and the wind in your hair, the outdoors can be great. But over time, it seems like heading outdoors for some fun in the sun has lost its appeal. Kids today would much rather stay indoors playing video games, than going outside and playing. Video games are entertaining and do have their place but overexposure isn’t beneficial to anyone. It ends up with you getting bent out of shape because all they do is play video games and them being scolded for playing them.

Try to avoid frustration by showcasing and providing them with outdoor options. And hey, you might wanna try joining them by playing football or riding bikes. Bonding time is a special time between you and your child and if you can build up a sweat doing so, all the better.

When it’s Harder Than You Think

So you’ve had that battle with your kids to go outside and play but they’re still not interested. What do you do now? Well if everything else is peachy keen about your child such as they get good grades, are polite and help around the house, then maybe you need to think outside the box when it comes to outdoor activities. Run the idea past them and try out of the box activities such as electric scooters for kids to see if it’s something they will enjoy. It will provide them with a fun mode of transportation they can use to ride around the neighborhood, safely of course.

All it takes sometimes to get your child motivated to try something different is encouragement. Guide your child in the right direction and explain to them that there are better things to do than stay in the house all day and watch television, play video games or cruising the internet reading memes.