Unlocking Homeschool Learning Through Purposeful Play

Homeschooling can be an excellent option for any child but for our neurodivergent children, the benefits of allowing parents to tailor the curriculum to their child's specific needs are HIUGE. Homeschool learning isn’t just about textbooks and worksheets. Using purposeful play can be a great way to supplement your homeschooling curriculum and provide a meaningful learning experience for your child. 

THE BENEFITS OF PURPOSEFUL PLAY

At its core, purposeful play is all about teaching kids life skills in an engaging and fun way. It allows kids to explore their interests while also learning valuable lessons about problem-solving, cooperation, communication, and other important life skills. Unlike traditional learning activities such as worksheets or reading assignments, purposeful play encourages children to make meaningful connections between what they are doing and the world around them.  

In addition to helping children learn important life skills, purposeful play can also help with language development, social interactions, self-confidence, physical activity, imagination, creativity, and more! With so many benefits it’s no wonder why learning through play has become such a hot topic in homeschooling.

HOW TO INCORPORATE PURPOSEFUL PLAY INTO YOUR HOMESCHOOL

Purposeful play doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming – there are many simple activities you can do with your kids that will help them learn valuable lessons while still having fun! Here are some ideas for incorporating purposeful play into your homeschool curriculum:

1. Have a scavenger hunt: Have your kids search around the house or outside in nature for things (e.g. things that are blue). This is a fun way to encourage problem-solving skills and engage in their environment. 

2. Building structures: Blocks are an awesome choice for purposeful play, there are so many awesome types on the market. Favorites in our house include Guidecraft Bricks and Connetix Magnetic Tiles, Legos, and the Grimms Step Rainbow (similar)

3. Theme-based learning: Choose a theme that interests your child and plan building challenges, experiments, sensory play activities, and games around the theme. Do a deep dive into the topic and let the whole family get involved. Yes, all ages can play-you're never too old. In the PLAY to Learn Homeschool Hub, the monthly Print + Play Packs do just this! 

4. Dramatic + Role Play: One of our household favorite activities is to set up role-play activities like a coffee shop or grocery store and take turns being the customer or shopkeeper. Tie this into your theme-based learning for a fun way to engage and learn in a hands-on way!

5. Incorporate Games: We love reinforcing skills we have learned through gameplay. For a list of our favorites organized by skill area go grab the purposeful play e-book series in the Homeschool Toolbox.

Purposeful play is such a fun way to dive into topics or supplement any homeschool curriculum because it allows kids to explore their interests while still learning valuable lessons about problem-solving and other important life skills. From scavenger hunts that encourage exploration of the environment to building activities that promote creativity and challenge engineering skills, there are plenty of ways you can incorporate purposeful play into your homeschool curriculum. By using these methods you'll be able to provide meaningful learning experiences for your neurodivergent child that will last far beyond the school year! 

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