5 Ways to Encourage the Curiosity of your Children

All kids are curious about everything from the time they can start to see you. They recognize their parents’ voices, find their hands and feet eventually, begin to roll over and start crawling, and eventually they walk. This is when the real curiosity starts because 9 times out of 10, babies can get into everything. At 2 years of age, they can start pushing stools and climbing up to high places. They probably can open the outside door if you don’t latch it, get into the refrigerator if you don’t have childproof locks and basically make a disaster in less than 5 minutes. This is just your child feeling and seeing and learning to use their senses.

Your kids will get to an age when they start asking many questions and this might drive parents crazy at times but they are exploring new ways to fulfill their curiosity. This is what makes them learn and become smart. Children’s minds are driven by curiosity.

Break the Schedule

Don’t be afraid to flip things around in your house occasionally. Eat breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast once in a while. This is when your child will begin to ask you why things are different today. You can talk to your kids about what other cultures are eating when you try something new and their little brain soaks it all up. The main goal is to teach your kids there are many different ways to do things in life.

Change the Rooms around

You can start by taking all their toys and rearranging them as they grow. When they ask you what’s going on, ask them if they like it or do they think there is more space to move around? Try some Feng Sui and make a calmer environment for them by removing things that look too busy in their rooms. They might sleep better as well.

Change the Story in a Book around

Try to mix up the different people in the story and add a few things to the book. You could add an extra person or change the cat to a dog for instance. Ask them questions like what if the grouch is nice, instead of the grouch being mean? Ask them if they think the ending would change?

Friendly Environment

Make things more kid friendly and create some new space in their room, the basement or den. Pick a place that you aren’t worried about and where they can make a mess with painting, forts, pillow fights, and help them explore these new things.

Get their Opinions

Show your kids you are curious as well especially about what they like. You can ask them to explain the difference between different Disney characters or ask them to tell you the difference between sweet and sour. Encourage sensory perception so they are using all six senses to experience the difference in food, books, the elements, the feeling of the fabric, the colors and numbers.

Create Surprises

If you create a positive surprise, this helps and enhances your child’s curiosity. You could make smiley sandwiches, leave notes around the house, encourage them to go on a treasure hunt and use a snack as a reward. You could also invite someone special over for a meal and don’t tell them. Surprise them! Kids loved to be surprised and this also encourages them to build more confidence in themselves because you are challenging them and showing your unconditional love.

Take a Mental Health Day and Include your Child

Take a day off from the grind and pick your child up early from school to spend time with them. This is something they will always remember. Take them out for lunch, or go on an outing, have some ice cream or go to the park. Your child will have so much fun that they will ask you if you can do this again sometime. Just remember to tell them that once in a while it’s ok to take a day off from everyday life and have fun. In addition, make sure they aren’t missing out on anything in school.

Bake Cookies Together

Kids love to bake and they like to help measure ingredients so teach them how to whip up a big batch of cookies. This is always a great experience for kids. This will also improve their senses because they are doing this by themselves with your supervision. They can watch the ingredients form the dough, touch the dough and feel the texture, create the cookie and last of all the transformation of the dough to the end product. They can smell how great their cookies are going to be and taste the end product.

Answer their Questions

Make sure you always answer your child’s questions, even though they might be hard to answer. You might first want to understand why they might be asking this particular question. When they ask you these questions like why does the car break down, don’t give them a bunch of different reasons. They just want to spend more time together. It’s good to understand what they are really asking because they want you to clear up any doubts they are experiencing.

Have Children ask more Questions

You can encourage your child to ask more questions because curiosity turns into more curiosity. When they ask about the weather, you can talk to them about the different seasons. If they become more interested, let them ask more questions. Make sure you know about most of the subjects they are going to ask you about. People can’t be curious about something they don’t know and either can children, so encourage their curiosity.

Let them be Children

Sometimes it’s difficult to let your kids do anything they want because there are consequences with some situations. Let them be curious as long as what they are asking doesn’t pose any threats to their safety. Toddlers become independent at a certain age so let them do it themselves. Don’t make negative comments and tell them they are doing this all wrong. They will ask when they can’t figure something out. If they get themselves dressed and their clothes don’t match, they will learn eventually.