HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES TO BEAT BOREDOM

NASRIN MASUGA • April 17, 2023

Here are some tips to keep your child’s mind active during the holidays

As the school holidays approach, it’s essential to continue providing support for children’s education and mental well-being beyond the classroom. Gaborone International School (GIS) recognizes the importance of investing in children’s development, and we are committed to providing them with opportunities to continue learning and growing even during the holidays.

1. Limit Screen Time

Although it may be tempting to let your kids watch TV for hours on end, it’s essential to limit screen time during the holidays. Watching TV does not allow the brain to rest properly, which can lead to fatigue and irritability. Instead, try creative activities such as house chores, painting, flashbacks to term work, building block games, or family debates on topical age-friendly subjects. This way, your children will stay engaged, and their brains will get the rest they need.

2. Get Creative with activities

During the holidays, it is easy to overspend on activities. However, being proactive and creative with activities can help prevent overspending. You can explore local museums, parks, shopping centers, and community gardens that often offer kid-friendly activities, which are usually free. At GIS, we encourage a family holiday rule that promotes at least one family activity each day. This way, everyone can get involved and create lasting memories.

3. Make Reading a Part of Their Routine

Reading is an excellent way to keep your children learning during the holidays. It continues the development of their language and literacy skills, inspires their imagination, and increases their exposure to a more sophisticated vocabulary. Encourage your children to read books that interest them and offer to read with them. This way, you can bond with your children while also improving their reading skills.

4. Volunteering Opportunities

If your child wants to make a positive impact in their community, volunteering is the right way to go about it. These programs are designed to help children develop their leadership skills, build their confidence, and give back to their community. Opportunities include volunteering at local charities, assisting with environmental clean-up projects, and tutoring younger students. By participating in volunteering activities, your child can make a difference while also learning valuable skills.

5. Summer Camp

Summer camp is the perfect choice for an immersive holiday experience. Children get the chance to spend a week in a beautiful, natural environment, surrounded by like-minded peers. Activities include hiking, camping, and team-building exercises. Students will develop their leadership skills, learn to work as part of a team, and build lasting friendships. This camp is an excellent opportunity for your child to step out of their comfort zone and explore new interests.

6. Create a Digitally Free Environment

It is important to limit the amount of time your children spend on their devices and find new and compelling activities to keep them entertained. Encourage exploration of the natural environment and imaginative play. Joining sports programs also provides an opportunity for kids to continue participating in athletics in the off-season and encourages self-confidence. This way, your children will stay active, and their minds will stay engaged.

Let us work together to maintain healthy routines, keep reasonable bedtimes, and eat healthy foods. If your children are feeling worried or missing their friends, talk about it and come up with an action plan. Plan together and schedule in some quiet times. Holidays are precious, so let us maximize them by looking for the joy life has to offer!

At GIS, we believe that children should have access to opportunities that help them grow and develop, both inside and outside the classroom. We hope that these tips will help you keep your children engaged and active during the holidays. Together, let’s continue to invest in our children’s future and help them reach their full potential.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

The Role of Personalized Learning in Student Success

July 21, 2026

Every Student learns differently! Think about it like this; In the real world, we customize our coffee orders, hairstyles, our music playlists, and occasionally take our own clothes to the tailor to get a perfect fit in line with our our tastes. All this is done to provide the best customer service as well as for the customer to cherish it. So, why should our children’s educational journeys be treated differently? From time immemorial until now, the education system has evolved drastically from the former traditional teaching where the teacher was ‘ Mr. I know it All , where learners were just like passive passengers on an intellectual train to the current modern approach known as Personalized Learning. When put together, Personalized Learning’ means teachers provide targeted learning towards each student’s unique learning needs, interests, learning styles and modify their experiences. Personalized Learning ensures every lesson is resourceful, relevant and engaging with all students, which helps them grasp concepts taught more effectively leaving them with a touch of confidence in themselves. How Do Personalized Learning Approaches Support Different Learning Styles and Learner Progress? As educators at Gaborone International School, we understand that learning how our learners process information is not just beneficial to them, but it is a crucial part of our work to become excellent at our jobs and in ensuring every student succeeds in their academic journey. At GIS, we adopt these fou r famous and common learning styles for our learners: 1. Visual Learners These are learners who understand and remember things best when they see them. Thus, as teachers at GIS, we make use of PowerPoint Presentations, use information in diagrammatic form, images/pictures and videos while teaching our students. Our growing innovative techniques with digital equipment; for example, making use of projectors and iPads with learners has proven very helpful to these specific learners. 2. Auditory Learners : These learn best by hearing information and they remember spoken words. For these students, we make use of assigning group tasks to certain subtopics in a topic/question and once a set time is over, we push for students to teach it /explain it to the whole class (peer teaching). Additionally, rather than the teacher delivering all the information, learners are given a chance to collaborate with each other, and this makes them retain concepts taught easily. 3. Kinesthetic Learners: These learners enjoy hands-on activities, they learn quicker by doing & moving or changing seating positions. DIY Ferris Wheels by Std 3 Learners during a Robotics lesson As teachers, we try to make this possible as they engage in different specialist subjects. For example, However, we can make these learners get involved as we take them to the labs, Music, Art, PE and making use of buildings blocks/models. This way, learners can 10 channel their energy productively without disrupting their concentration span. 4. Reading /Writing Learners: These are learners who understand better when they read and write things down. This one is a classic traditional style where students write notes during class, read out loud what is on the board, and they love reading articles. In the Lower Primary school, particularly Standard 1 to 3, our Guided Readers program takes care of such learners. By adding all these techniques to how we teach learners, it has helped us to answer a lot of questions our parents had and remove anxieties as they drop off their children at school each day. This makes them confident that their children are treated as individuals with unique talents and goals and are given room to thrive in a system that values them more and allows self-advocacy and the best to come out of them.