After-school activities and programs can have an important effect of the development of your child in more than one way. Whether a team environment or more of an individual activity, the additional exposure allows your child to develop social and communication skills, contribute to a healthier lifestyle and enhance academic achievement. Better yet, these activities are fun and exciting for your children and should adequately challenge them – they should also be enriching and above all, hold your child’s attention.
There is no shortage of options when it comes to choosing an after-school activity for your child. Extra-curricular activities provide your child with an opportunity to make friends outside of their comfort zone, develop physical and social skills and ultimately have a positive effect on your child’s overall development.
Benefits of After-School Activities
Activities outside of school provide your children a chance to experience new people and new environments which brings about new challenges. These challenges develop independence and a sense of empowerment as children navigate through what they like and dislike.
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Sports
Taking part in team sports allows children to develop the ability to work with others – focusing on developing a child’s individual skills involves teaching them about how their skills will benefit their team as a whole. Competitive sports offer young children an insight into healthy competition – these fuels their curiosity and further inspires them to participate.
If your child is not into team sports, individual sports have their advantages for development too. Individual sports require motivation and discipline. In doing sports such as gymnastics, progress requires effort by the child and the success thereof is based on the amount of work put in. Although gymnastics is considered an individual sport, there is still a training center or club which your child will form part of. This means that your child experiences the benefits of individual discipline and motivation while also learning about being part of a team and having a support system – children support each other naturally when working cooperatively.
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Arts
Arts refers to activities that involves physical expression of creativity. This includes visual arts such as painting and crafts, and performing arts which includes music, drama, and dance. Children enjoy the freedom of expression immensely and benefit greatly; mentally, emotionally and even physically. This outlet for pent up energy allows children to think outside the box, use creative problem-solving techniques they aren’t even aware they are developing and experiencing parts of themselves emotionally. These lessons can be tough on children but when doing it in a safe environment, they can become easier to handle and less scary.
Children are able to learn language skills, cultural awareness, motor skills, collaborative skills and spatial awareness. A sense of self can be developed in performance through innovation which is drawn out effortlessly in this environment.
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Dance
Dance classes often involve performances and level gradings. Dance classes encourage the development of self-esteem and confidence. The pressure associated with performing builds a child’s attitude for handling high-pressured environments with grace and ease. = Like sports, dance is an excellent form of fitness and energy outlet. An additional benefit with dance is the potential to develop the creative side of your child’s personality.
After spending the day sitting still, following rules and learning academically, they are able to free their mind and be swept away by the freedom of movement. If this is something your child ends up really enjoying and pursuing further, who knows what the future holds.
Clubs such as The Scouts are suitable for both girls and boys and teach children about serving others, as a team. It encourages volunteering of your time and using your talents to benefit the rest of the squad. It places an impact on the community and less on themselves. Parents are able to participate as well.
After-school activities teach self-discipline, creativity, time management and teamwork. Children’s talents are easily shaped and developed at a young age providing them a platform to learn important traits about themselves
Providence Children’s Academy offers an after-school care program where your children will be taken care of as if they were in their own home along with experiencing some of the activities mentioned above.