Are you looking for fun learning ideas for your 11 year old? Learning at home does not have to be dull or feel like a chore, for your or your child! With these creative ideas, your 11 year old will look forward to home lessons every day and you’ll be equally as excited about teaching them.
11 is a very important age in a child’s educational development. It is a time when many students will be transitioning to a new school environment, perhaps away from their comfort zone of primary school. It is crucial that they are committed at this stage of their learning, in order to be in the best position to excel through secondary school. You can help out your 11 year old with these fun learning ideas & activities that can be carried out at home.
Science
While you may not have the equipment to carry out elaborate experiments at home, here is a great idea to help your 11 year old learn the periodic table: Periodic Table Battle Ships
Don’t worry about this being too advanced for your child – it can be played by anyone, even those who do not know the periodic table yet. Learning the periodic table early with this fun game is a great way to get a head start on key stage 3 science.
You could also work on learning the planets in the solar system with the help of this mnemonic:
My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Nothing.
My (Mercury) Very (Venus) Easy (Earth) Method (Mars) Just (Jupiter) Speeds (Saturn) Up (Uranus) Nothing (Neptune).
English
At the age of 11, children are starting to explore longer and more complex novels which equals a whole new world of adventure. Why not encourage your 11 year old to write some reviews of their favourite pieces of fiction? For extra incentive, you could also create an Amazon account and submit your child’s review! Seeing it up online is a great way to top off their good work.
Another idea is to encourage your 11 year old to read to younger siblings. If the younger child is still learning to read themselves, this is a great way to involve the family and assist in the educational development of all your children. They say the best way to learn is to teach – let your 11 year old become the teacher for a while!
Maths
A fun way to practice maths skills with an 11 year old is to create a ‘Countdown’ numbers style game – Just like on the TV show! https://www.youtube.com/embed/RZgkr5_Xn58
To set up the game, you will need to cut out:
- 4 large number cards, with 25, 50, 75 and 100 written on them
- A set of cards with the digits 1-10 on them, with at least two cards for each number
How to play the game:
- Set out 4 large number cards (25, 50, 75 and 100) face down and mixed up.
- Do the same with the 1 – 10 cards, making sure you have at least 2 cards for each number.
- Players take it in turns to select one of the big number cards or one of the small number cards, until there are 6 cards laid out all together.
- Someone who is playing the game needs to generate a 3-digit number. This can be by throwing a dice, or selecting cards from a pile of 0 to 9 cards.
- Once the number has been generated, turn over the six cards and players have to try and get to that total using any of the six number cards and any of the four operations.
Each card can only be used once and the winner is the first person to reach the total, or the player who is closest after a set length of time.
The game is great fun for 11 year olds but can also be adapted for younger children, by choosing the numbers on the cards more carefully and having them aiming to reach a 2-digit number, rather than a 3-digit number.
If you’re looking for other ways in which to tutor your 11 year old for the coming school year, why not check out our online tuition classes at Peepal Tree Learning? Call us now or fill out our form.