Talk to me about kinesthetic learners, please.

[songsparrow]

I think I have one. :-) Dd8 is adept at anything athletic. She can sit still & concentrate when engrossed in the topic, but otherwise is fidgety, can't stay in her seat, gets up to practice ice skating jumps & spins while she's listening, etc. I honestly don't know how she survived ps, where I was always told she sat quietly all day.

 

She loves the science book we are currently using, because it has a small experiment every day.

 

I have found a few sensory integration techniques that I plan to try - e.g., an exercise band tied around the chair legs that she can bounce her feet on, filling balloons with different materials to squeeze to help with fidgeting.

 

But what should I be looking for in curriculum & activities, especially as she moves into the upper elementary & middle school grades? Recommendations?

[Danielle1746]

:bigear: I'm very interested in others' responses to this as well!

[persephone43]

I'm interested too since my ds (12) is the same way. We plan on doing lots of breaks because he can't sit still for very long. And lots of hands-on learning. That's all I've got at this point ;)

[songsparrow]

I am still hoping that others will see this thread and reply with some suggestions and advice, as a lot of the suggestions I have found so far seem to apply more to younger kids. But while searching the web on the topic, I came across this list of traits of Kinesthetic Learners, that I thought was very useful (some of them surprised me, and most fit my daughter to a T):

 

Move around a lot

Like to touch people they’re talking to

Tap their pencil or foot while doing schoolwork

Enjoy physical activities

Take frequent breaks when studying

Do not spend a lot of time reading

Have difficulty spelling correctly

Like to solve problems by physically working through them

Like to try new things

Are coordinated and agile

Are considered hyperactive

Express their feelings physically (i.e., hugging, hitting)

Move their hands when they talk

Dress for comfort, instead of style

Lay on the floor or bed when studying

Enjoy touching things

Have difficulty sitting still for extended periods of time

Excel in athletics and the performing arts

[Mama Anna]

I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but dd6 and I go over math facts while doing hand-jive. We used to do phonics laying on the floor, sometimes with her laying on my back and looking over my shoulder at the book. Or she'd sit on my feet (while I was laying on my stomach) and balance or play while answering review questions.

 

She sits most quietly (Notice, I didn't say she ever sits quietly :)) in church when drawing or sitting on my lap. I still pick her up for the times of singing. (That won't be possible much longer, despite my upper-body strength training!) She likes to lean her forehead against my jaw while I'm singing, and I figure she's more likely to learn the words that way than just as her eyes happen to flit over them as she's gazing around the sanctuary.

 

Her fine motor skills are amazing to me for her age. She also has a pretty good ability to judge spatial distances - she has cut out and sewn a dress by herself (without using any type of pattern) that just about fit - with the exception of any "ease" for movement.

 

I could be wrong, but it seems that cuddling while she learns often helps her focus better. At least at this age!

 

Mama Anna

[songsparrow]

You've gotten some good advice, and I agree that you don't want him to internalize the lazy label. My older ds is about the most laid back individual I've met. He's not interested in "school" whatsoever. However, he's very interested in history if it's presented in documentary format, and he's given the freedom to pick his interest of the moment. He completes his assignments in English, pre-algebra, etc., but those are definitely not his passion. He loves building real things like simple furniture, tearing into the lawn mower to figure out why it's not working, building a fire with dh, setting up camp, learning about outdoor survival, and those sorts of things. So we provide opportunities like that whenever possible. It took a lot of watching without being obvious before we "got" what made him tick. He is not one to come out and say, "hey, mom & dad, I'm super interested in xyz."

 

Another thing we do with him pretty regularly is just talk about different things and see where the conversation ends up. I meam, we do this with all of our dc, but it works exceptionally well with this particular child. For instance, the other day we just happened to talk about the fact that dh has a degree in accounting, but discovered at his first job that he just didn't enjoy it in the real world. That initial topic meandered through several more, when suddenly ds said he was considering EMT work, and did we think he could talk to someone about being a volunteer fireman in his senior year (which is allowed in our state, I don't know if it is everywhere). My point is, we had no idea he was interested in either of these things, and I don't know if he would've ever spoken up if we hadn't made time for a fairly lengthy somewhat rambling conversation.

 

I don't know if any of this was helpful. It's just some examples of how my particular laid back son *does*have excitement and motivation for the things he connects with. We feel like it's our job to help him discover as many of them as possible, provide him avenues to explore those interests, and help him gain the tools to articulate them to us. I'm sure you feel the same way; I'm just giving some feedback on what that looks like in our family. I'm sure your son will find his groove. Just remember, laid back, not lazy. ;)

 

 

Well, I've done a bunch of research online, and identified some strategies that I am going to try (some of them I've already been doing):

* Allow her to get out of her seat and stand or move around when she's listening to a discussion or thinking about a problem

* Allow her to work in other places - e.g., sitting on the sofa, sitting or lying down on the floor

* Allow her to stand touching me or cuddle next to me while we're sitting and we work or talk

* Utilize computers and technology

* Avoid long discussions. At a minimum, have sheets to write on, answering questions or taking notes about what we're discussing

* Work by standing and writing on a chalk board or white board

* As we're discussing a topic, have her write facts on index cards and then get up to arrange them on a large board or poster (for example, a large board with a blank Venn Diagram on it)

* Instead of reading information from texts or worksheets, put the information on cards and stick to the wall, creating an Information Trail or Treasure Hunt where students must visit each card to find the information

* When we're discussing a topic, toss a beanbag to the person answering the question and when they're done answering they toss it back

* When appropriate, have materials to handle (e.g., if studying trade between Europe and Asia, have silks to hold, spices to smell)

* Try playing background music

* Try using a colored light to light reading material, or colored lenses on glasses for reading

* Use models, maps & globes

* This bookmade me think that we could make 3D or interactive timelines (with flaps, pop ups) instead of just a regular paper timeline in history

* Foldables, Lapbooks, Interactive Notebooks, 3D Graphic Organizers

* Do projects and experiments

* Museum visits & field trips

* Nature walks

* Cooking

 

I also found some books that I might check out:

* Ebook: 30 Ways to Use Kinesthetic Learning in the Classroom

* The Kinesthetic Classroom

 

I hope those might be of help to others!

 

ETA: We even had a Kinesthetic lesson in grammar today - without me specifically thinking about that when I planned it; it was just planned as a fun review activity. I had her searching through newspapers and magazines for nouns, which she glued onto a chart with four columns - person / place / thing / idea. Then she had to mark with different colors singular, plural, common, proper, compound and collective nouns.

 

Also, this Physical v. Chemical Change sorting activity that I was planning to use in science is also Kinesthetic.

 

So, I guess this isn't so hard, after all! :001_smile:

[wapiti]

More to consider - might she be a visual-spatial/right-brained learner? Then I'd look for curricula that work well for VSLs (lots of threads on this).

 

Additional activities - Brain Gym (see many, many homemade youtube videos of the various exercises, such as

)

[tex-bex]

I think my DD fits into this category, so I'm thankful for this thread!