9 ways to make computer basics lessons fun for kids
– Sindhuja Marappan, Trainer, Visual Courses team
In today’s world, basic digital skills are needed at work and life for every human being. Kids are no exception and knowing the basics of computers help them to communicate, create, tell stories, collaborate and present ideas. Let us look at this example:
A group of school students are assigned to present on the importance of marine life and the various species that live in the ocean.
Finding information: Students without computer skills will gather information from books and articles, which can be time-consuming. Their findings can also be limited if they are unable to find the relevant books. Buying stickers, books etc. can be very expensive too. Whereas, students with computer skills can quickly access reliable online sources, allowing them to gather more information in less time.
Presentation: Kids without computers will individually write their notes on paper, which can lead to messy, inconsistent drafts. Once they combine their notes into one draft, they would add few images from magazines and create the final chart. Making too many charts can be time consuming, so they might limit themselves to one or two charts. Whereas, students with computer skills can format their drafts neatly, making collaboration easier. They can also create engaging slideshows with many images and animations, enhancing their final presentation.
Considering its many benefits, computers are introduced to kids at a very early stage at home and school. So the next important question is, what is the right way to introduce computers to kids? From our experience of teaching hundreds of students, we have a clear understanding about the basics that need to be taught to kids. So we introduced a course focused exclusively on those basics.
Although basics of computers are important, they can be boring too. Making the basics fun is a challenge that we love to solve. Our ELearning content team worked hard to create engaging exercises that inspire kids to learn.
For example, instead of asking a child to type any two sentences, we ask them to write about their favorite superhero. This makes the task more enjoyable and motivates them to participate.
Here are 9 more strategies we use to make computer basics fun for kids:
1. Choose a fun application
There are many desktop applications that can be used to teach computer basics to kids. We recommend PowerPoint, as it’s visually appealing aspect and animations can be fun for kids. We also recommend Paint as it can be very helpful for kids to express their creativity.
2. Make it Interactive
Use screen sharing, digital pens, and highlighters to make your explanations more engaging. These tools help you to explain concepts visually and improves understanding and better retention. We encourage kids to annotate and interact with the content to make learning fun and interactive.
3. Make it about their favourite topics
Encourage students to select their favorite topics for their projects. One of our students presented on the Human Digestive System, a topic she learned in school. Since she already liked the topic and had knowledge about it, she utilized different design templates, included pictures from the internet, and added animation effects to make her presentation engaging and informative. See Pic 1 & 2.
Pic 1 & 2: A project about digestive system by our student
4. Incorporate Games
Kids love games, so we introduce projects like Bingo, Jumble words, Memory Game to motivate them to practice their skills while enjoying the learning process. See pic 3 & 4.
Pic 3&4: Memory game and Jumbled word game
5. Encourage storytelling
Create projects that invoke storytelling so children can narrate stories by incorporating shapes, images, and animations. Since such projects gives them an opportunity to use their imaginative skills, kids love to create stories.
In pic 5 & 6 – A story created by one of our students.
6. Art can be fun
Encourage students to engage in artwork that involves recreating natural scenery, designing greeting cards, posters and advertisements.
Pic 7: Ramzan greeting card created by our student
7. Connect to real life
Kids can incorporate real-world ideas, such as creating school timetables, grade sheets, calendars and wish lists, in a visually appealing format. This helps students to use their real world knowledge and convert them into fun projects.
Pic 8: Monthly calendar created by our student
8. Animation
Kids love animation, and PowerPoint gives them a great platform to explore it. They love to incorporate transition effects between slides and animate shapes to make them look like real-life objects. One of our students created a digital artwork of a mobile phone case with a 3D effect. She achieved this by using PowerPoint tools such as shapes, colors, and shadows to make the mobile case look strikingly real.
Pic 9: Mobile phone case with a 3D effect
9. Make it collaborative
Encourage students to work on projects for others such as creating birthday cards for friends, posters for a school event or a planner for a party etc. This fosters collaboration with people outside the learning environment and improves their communication and social skills.
We have shared the 9 fun techniques recommended by our Elearning team to make learning computer basics enjoyable for children. Looking to the future, we are excited to continue evolving our teaching methods and incorporating new tools that enhance the learning experience. Our goal is to nurture a generation of learners who are not only proficient in technology but are also inspired to innovate and create.