Do your kids know what time it is? What’s takes them so long? Do you sometimes feel like you’re raising a bunch of dawdlers with no concept of time? Even the youngest children can learn how to manage their time to help them in order to have minutes for spare in the day.
Time management (R) is the ability to understand the amount of time that the kids have to complete a set number of tasks. The earlier that kids can learn about time management, the more they can benefit from the skills.
In this article, we will get all the brief information about the various ways to teach your child time management skills with time management skills activity for kids.
The Importance Of Time:
Time Management is the ability to understand the number of time kids or even adults take to complete a set number of tasks. The earlier that kids can learn about time management, the more they can get benefit from the skills.
As all of us know, time management is important to efficiently and effectively move through the day. As the kids go from staying at home during the day, or to being in the classroom, they begin to shift their time from play to play, and homework it is important to know the time management tips for kids.
The added stressors of school and homework can be challenging for children and helping them to understand the benefits of time management early on in order to assist them in the transition process.
How To Teach Child Time Management Skill To Kids:
1. Set A Bed Time:
This stays a top priority for kids no matter what in regards to teaching your time management for a child. Kids require a set amount of good sleep (R) to support their growth and allow their brain to form new connections.
Since schools begin early, work backward from that time and work out a time when your kid needs to be in the bed by, so that he gets at least 10 hours of sleep on a daily basis.
Kids ages 5–12 need 10–11 hours of sleep per day. Set a reasonable bedtime and stick to it before they expose to school.
2. Make Child’s Routine into a Checklist:
In addition to the monthly calendar of projects, you can also keep a daily to-do list that includes both personal and professional items. This will help them to stay on task throughout the day. You can plan them out in terms of the time for each activity that they will carry on.
But that’s not always reliable as things don’t go according to plan in some cases. This time management skills to kids can benefit from the system and so can you also by providing them an outline of what needs to be done for the day and by what are their deadline to perform.
3. Create Their Own Calendar:
Add after-school activities to a virtual or physical calendar that helps to see them what their days will look like, and make the mental shift back to school. The earlier your kids start with this calendaring, the more independent they will become and the less you’ll have to do for them in order to teach your child time management skills.
Get a basic calendar or planner for the child so they can write down each day’s school assignments and commitments. Make sure the children are working in advance on projects and tests. This removes the mental pressure of planning from your child and they can simply refer to the calendar and know what needs to be done.
4. Be A Coach, Not A Manager:
With response to schools, it comes with added responsibilities and more opportunities for parent-child conflict. So it is necessary to understand that you don’t have to manager or boss to your kids. Rather you should be a coach to them.
As a manager, you nag your kids to get things done because you feel responsible for the outcome. That’s why everyone digs in their heels and the power struggle ensues.
But as a coach, you will instead act as a caring outsider providing guidance and support. To empower the kids with facts and then step back and allow them to make choices—good or bad—for themselves. It’s liberating for everyone and builds kids’ self-confidence for the long term in gaining Independence.
5. Scheduled A Free Time:
Making a schedule and sticking to it is too much important as time management tips for kids. Part of that schedule should include free time. (R)
Those chuck of time scheduled is to do nothing that are great moments in learning time management. Solo playtime (R) can be fun and unstructured so that it can also have a start and end time when your kids are trying to grasp the basics of managing their time.
This also helps them learn that time management doesn’t mean all about getting ready to go somewhere or finishing up a structured activity on time. Great time management also means you have moments to play.
6. Don’t Over-Scheduled Your Kids:
Being parents we always try to make sure that our kids get to participate in every activity after school. What we end up doing is overscheduling our kids. That is too bad. The entire family tries to point out that our schedule should be packed every day of the week.
Do your entire family a favor and don’t overschedule your kids. Instead of teaching about time management the right way, all they feel is a constant go, go, and go on.
That has made the kids craving a few minutes of downtime. Overscheduling throws their clock off and yours too. Try to avoid it so that all of you can get a better of handling on time management.
7. Stay On Task:
It’s tempting to let the kids have a few more minutes of play time when they’re getting along so well. There are days when you want the kids to spend more time studying or even though your time management plan calls for them to start getting ready for bed at 7:00.
As the kids are just beginning to learn or teaching about time management, so it is important to stay on task. When time’s up, move on to what’s next on your schedule no matter how involved they are in that current task.
Straying even a few minutes away from the schedule can throw kids off. The kids should Stick to a schedule, especially in those early days and weeks of learning about time management.
8. Use Kid-Friendly Time Management Tools:
From apps to colorful magnetic calendars, add kid-friendly time management tools to your lineup. The key is to use visuals and techniques that relate to your kids. Only you will know what works best with each of your child’s learning styles.
Apps can appeal to kids who love technology. Magnetic calendars for kids let your kids visually plan their days with colorful magnets for everything from sports practices to holidays. You can always get creative and make your own time management tools to work for your family’s unique schedule too.
9. Limit Phone/Social Media/TV Time:
If your kids are addicted to social media, the Internet, or e-mail, etc then you must know firsthand how much time is wasted by your kids while on the phone and computer instead of concentrating on others work.
If it goes double for your kids then the hormones are raging amid all the traditional school drama that happens from pre-teen age all the way to high school graduation.
To ensure that the media doesn’t interfere with their after-school responsibilities, then you have to limit the time they can spend on it by confiscating the devices until all homework, chores, etc. are finished.
Just granting them a certain amount of time to be online/the phone each night that will really work for teaching your time management for a child.
10. Set Artificial Deadlines For Assignments:
If the kids have trouble remembering on assignments or just procrastinates (like every other teenager — and adult — in the world), another potential tactic to take is to set artificial deadlines for assignments for the kids.
Sometimes if you dread a certain assignment, then you can tactic some scheduling activities for kids. By creating a “window of lateness” you can almost be sure that everything will be on time, or at least on the actual, much-later between the deadline.
Time Management Skills Activity For Kids:
1. Make A Calendar:
Nothing can work better as a calendar can work as a great time management skills activity for kids. It also works as a kiddie planner as well.
All You Need:
- 13 sheets of colored paper
- Colour pens, pencils, and crayons
- Alphabet and number stencils
- 12″ scale
- Decorative stickers
What To Do:
- The Kids has to draw a table of 7 x 5 (columns x rows) on 12 colored sheets. Make the squares at least an inch like a chessboard.
- On each sheet, name it with the month and days. Number in the small boxes to denote the date.
- Once the 12 sheets with 12 months are ready, ask your child to decorate them with stickers or paint the favorite cartoon characters. Stick the sheets together at the left corner or staple them together.
- On the sheet of paper, discuss and make a short list of things that the kids do on a regular basis like studying, attending co-curricular classes, playing, watching tv, etc.
- Note the things to be done on a particular date in the calendar. Use simple keywords like studying, playing, football class, art class, and so on.
- As the kid’s notes down the activities for any date, talk to him/her about planning for the day.
2. Hourglass:
Hourglass is a unique and oldest technique to teach your child time management skills. Let’s try out this fun activity for kids.
All You Need:
- Thick plastic sheet (5″ x 5)
- A piece of string
- A small piece of cardboard
- A pair of scissors
- Super Glue
- Dry beach/garden sand
What To Do:
- Roll the plastic sheet into a cylinder. Secure with glue.
- After the glue dries, hold the cylinder from the middle and tie the string around it so that the end result looks like two cones joined from the tip. While the string, make sure it’s not too tight and there is room for the sand to pass through it.
- Cut the cardboard into circles, measuring the diameter of the cones.
- Stick the cardboard to one side of the conical structure. After sticking the cardboard, the structure should be able to stand without support.
- From the other open end, pour 50 gm of sand and then secure the open end with the other piece of circular cardboard.
- Let the glue dry. Your hourglass is ready.
3. Puzzles:
By puzzles, you can teach the kids about the time management skills to the kids.
All You Need:
- Rectangular pieces of thick cardboard
- Colour Pens
- A pair of scissors
What To Do:
- Discuss with your child what he/she thinks are the main activities that waste time during the day. Get them to accept that too much TV is a waste of time and so is studying without focus.
- After the discussion, note a few keywords like television, playing with food while eating, and video games (you can choose specific words for your child since every child wastes time on different things).
- Write the specific words across the pieces of cardboard in a large font. Then cut the cardboard in a zigzag way to make small jigsaw puzzle pieces.
- You have made your own cardboard puzzles! When your child arranges all the jigsaw pieces together, the keywords will be formed which will reinforce the idea that these activities waste time. You can help your child solve the puzzle and talk to him/her about these ‘wasters’ of time as well.
4.Task Closures:
All You Need:
- activity books or worksheets
- Colored pencils, crayons, pens
What To Do:
- Choose an activity such as coloring a particular drawing and allocate a fixed time to it.
- Make sure you both do it together with the catch that you can go to the next activity only when both have completed it in time.
- Be the devil and waste time on your cell phone while your child completes the activity. They only have to wait as you are lagging behind. This makes it evident to the kids how important time truly is.
5. Time Based Activity:
Another best and effective ways of teaching your time management for a child.
All You Need:
- Colored chart paper
- Colored pencils
- Notebook
What To Do:
- Make a list of all activities that your child does on a daily basis.
- Talk to your child and figure out the duration for each of them.
- Write the activity and its duration on the chart paper using pencils.
- Hang this chart in your child’s room and ask him to finish each task within the stipulated time each day.
Giving the value of teaching proper time management really help a lot to the kids in order to have a disciple life ahead. Hope this article has provided a good number of information or ways for time management tips for kids.
