Tactile-Kinesthetic Learning & Children

There tends to be two kind of learners in our society, auditory and tactile-kinesthetic. An auditory child tends to learn through listening and a tactile-kinesthetic child learns from doing. Auditory children are usually good writers and story tellers; tactile-kinesthetic children usually have good eye hand coordination and are usually agile. I think, as a parent, you should tap into both and expose them as much as possible to both auditory and tactile learning.

While it is great to have auditory skills, it is just as important to have tactile-kinesthetic skills. Tactile-kinesthetic learners are "doers". This type of learning takes place when a child moves around, using their bodies to increase understanding. Children that are tactile learners usually do better in chemistry (experiments), athletics, drama, music and possess good eye-hand coordination. A child that seems to by hyper active in a classroom may simply need more movement within the classroom; a good thing to remember if you have a child classified as such. Ask if the teacher uses tactile learning in their classroom, it makes a difference! A classrooms with different learning stations really helps a child that needs movement to learn.

Here are some great ideas for early tactile-kinesthetic learning at home I found from fellow bloggers. Under each photo is a link to their site so you can explore the world of tactile-kinesthetic learning.

Letter Writing from Head to Toe - using the whole body to trace a letter from the 

child's head to their toes:

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Alphabet Rocks - collect rocks, put letters on them and use them to form words. 

My grandsons will love this one!

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Sensory Alphabet - use rice, macaroni, sand for feeling / coffee, spices for smell.

This was one of my favorites when teaching pre-school.

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Letter/Number Scavenger Hunts! - This is such a great idea! Teaching letter and numbers through a scavenger hunt. Have the child find the letters/numbers then match them; I absolutely love the idea of using the upper and lower case matching for the more advanced pre-schooler.

Hide the letters and give hints where they are:

Then have the child match them up.

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Kids love anything that is gooey! Alphabet Goo is the best. Water beads can be found on e-bay and Amazon. Mix them up, have the child find a certain letter, wash them off, dry them and use the letters to spell their name or sight words.

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