Three Original and Educational Hobbies For Children

Nowadays most children spend huge amount of their spare time in front of the PC. Of course, the Internet gives them a lot of opportunities to learn - much more than we had when we were at their age. But how much education they get by chat rooms, dating sites and PC games? I bet these experiences are not that useful.

Wouldn't it be amazing if your children had some of the hobbies that you had when you were a kid? Or at least if they could spend more time on educational games and entertainment rather than on shooting computer generated criminals.

Here are three cool hobbies that can bring your kids a lot of joy and at the same time can have much better effect on their education and forming their character.

Clay Play
This hobby is appropriate for kids under age 5. Playing and creating items from clay lets your children explore their coordination and sense of shapes. Clay is a great material and it presents really endless opportunities for learning, exploring and creating.

Let the little kids explore the opportunities in their own way. There is no need to give them too many directions or to force them follow guides and create specific figures. Give them freedom and let them build their own things - you may get surprised how creative your kids can be.

If you want to involve elder children - between 6 and 10 age, you may want to show them more complex figures from clay. The advanced children can make entire performances with clay figures.

Playing Mind Games
Don't they play with their mind while staying on the computer? Well, not exactly and not in the way you want it. What I suggest you is to try getting your children keen on "old style" mind games. Take for example chess. Playing chess on a real desk with other real children - not online or against the computer - is not only a good way to train the kid's thinking but also a way to socialize them with other smart kids.

Chess is not the only game to consider of course. There are all kind of good old brain teasers like tic-tac-toe, battleships, word games, logical dominoes and so on. All of these games will help your kid getting smarter without turning it to a teenage nerd.

Making Paper Airplanes
This is one of my favorite ideas for a hobby which is appropriate for children of all ages. I know even adults who are keen on building paper airplanes! Making paper airplanes is a great thing for your kids because:

- It's easy and fun. It's not some overly complicated activity that will get your children bored.
- It develops the kid's creativity. There are so many ways to make a paper airplane and so many more are to be discovered.
- It's cheap. All you need is a sheet of paper.
- It's a way to learn more about such an exciting mater as the aviation.
- It teaches to patience and preciseness.

Each of the three ideas listed above will probably work great for your children. Just try to attract their attention to one or more of these hobbies and leave the rest to them.