Motivate Your Child in 2nd Grade.

Child in 2nd grade? Try these tricks to unlock your 2nd grader's natural love of learning.

While every child is different, kids often share some common traits. Tap into this typical 2nd grade passion to help your child master new skills and become successful students.

2nd Grade Children Love: Making things  

How It Helps Learning: Whether it's an arts-and-crafts project or a batch of chocolate-chip cookies, 2nd grade children love expressing themselves visually through step-by-step projects. They are also strengthening their fine motor skills through actions such as measuring, cutting, taping, and stapling.

Motivating Activities in 2nd Grade:   

• Set up a crafts corner. Kids in 2nd grade need a place they can be creative when the whim strikes. Stock a cabinet or big plastic bin with colored paper, oak tag, writing utensils, and other artsy materials, and provide a work table. Kids can use shaving cream to write letters and words on the tub wall, scribble or draw in wet sand, or "paint" pictures and messages on the sidewalk with a pail of water and a paintbrush.
• Cook side by side. Get out a simple recipe and follow it together. The ones on the back of cake and brownie mixes are especially helpful, since they often use pictures to symbolize ingredients like eggs and oil. Read the recipe together, and let your child dole out the required amounts. She'll learn about fractions and quantities with every cup or measuring spoon she fills. As she mixes batter, kneads dough, or tears lettuce for a salad, she's also strengthening her hands for writing. And setting the oven timer and waiting for cake or cookies to bake reinforces time-telling skills.

To read more of this article and find similar ones for other grades please click on the link: http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/motivate-school-success/motivate-your-child-2nd-grade