Fun ways to help your kids learn: ages 7-9

Average rating:

School years 2, 3 and 4

What stage they're at:

Regular homework involves spelling and maths.
They'll be doing projects on culture and history.
Learn about different types of poetry

What you can do:

Try mind maps to break projects into small chunks.
Join the library and stay there a while to read. Choose books for yourself too.
Visit woods, castles, museums or just the park

Buys to help:

Tony Buzan's Mind Maps for Kids (Harper Collins).
Creative construction helps with maths, science and design. Try K'Nex value tub, around £15, or Magnetix 70 piece kit, £14.99.

Learning online:

Check out www.funbrain.com for great word and number games - however, it's a US website so check the spelling of some words. Or try www.gridclub.com - it has over 500 games and learning activities you can register for.

Other useful websites

Visit www.booktrusted.co.uk and www.lovereading4kids.co.uk for suggestions of which books are right for a certain age group. You can download the opening extract from all the books featured on the latter site, and buy the books at 25% discount.

Get some helpful ideas and further information from bbc.co.uk/parenting and parentscentre.gov.uk.

Get them to want to learn

Encourage, but don't insist. If you start arguing about the help you want to give, you'll soon put them off.
Make learning fun, then they'll pick things up without realising it.
Involve them in decisions about where to visit, rather than forcing them to go.
For more information on how a school delivers the National Curriculum, ask for a copy of its prospectus.