While it is essential for school-going children to take time off their academic schedules and engage in leisure activities to refresh their minds during holidays, it is equally important as a parent or guardian to be thoughtful about the nature of activities your child gives priority, and how relevant they are towards their growth and development.

Jasmine Vesi Kamaliza is a 32-year-old Kigali-based private children’s tutor, who during the holidays organises different leisure activities for school-going children. With more than four years of experience in the field, she talks to Education Times about educative leisure.

"Not every leisure activity is beneficial for children, and thus it’s our duty as parents to closely monitor the activities our children show interest in, and preferably guide them into educative leisure,” she explains.

Kamaliza adds that, "When children engage in educative activities, whether indoor or outdoor, they learn important life lessons, and it also provides a room for different social skills, for instance, responsibility, friendship, self-control, time management and creativity, among others.”

Experts say some of the indoor games such as computer games, pencil and paper games, puzzles, as well as bubble and board games challenge children to use their inner abilities, creativity and innovation, and most importantly it helps them develop a strong problem-solving mindset.

Erica Gateka Matasi, the Elie Children’s project co-ordinator, a local initiative that teaches children basic English skills and engages them in different educational leisure activities during holidays, says educative leisure is a recipe of knowledge, skills and fun, thus should promoted.

"Educative leisure creates room for children to be more passionate, motivated and focused in their daily activities. It is through participation in such activities that children are able to relate their fun with academics, thus improving their performance in a more exciting way,” Matasi explains.

Matasi adds that educative games, for instance, story-telling, help children to learn vital life lessons from characters, while activities like story-writing broadens their imagination.

"Such leisure activities help children to express their daily challenges and expose them to values such as team work, talent discovery, discipline and promotes their level of communication,” she says.

On the other hand, teachers believe that children who tend to engage in non-educative activities, most especially during the holidays, are likely to lose their academic focus, develop less interest in learning new things, and are mostly characterised by lack of responsibility, low self-esteem, poor social skills and are generally less hardworking than those who prioritise such activities.

"Educative playtime is essential for a child’s development, and contributes to their cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being. This is only possible if parents play their role in ensuring that their children are engaged in specific educative activities during their leisure time in order to ensure effective fun and learning,” explains Louise Hategeka, a teacher at Umuco Mwiza School in Kigali.

Hategeka believes that of the many contributions to a child’s success in life, good social skills and healthy self-control come top, which partly originates from engaging in educative leisure.

The activities

Majority of the people who shared their thoughts with Education Times highlighted a number of educative activities that would have a positive impact on the growth and development of learners.

On top of the list is swimming. Experts say that a child who swims enjoys the benefit of getting new strength, enhanced energy and well-being. It is a great way to increase muscle strength and muscle tone and in turn it influences one’s academic performance.

Music and drama also makes the list. Hategeka, who also doubles as the school’s music instructor, says that music and drama is one of the most rewarding leisure activities for children since it encourages them to express themselves and opens room for talent discovery, resourcefulness and invention.

Hategeka says art and craft offers children a chance to think creatively and put what is on their mind on paper. Besides, art and craft helps keep children busy indoors.

On a larger scale, there comes sports activities which include; soccer, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics, among others. Experts say that sports offers a wider range of fun and other benefits than other leisure activities.

"It is true that sports activities not only teach children skills, but also offer them a wide range of benefits such as team-work, acquaintances with their fellow children, fair play, focus and a zeal to succeed,” says Gateka.

On the side of parents, they say that raising responsible and productive children requires their contribution, which starts from guiding children to make good choices in life, and making most out of their time.

Hakim Mwebaze, a professional gymnastics trainer and a father of two children living in Kicukiro District, says educative leisure helps children not to engage in violent and immoral activities that would destroy their lives, such as drug abuse and bad peer influence, among others.

"Being a parent comes with a major responsibility of ensuring your children grow into responsible and fruitful individuals. And this can be done by ensuring their child spend most of their free time in activities that impact their future positively,” he says.

Mwebaze adds that parents can make a significant contribution to helping their children’s growth and development through encouraging them to embrace educative leisure, rather than sleeping, watching movies and moving up and down during the holidays,” he says.

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HOW SHOULD STUDENTS SPEND THEIR HOLIDAYS?

Maurine Uwimana, a parentDialoguing between parents and children will ensure the best choice of the activities to engage in. Parents should always try to find out the interests of their children so that they don’t make their holidays boring by involving them in activities that they didn’t like. Activities such as farming are also ideal.

Sheila Mbabazi, music mentorGoing for extra-curricular activities will not only break the monotony of class work, but also help children to explore more on what their interests are. On the other hand, allowing children to visit their friends from different schools and share their school experiences is likely to help them learn new things from one another.

Julius Sibomana, Kigali residentFor the younger children, taking them to children’s extravaganzas would be ideal. Again, for such children, enrolling them to church sessions like Sunday schools will see them grow in a morally upright way. Loading children with television programmes which are not educative is not advisable.

Kenny Mpayana, a teacherBecause holiday is meant for students to relax, I think parents should use this time to take them to picnics or park reserves so that they can experience how such places operate. However, parents should also ensure their children don’t engage in bad vices through keeping them occupied with different chores.