It can be a chore to make your kid get down to do their homework. Children have restless minds and they would rather be running about than sit down quietly to study. By creating a fun, engaging, and comfortable place to study for your kids, you can set the right mood for studying, which means you will no longer need to nag your kids to finish their homework.
Let's take a look at some of the tips below that can create the perfect study nook for your child.
Personalize the Space
Kids do not need a lot of bells and whistles for a personalized workspace. All they need is a nice chair and some space to organize their stationery, books, and toys. What is important to them is that the space should belong to them entirely. This gives them a sense of ownership and will make them more receptive to working.
Make sure they know their responsibility for using that space as well. Let them know that you expect them to put away their books and keep the space clean and organized. If they want to decorate the place, let them help you decorate it.
By giving them a place that is all their own and reflects their personality, your child will use it more often and will get their homework done on time.
Create an Ambience
Every child is different so you need to create a different atmosphere that is conducive to studying for your child. Find out whether your child likes to study in peace and quiet or requires some activity to concentrate on his work. If your child prefers solitude when working, you should set up a space for them to study in their bedroom or some other spot that does not experience too much traffic. Children who work better in an environment with more hustle and bustle should be given a dedicated place in the living room or the kitchen for studying.
However, make sure that the distraction level is low by letting your family know what your child's study timings are.
Make an Ergonomic Space
One of the most important things to keep in mind when designing a study corner for your child is their comfort and good posture. Make sure that your child's workstation is at a fixed waist height, like this Fixed Height Table, so that they can rest their elbow on the table without having to hunch their shoulders.
The chair should also be of the right height and allow your child to rest their feet on the floor. If the chair is not the right height, place a box or a footrest underneath so that your child can place their feet on it comfortably.
Get an ergonomic chair for your child with a padded back and seating. If you can't, then you should definitely invest in a nice cushion or seat padding that your child can place behind their back to prevent it from getting sore.
If your child uses a computer, place the monitor at least 20 inches away from them. It is also a good idea to invest in an anti-glare screen.
Add Storage
Kids are by nature not the tidiest of human beings. They are still learning to declutter and organize their things, so as responsible parents, you should try and make the job easier for them so that they can get into the habit of keeping their workspace tidy.
Hence, your child's study corner should have enough space for them to store their school supplies and papers. The storage could be anything from a drawer built into the desk or a separate rack for placing stationery. It could be shelves or cubbyholes built into the walls or even stackable boxes that can be moved easily. There are a thousand and one creative options for storage and you can use one or several of them to get optimal storage space for your kid.
Buy a Bookcase
A great way to help your kid organize their books and spark their creativity is to place a bookshelf in their study corner. A bookshelf offers a lot of room for your kid to add baskets and boxes filled with colorful stationery. It is also a good idea to teach them how to color code each box or basket on the shelf so that your kids can instantly know which container contains what.
But the best part is that it allows them to arrange all their books, whether academic or fiction, all in one place. This way, your child will learn various techniques to organize their reading material, like filling a couple of rows with school textbooks while filling the other two rows with their favorite storybooks and comics.
Make sure to position the bookcase at a place and at a height that can be easily reached by your child.
Depending on the size of the room where you have made the study corner for your child, you can buy a smart combination of shelves that can fit in a small space or a large in-built bookshelf that can contain all your child’s books and other items.
Offer Them All the Tools They Need
Children require all sorts of knick-knacks to create the right mood for study. These include pinup boards, chart papers, crayons and colored pencils, calculators, geometry boxes, scissors, and arts and craft material.
It is important for your kids that they have access to everything they need in the same room so that they don't have to keep going out of the room once they sit down to study. These days, schools use a lot of fun and engaging DIY activities to positively reinforce classwork, so make sure their space is wide enough for your child to make charts, posters, artwork, and presentations.
Add Splashes of Color
When making your child's study space, make sure to make the space as colorful and bright as it is functional and practical. If the study corner is within the child's own bedroom, it is a good idea to separate the two spaces by using colorful visuals.
For example, you can create differentiation by painting an accent wall of one color where your child's best is and an accent wall of another color where your child's study corner is. Alternatively, you can also hang faux flower strings, paper planes, or bird strings that serve as a separation curtain in your child's bedroom.
When choosing the type of colors to decorate your kid's study space, make sure it is something that your child likes. There are also colors that have been associated with attention and alertness like blue, which gives a sense of tranquillity and allows your child to work in peace, or sunny yellow which can encourage creativity.
Involve your child in the process and make sure they decide on their own paint colors. This will help the child feel more responsible and make them more excited to study in a space that they helped made.
Ensure Connectivity
If your kid uses a computer and the internet to do their homework, it is important to ensure they have good connectivity while they are studying so that they won't have an excuse to stop working.
Check to see if your home's Wi-Fi router is placed at a distance that offers uninterrupted connectivity for school work and online classes. If the router is placed far away, then you should invest in an amplifier so that the Wi-Fi signals may be able to reach your room easily.
Make sure your child has a headset and a good sound system so that they can listen to lectures easily and do not spend their time struggling to understand what their teacher is saying on the other hand.
Offer Optimal Lighting Conditions
Your child needs lots of light to study comfortably. Although artificial lighting is an option, the best way to illuminate your child's room is with natural sunlight. Research has shown that natural light has a constant intensity and duration which aligns with our biological sleep cycle. This means your child will feel more alert and energetic when studying in natural light. In addition, natural light also does not flicker like artificial light, which means reduced eye strain and fatigue for your kid.
If the outdoor light is not sufficient for your child's study, then you should supplement it with a table lamp as well as some overhead room lighting. Make sure the light is warm and inviting and not too harsh as that can also lead to eye strain.
Adjust the Temperature
Temperature plays a huge role in your child's concentration. To ensure your child is focusing on their schoolwork, you need to ensure that the temperature in the study space is not too hot and not too cold.
Working in an overly warm environment will reduce your child's concentration and make your child make mistakes, but can also result in health-related issues like headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Create a space that allows plenty of ventilation and airflow for your child.
If it is cold outside, make sure your child wears warm clothes indoors. If necessary, you can wrap a woolen blanket around them when they are studying to give them a comfortable work environment.
Get Rid of Distractions
Loud noises, TV, or anything that can divert your child's attention from their work can be a distraction. It is important that your child has no more than ambient sound for his study time.
If your kid is young and has no need for electronic devices during his study time, make sure you remove them. If your kid is a teenager and has a smartphone, there are always possibilities that they will be using Instagram or Snapchat or watching YouTube when they should be studying so make sure to remove the device from their study space. Kids can do the same things on the computer as well so it is a good idea to extract a promise from them that they won't be using the internet for anything else than studying. It is a good idea to add parental controls and exceptions on the computer as well during your kid's study time so they won't have the urge to visit their favorite apps and sites.
Creating the Perfect Study Nook For Your Kid
Creating a fantastic study space for your kid can be a very fun experience. There are dozens of ideas on Pinterest and Instagram that you can see to find how to make the most practical and creative study nook for your child. Work with your kid to find out how to design your study space and spend some quality time with your kid.
