Apart from its merits, taking an online class can also be challenging, and maintaining your kid’s attention on a screen can be difficult. In addition, minimal social interaction can also lead to emotional and psychological stress in children. Hence, it is crucial that your child receives a rewarding academic education and engages in online extracurricular activities as a remedy for less social interaction and boredom.

Benefits of online extracurricular activities 

• Improved memory and attention

• Reduce mental stress

• Explore a variety of interests

• Boost creativity

• Engaging in fun activities will also boost creativity in kids.

• Interaction with other kids

• Enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills

• Improved communication skills

Our favourite online extracurricular activities

Language

Being bilingual is highly beneficial for kids. According to research, mastering the skill of speaking a second language can considerably sharpen the mental and cognitive abilities of children and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Therefore, learning a new language as an online extracurricular activity will enhance critical thinking, problem-solving skills, memory retention, and concentration in kids. In addition, learning a second language will lead to better employment opportunities for them. Likewise, it will enhance your kid’s cultural, historical, and geographic interest in the country of origin for that language.

Arts and Crafts

What benefits do drawing lines or shapes, painting, sewing, or cutting with scissors offer? Arts and crafts will help your kids use their hands in a specific and agile way that will sharpen their motor skills. It will also teach them resilience as they will learn to find a solution after making mistakes. Attending an arts and crafts online extracurricular class will motivate your kids to follow their creative pursuits maximally.

Poetry

’Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world,’ this adage from the famous English Romantic poet Percy Shelley impeccably embodies the spirit of poetry. Most importantly, learning poetry will make your kids extremely erudite. Moreover, attending an online extracurricular poetry class will sharpen their minds and motivate them to read, increase their phonemic knowledge, enhance expressions, and improve vocabulary and writing.

Performing Arts

An extracurricular online class for performing arts can be super amusing and offer a great way to beat the exhausting boredom of your kids. Performing arts typically include acting, dance, opera, puppetry, theatre, magic, and others. It will enable your child to explore their emotions, broaden their imagination and reinforce creativity. Likewise, practising performing arts can augment their self-confidence, self-expression, creativity, listening skills, and memory and teach them perseverance. With so many benefits, it is vital kids should learn performing arts!

Martial Arts

Learning martial arts through an online extracurricular activity can be fruitful for your child’s development. Martial arts classes typically include Karate, Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and others. From a physical perspective, martial arts can endow strength and flexibility, and it will also boost self-confidence, encourage self-discipline, and nurtures self-esteem among children. Chiefly, learning martial arts will boost their self-defence tactics and promote the healthy well-being of your kids.

Music

Ah, those sweet melodies! Who doesn’t like music? Did you know learning music has various benefits too? Learning music as an extracurricular activity will stimulate your child’s social skills as music is often played in groups, and teamwork is required. According to Professor Gordon Shaw from the University of California, Irvine, music equips kids to better grasp mathematical concepts.

Music can also lower your kid’s stress levels and enhance his mental focus. Most importantly, music instils joy and brings pleasure!

STEM (science, technology, engineering, Maths)

It is no hyperbole to say that the world’s future depends on STEM. Therefore, it is essential that kids also benefit from learning STEM in their online extracurricular activity classes. It will help kids in myriad ways. Students with science, technology, engineering, maths knowledge tend to be highly logical and analytical, and as such, it will boost their academic scores and open future doors for employment. Kids will find extracurricular STEM classes enjoyable and not tedious like regular school classes; consequently, this will instil an admiration of STEM subjects.

If your child is attending their school online and finds the academic pressure to be burdensome, they highly recommend they participate in online extracurricular activities. It will assist them in tackling boredom and equip them with new and varied skills to transform their minds and personalities.

References:

[1] “How a Second Language Can Boost the Brain.” Knowable Magazine | Annual Reviews. [2] “The Benefits Music Has On Your Child’s Development - Wellard School of Music.” WELLARD SCHOOL OF MUSIC (WSOM).