The expert gave advice on organizing leisure activities for children during the vacations

The long New Year's vacation is a great opportunity to spend time with your child and learn more about their hobbies and interests. During this period, you can also form new hobbies. Anastasia Ekushevskaya, Academic Director of Skysmart, told Izvestia on December 29 about how to organize a child's leisure time during the vacations and at the same time to spend time in a useful way and not to forget the school program.

The expert advised organizing an evening of board games.

"Board games are not just entertainment. Behind them you can spend a good and fun time with the whole family and pump useful skills for learning and life. For example, logic, math and numeracy, tactical and strategic thinking, the ability to concisely express thoughts and persuade. Board games are available for children of different ages, starting from four years old, and among the large assortment you can definitely choose something that your child will like," she said.

Ekushevskaya presented a small selection of company games for different tastes. Among them is "Cunning Fox". It can be played from the age of four: the plot is simple and clear, but in order to identify who stole the pie, you will need to apply logic and learn to work in a team. Another option is Imaginarium. A popular board game where you need to match associations to cards and move forward on the playing field.

You can also play "Evolution": there are simple rules and you need to grow your creatures and help them survive, while preventing others from doing the same. There's also Alias: you have to split up into teams and explain words to each other - complex and not so complex. You can't use gestures or similar words. This is a good way to develop imagination and logic at the same time.

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In addition, the expert recommended to start keeping a diary of impressions. According to her, to fix attention on joyful and pleasant events during the day, to analyze their feelings - a useful skill not only for adults, but also for children.

"If you and your child are not yet keeping a diary of impressions, winter vacation is the perfect time to start! Make a tradition: every evening discuss the events of the day, analyze them and highlight something good: what the day was memorable, in what moments the child was satisfied and pleased with himself, what upset, and what brought joy. This skill will be useful both in school and in life: it is important to be able to praise yourself for your successes and find joyful and good moments in each day," Ekushevskaya said.

In addition, during vacations you can learn new hobbies. The expert noted that for mobile and energetic children sports are perfect: soccer, hockey, swimming, martial arts, tennis, athletics. And a calmer child can be offered a thoughtful and balanced hobby: drawing, modeling, music, chess and so on.

"If your child is a gadget enthusiast and likes to play online games, try introducing him to the world of IT. This way you can combine pleasant with useful: the child will not only do what he or she is interested in, but will also get acquainted with the IT world and create his or her first project," Ekushevskaya added.

If a child speaks English at least at a basic level, it is possible to offer him to communicate with a peer from another country, the expert believes. There are many sites and applications where you can find an interlocutor of your age from another country and start communicating online.

"First, this way you can get a new Internet friend who will share the interests and hobbies of the child. Secondly, this communication will turn into language practice and significantly improve the level. Choose only proven apps for language exchange. For example, HelloTalk, Speaky and others," she explained.

At the same time, you can try to organize a family book night, invite relatives and friends who will tell about the book that made a particularly strong impression on them.

Earlier, on December 8, psychotherapist, founder of the International Institute of Psychosomatic Health, teacher of the course "KPT" Sergei Martynov told "Izvestia" that by communicating with children and creating an atmosphere of trust and interest, parents can not only restore lost ties, but also strengthen them. At the same time, there is a fine line between parental authority and friendly relations with the child. It is important to maintain a hierarchy while remaining open.