Engaging extracurricular activities for children, from sports and arts to hobbies and creative pursuits, designed to build confidence, skills, teamwork and creativity.
Families do not need programming expertise to introduce children to coding, with playful offline activities, short sessions and game-based tools helping turn passive screen use into creative learning. Screens are now part of family life, but parents do not have…
Settlement Music School’s Kaleidoscope programme is linked to stronger school readiness, vocabulary and emotional development, while a new online platform aims to take its arts-based approach beyond Philadelphia. A Philadelphia preschool built around music, dance and art is drawing attention…
European curricula increasingly promise inclusion, enjoyment and lifelong activity, but new research finds that familiar sports and teaching practices still dominate pupils’ experience. Physical education in Europe is being asked to do far more than it once did. According to…
Feeling better is only one part of recovery: athletes should rebuild strength, control and sport-specific load tolerance before returning to competition. Returning to sport after an injury is seldom a matter of counting down to a fixed date. A knee…
A randomised trial of 180 children in China found that music lessons incorporating whole-body movement produced stronger and longer-lasting gains in executive function, emotion regulation and rhythmic synchronisation than music activities alone. A new randomised trial in Frontiers in Psychology…
Regular plasticine play can build fine motor skills, concentration, speech and spatial awareness while helping children prepare for school without formal lessons. Preparing for school does not have to begin with worksheets, textbooks or memorising rules. For many children, learning…
Building, coding and unstructured play can nurture curiosity, problem-solving and resilience, but experts warn against trying to engineer a child’s future career. A child stacking coloured blocks and watching the tower topple may seem to be doing little more than…
The 1878-founded newspaper is combining daily reporting with e-editions, community contests and public notices to serve readers across western South Dakota. The Rapid City Journal remains a longstanding fixture in western South Dakota’s media landscape, serving readers in Rapid City…
A review spanning 2.8 million children in 64 countries finds heavier digital media exposure is associated with poorer academic performance, language development and emotional wellbeing. A major review published in JAMA Pediatrics suggests that heavier screen use may affect children’s…
A simple soundboard, a short script and a few homemade effects can help children understand how voices, silence and timing bring stories to life. A creak of a door can do more for a child’s imagination than a page of…
Experts advise parents to put away the tactical debrief after a children’s football match and first make space for how the player actually feels. After a youth soccer game, the most useful thing a parent can say is often the…
Club fees, equipment, travel and tournament costs can push annual spending above €1,000 per child, raising concerns that organised sport is becoming a privilege rather than an everyday activity. For many families, youth sport in Greece is becoming a significant…
