How to Teach Your Child About Sports

Children enjoy watching sports and even being a part of some sports such as swimming. As a parent you can teach your child many things about sports. For example, you can talk with your child about the types of sports that people play, the equipment that the sport uses and the clothing players wear. I have come up with some fun activities that you can use to teach your child about sports.

Reading books is a wonderful way to introduce your child to sports. Books for young children often have pictures that give children a visual to what the sport looks like. Some good books I would recommend are Curious George Gets a Medal by H.A. Rey, Curious George Rides a bike by H.A. Rey and Fast Slow, High Low by Peter Spier. You can check out these books at your local library.

Create a game box. Fill the box with different types of equipment that are used for sports. Have your child guess what sport the item belongs to. For example, you can have a football helmet, baseball, ski boot, skates and any other item that comes to mind to be placed in the box. Each time your child guesses talk about how that equipment is used in sports.

Use arts and crafts to teach about sports. For example, your child can make a sport collage. Your child can cut out pictures from a sport magazine and then glue it on construction paper. Another fun art activity is having cuts outs of different balls such as football, baseball, golf ball and whatever else comes to mind. Then have your child paint the ball.

Take a trip to a sporting event. Some that could be in your community are a football game, tennis match, swimming at a local college and baseball at your nearby stadium. This will give your child the opportunity to see what a real sports event is like.

Create a sport prop box that your child can use during pretend play. In the box you can include a baseball cap, sport uniform, visor, balls, ski boot and whatever else comes to mind. The prop box will incorporate what they have learned from you about sports.