Timing our learning ... for FUN

Our fun-loving 5 year old started his homeschooling routine this week. I am working on creating engaging, fun activities to make him excited about learning in all subject areas! He likes to feel like everything is a game, so I am incorporating that "feeling" to our activities as much as possible. He loves for me to "time" him doing all sorts of things. Sometimes he wants me to challenge him to complete an activity or task in a certain amount of time, and sometimes he wants to race the clock to see how quickly he can complete a task. The choice is Mama's and depends on whether or not it is a task that allows for racing the clock. I don't want to sacrifice the quality of his learning to race the timer, so I've created a few strategies to prevent that.

His favorite part has now become choosing which timer to use, and my favorite part has been deciding how long the task should take. I aim to set the clock for a little longer than I think it will take him (based on his typical completion time). He loves beating the timer, and I love that he's feeling motivated to work. We have conversations about how he should do his very best on his work, or beating the timer doesn't "count" as a win, and so far he seems to get it.

I'm not affiliated with the included links and they are not sponsors of mine. These are just the timers that we love to use to increase excitement in our routines. I hope some of you find some motivation in using them as well.

Our favorite site is Classroom Timers because there are so many fun choices! TC's favorite is the rocket timer, but there are a lot of fun options! Here are a few images of his favorites:

TC is also into music so he loves using the ClassTools timer because you can choose to have a soundtrack play while the timer is on! This is the timer we use for more hands-on-activities and tasks, since he loves to have the Star Wars or Avengers soundtracks on!

Last but not least, there is the adorable Timerland timers! There are two options here- one where you set the timer and by the time it goes off the "farmland" is full of bunnies, and the other where a planet makes a complete rotation around the sun. We love this one for the longer activities we do.

I hope you and your own little loves have some fun with these timers too!