The holidays are upon us and with that comes school closures. Gifted children tend to have a strong desire and need for intellectual stimulation, and that need doesn’t go away when schools are closed. Below are three ways parents can help foster positive social and academic growth during the holiday break:

1. Cultural Excursions

Take a trip to a local museum, science center, aquarium, theatre, planetarium or garden to provide your child with a learning experience. If time and budget allow, consider planning a day trip or vacation to a historical site. Local libraries often offer free activities and events, so be sure to check your local library’s calendar. Remember to be flexible, as some children require time to process and adjust to new environments.

2. Home Improvement

Take advantage of an extra set of hands, and a curious mind, by implementing a home improvement project while your gifted child is home. Children interested in technology and science could help figure out the best ways to save energy in your household. Other project ideas include furniture assembly, closet or garage organization, cleaning, composting or yard work.

3. Volunteer

Volunteering provides many benefits to both mental and physical health, which are not just perks for gifted students but for everyone. There are many ways one can volunteer during the holidays, which include hosting a toy or canned food drive, serving meals at a soup kitchen, adopting a family or building homes with Habitat for Humanity.

You can also research additional ideas on ÓÅÃÛÊÓƵ’s , which includes and for gifted learners.

Lastly, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and for many gift giving is part of the season. Please support ÓÅÃÛÊÓƵ by making Amazon purchases through . A portion of your purchase will be donated directly to ÓÅÃÛÊÓƵ so we can continue providing high-quality programs and services to gifted youth nationwide.

Happy holidays!

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Many parents of gifted children are extremely grateful for public libraries. For our voracious readers, it can be extremely costly to purchase books at the rate at which they read them, not to mention the amount of space it takes to store them. Public libraries allow these kids access to a wide variety of books at no cost. They also have resources that would be more difficult to get elsewhere, including archives and reference materials. Additionally, the library is a great place to casually browse collections and stumble upon new finds in the safety of age- or genre-specific sections. Many libraries these days also provide online portals to rent ebooks, audiobooks, and other digital materials for our tech-loving set.

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Gifted students crave depth and challenge in their area of interest, which they often do not receive in the traditional classroom. They don’t want to merely memorize facts; they want to watch as subject matter comes to life. Mentoring often allows gifted students the opportunity to see practical applications in their field of interest and can provide the depth and challenge they need. In addition to creating academic challenge not present in the traditional classroom, mentors can provide gifted students with career guidance or other similar counsel.

3. Other Gifted Kids

It is important for your gifted child to understand that he or she is not alone, that there are other gifted children out there. Other gifted children with similar experiences or interests can provide a world of comfort for your child, and they can be a great source of support, friendship, and information. Seek out a group or a program for gifted kids – – for your child to attend, even if only for a summer. If this is not possible in person, the internet and technology make it much easier for our gifted kids to connect with each other despite geographic separation.

4. Extracurricular Activities

Encourage your gifted child’s passions through clubs, camps, or classes. Even if certain programs are not specifically created for gifted kids, they might still serve to challenge your child while feeding his or her interests, academic or otherwise. It could be dance, music, robotics, creative writing, chess, math, art – the list goes on. Often gifted kids will have so many different interests that it will be difficult to pick just one, but you can try to find one that fuses many interests together or rotate activities throughout the year. These activities can be expensive; look into activities offered through local nonprofit organizations, your city, nearby community centers, your child’s school, local meet-ups, and the like to find lower cost options.

5. Volunteer Work

Many gifted children are passionate about making a difference in the world, and volunteer work can fuse many interests and passions while challenging your child to grow in new ways. Though it can be difficult to find opportunities for young children to volunteer in certain capacities, there are plenty of opportunities out there in many different fields of interest, so don’t be discouraged if your first few attempts at helping your child volunteer are unsuccessful. Kids can also start their own volunteer projects based around their passions. Gifted kids have done amazing things on their own – from coordinating donations for those in need to writing letters to politicians advocating for change. Regardless of the opportunity, volunteer work allows gifted children to make an impact while also providing invaluable learning opportunities.

What are your favorite offline resources or activities for gifted kids? Please share in the comment section below.

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