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Helping Kinesthetic Learners Succeed

(based on 16 ratings)
by Shannon Hutton
Topics: What are the Different Learning Styles?, Kinesthetic Learners
Helping Kinesthetic Learners Succeed

If you’re like most parents, you learned your reading, writing and arithmetic by sitting at an assigned desk and completing “dittos” with faded purple ink. Hopefully, you didn’t need hands-on activities to learn. However, many students aren’t so lucky. They learn by doing and need to move around the classroom and touch things to better understand the lessons. They have difficulty sitting at their desks for extended periods of time. In times past, these kids were considered hyperactive and difficult to teach.

Now we know better. These students aren’t being difficult, they just learn differently. They are kinesthetic learners—they learn best when they can move around and engage their small and large muscle groups. As a school counselor, I work with many kinesthetic learners and their teachers.

Oftentimes, kinesthetic learners feel their way of learning isn’t as good because they just “can’t sit and do the work.” I explain to these students that different doesn’t mean worse, and that there are lots of ways to maximize their learning style.

Kinesthetic Learners Usually:

  • Move around a lot
  • Like to touch people they’re talking to
  • Tap their pencil or foot while doing schoolwork
  • Enjoy physical activities
  • Take frequent breaks when studying
  • Do not spend a lot of time reading
  • Have difficulty spelling correctly
  • Like to solve problems by physically working through them
  • Like to try new things
  • Are coordinated and agile
  • Are considered hyperactive
  • Express their feelings physically (i.e., hugging, hitting)
  • Move their hands when they talk
  • Dress for comfort, instead of style
  • Lay on the floor or bed when studying
  • Enjoy touching things
  • Have difficulty sitting still for extended periods of time
  • Excel in athletics and the performing arts

Strategies to Help Kinesthetic Learners Succeed:

Provide your child with hands-on learning tools, including:

  • Abacus (manual math tool with horizontal rods and moveable beads)
  • Modeling clay
  • Number lines
  • Models
  • Sandpaper and carpet to trace letters, shapes, and numbers
  • Drawing materials
  • Puzzles
  • Wooden numbers and letters
  • Globes and maps
  • Blocks and cubes
  • Felt boards
  • Computers
  • Geoboards with rubber bands (a square board with vertical and horizontal lines created by pegs used to teach shapes and geometric concepts)

Provide your child with hands-on learning opportunities, including:

  • Experiments
  • Field trips
  • Role playing
  • Projects
  • Games

Final words of wisdom? Kinesthetic learners do things differently. But that doesn' t mean they do them worse. Encourage your child to study in several short blocks of time, instead of one extended time period. Teach concepts with concrete examples (for example, teach greater than and less than with a crocodile puppet, rather than just numbers on a chalkboard). Have your child memorize information while moving. They can walk, jump rope, or skip as they're learning the material-- they don't need to sit at a desk, at least at home! Encourage your child to clap out sounds or syllables they hear in words.

With a little help, kinesthetic learners can find tricks that make the system work in their favor. They just need some motion with their math, some rev with their reading. So get moving on getting them on the move!

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10 comments

Comments from readers

  1. Dec 13, 2007
    Tiffanie says:
    WOW that totally describes my daughter! She has resource teachers in every subject and still has an incredibly difficult time in school (not going to pass the 5th grade this year). Those are some great tips. Thank you thank you!!!
  2. Feb 15, 2008
    is it mostly females that have this disorder ?
  3. Feb 18, 2008
    Sophia says:
    No it is not mostly girls who have this learning style, not really a disorder.  There are  a majority of young males who are kinesthetic learners but are most often categorized as being ADD or ADHD. As  a classroom teacher, every year I have about 4-5 boys in my class who are kinesthetic learners and maybe one girl. Its a good idea if you know your child's learning style to inform the teacher, so the teacher will be better able to accommodate the student.
  4. Aug 18, 2008
    Deep says:
    My daughter who is 7 years old can learn spellings but misspells it while writing.What is the problem with her
  5. Sep 10, 2008
    Maria says:
    My son is a kinesthetic learner and found a haven in a Montessori school.  He learns well by doing.  One of the best DVDs for him as a toddler was Trebellina, which taught him to read music.  That video encouraged lots of movement -- unlike most of TV which encourages the couch potato syndrome -- and even though the content was challengingm he was able to master it using his learning style.
  6. Nov 17, 2008
    Alexandra Triteou says:
    I'm Cypriot and my son is kinesthetic learner. He is 13 years old and he is in the 2nd grade of high school. The teachers here in Cyprus do not know about these special children. My son always get panished because they don't know how to trid him. I copied this page and I'm going to give a copy to all the teachers of his school. I hope they learn something.
  7. Mar 5, 2009
    barbara says:
    I am 44 years old and at 40 took a test at work whilst training in which we had to place on the whiteboard our learning styles and I realised why I was different - I am a kinesthetic learner and sat in this box all on my own.  I cried that night because for years people have always joked about me being "different" and I had used my outgoing personality to do things my way to learn - going home and stamping my notes into my brain my way - including work situations - but inside I always felt sad that I could not do things like everyone else-and joked about my reputation of being the "funny learner or as some people said being weird".  
     
    My grandaughter is also the same - she is a kinesthetic learner and I have been in school to try to explain how she can learn - we are still working on it and she is improving all the time.  I find it hard that in this day and age more is not done to assist the kinesthetic learner.
     
    I was once labelled in a classroom full of people as a "sensitive person because I learn by emotional feelings and therefore people were warned that I could be potentially tearful if spoken to incorrectly" - this was said by our trainer!
    When I disagreed the trainer said - there you go - you are upset- don't worry I understand - you are a kinesthetic person!
     
     
    Beware parents of Kinesthetic learners - it is a frustrating world out there for your child - I hope more people become aware of this way of learning - to try to make people understand I say "how well would you learn by being blindfolded or ear muffs put on - because that is what it is like for me - so I need to do it my way"
  8. Jul 12, 2009
    Cheah Lee Chin says:
    My son, Justin aged 11years in Grade 5 this coming term. Since young he doesn't like school, he had problem in memorizing words, spelling and reading. Teachers in school label him as lazy. I'm been trying very hard to teach him but ever since I'm get to know about kinesthetic learner then now I do understand that my son Justin as sometimes he do feel frustrated and sad whenever he get punishment from his class teacher. Anyway I'm happy and accept him as a Kinesthetic learner. Thank you.
  9. Aug 7, 2009
    Joyce says:
    My youngest daughter and my oldest daughter are opposites. My oldest sits and does art and crafts. She loves to read. She is not into sports. My youngest is very athletic. She loves to be moving or touching things. Not interested in art unless it is cutting and gluing or painting with sponges or objects.  Moving and jumping to learn has helped her.
     
  10. Aug 31, 2009
    Sara says:
    It describes my daughter,too!!! She is an avid reader and a hands on learner, she takes little notes of what she is learning and loves to draw, I'll make a copy,too because we have been dealing with a substitute teacher that is scoring her really low on the behavioral chart because she doesn't sit still!!!!

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