How to Teach and Reach Children with a Kinesthetic Learning Style?

Children who have a kinesthetic learning style are usually easy to spot. They're the kids who can't seem to sit still. They use their senses to help them learn. Teaching reading to a kinesthetic learner is a much easier if you understand the best way to communicate with them.

Do any of the below characteristics sound familiar?

Common Characteristics of a kinesthetic learning style:

Very active – like to move around while listening or talking
Often talk with their hands
Touch things in order to learn about them
Remember things by recalling who did what rather than who said what
Touch and feel everything – rub hands on walls, furniture, halls as they move
Like to find out how things work
Their lips move when they read
Learn best through movement
Communicate through body language and movement
Shows you rather than tells you
Responds to physical rewards and touching
Often move and talk slowly
Fidgets a lot
May stand closer than a visual child
Needs to explore their environment more than other kids
Is often unaware of their own movement and distracted by movement of others

Kinesthetic learners are good at the following:

Have Natural athletic ability
Good at dramatic arts
Being creative and using their imagination
Good at taking things apart and putting them back together

Kinesthetic learners face challenges with the following:

May need to be moving in order to learn (makes classroom learning a challenge)
Often labeled with ADD or hyperactivity because they have trouble learning in a traditional classroom setting (but more and more schools are changing to address the needs of tactile learners)
Older kinesthetic or tactile learners (6+) are often classified as underachievers in school
Doesn't usually enjoy reading or spelling

How to help your kinesthetic learner:

Allow them to be active while you read to them
Let them participate in drama
Encourage them to participate in science or lab experiments
Go on field trips
Have them move their fingers under words as they read
Watch them perform skits and dances
Have them make models
Utilize lots of “hands on” activities to perform learning (i.e., learn how to count while cooking or playing hopscotch)
Provide quiet time after physical activities
Task rewards may work well
Play board games
Use competitions to motivate your kinesthetic learner
Make it harder to move than to sit still (such as moving desk against wall)
Allow for planned times for movement
Work with teachers to ensure the best learning environment in the classroom
Fun games and activities are especially helpful to engage kinesthetic learners
Incorporate subjects that are especially interesting to your tactile learner to capture their desire to learn