How to Help Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners like to be in motion. They enjoy experiencing the world through their sense of touch.

As I explained in the first post in this series on Visual Auditory Kinesthetic Learning Styles, it’s a good idea to be knowlegeable of your child’s learning styles. That information helps you to teach more easily and effectively. You can change the curriculum you’re using to work well with your child’s brain.

Kinesthetic learners have their own unique traits and style of learning. I’m going to share with you the characteristics which make them who they are as well as methods you can use when you teach them. It is my hope that this knowledge will help you to succeed in teaching your kinesthetic learner.

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Characteristics of Kinesthetic Learners

Below is a list of characteristics that a kinesthetic learner can have. Not all of these traits will be true for all kinesthetic learners. If you find that the majority of them are true for one of your children, then the kinesthetic learning style is likely his dominant modality.

Kinesthetic learners:

like to be active
prefer hands-on activities
don’t like to sit still for long periods of time
have good physical coordination
talk with their hands
can be adventurous
need to take frequent breaks to move around
like to touch people they speak to
may struggle with spelling and/or reading
tap their pencil or foot while studying
remember what was done better than what was spoken or read
enjoy actively exploring their environment
doodle while listening
like to touch things
prefer to dress comfortably
like to talk about or express emotions openly
enjoy trying new things
may be impulsive
learn best by touching, doing and moving

Tips for Helping Kinesthetic Learners

Here are some techniques you can use to help a kinesthetic learner succeed.

Let your child stand up at a counter to study
Give your child an exercise ball to sit on instead of a regular chair so that he can bounce
Provide as many hands-on activities as possible such as projects and experiments
Let your child take frequent breaks
Give your child something to do with his hands while listening to a story or studying like playing with Silly Putty or a squeeze ball
Give him opportunities to physically act out or role play the lesson
Let him build models
Go on field trips
Let him doodle while listening
Play music for him while he works
Have him take notes
When your child has a reading assignment, have him skim through the whole piece first, then go back and read from beginning to end
Let your child learn by imitating someone
Give him opportunities to practice a skill
Let him march, skip, jump, or walk around while learning
Teach your child rhythmic chants to memorize some material
Encourage your child to associate feelings with learning some concepts
Give him cards to sequence
Let him use brightly colored highlighters
Encourage him to take deep breaths
Have your child do things as he says them
Give him flashcards to study with
Have him write, then rewrite things that need to be memorized
Let him use letter tiles or magnetic letters
Provide manipulatives for him to use
Encourage him to make mind maps, diagrams, pictures and other visuals to help him learn
Let him clap out sounds and syllables
Vary your child’s activities
Let your child draw letters and numbers in sand or some other tactile environment
Let him build with LEGOS while listening