Is your child participating in an Olympiad? Amp up his GK

Olympiads are massive competitions for school students (they have college versions too) across the country or on a global scale. Here in India, you can check out the HT Olympiad. It allows kids to show how well they know each subject, diving deeper than school syllabus. This national level competition, jointly organised by HT Media Limited and Doubtnut, a popular online learning platform, will be held in February 2022.  

Well, the benefits of an Olympiad are obvious. Your child studies for the kick of winning a game (that’s how it seems to them), get to interact with other kids from across the country, and willingly look up non-syllabus books for subjects that interest them. But how do you tackle the general knowledge (GK), that dreaded round where ‘unseen’ questions crop up? All kids hate reading GK quiz books. Here are a few tips to improve kids’ GK in ways they would also enjoy.  

Encourage kids to watch sports channels   
Not all children love playing an active sport. But all of them enjoy the passive activity of munching snacks and watching sports. Encourage this, of course, not at the cost of studies. Once they start following football, cricket or athletics, kids will automatically expand their horizon and learn more about other countries just to follow favourite stars or teams.  

Motivate them to play games based on travel and geography  
Get the atlas out, get a little plastic globe, and download a few simple geography game apps – and that’s it – your little globe trotter is ready for a trip without stepping out. Geography is fun when it comes alive. Your child will score well, and also become more open-minded yet curious about other countries and cultures.  

A bit of TV might help at times  
Yes, you heard that right. Be strict with yourself and sacrifice the evening slot of soap serials to let your child enjoy Discovery, National Geographic, sports and news channels. Encourage watching world movies on TV instead of the mobile. A channel gets you current news based GK and animal trivia faster than any edition of any book.  

Watching quiz and reality shows will be a good idea 
Enjoy BBC's Mastermind series or Kaun Banega Crorepati with your child. Then start a home quiz based on this. It could be such fun, help in family bonding, and also expand your kid’s knowledge base rapidly.