Quick tips to make children enjoy GK

Many Indian parents still believe that general knowledge is only for those who want to enter civil services. In truth, it’s essentially a way of allowing your child to understand and connect with the world around us in a better way. A good introduction to GK can be a school quiz like ClassAct 2022, The Hindustan Times Republic Day Quiz. It can be a great starting point. Kids enjoy games, so they will like the quiz experience with its rapidly paced rounds and chance to interact with other kids. But how do you sustain this interest? To take GK beyond just one competition, try including these simple suggestions into your daily life.  

Encourage family discussions on varied topics  
A good interactive family discussion is often the best point to start connecting with the world.  It’s not much use only gathering information, it’s important to join the dots. Global warming, hike in oil prices, and the rise of home delivery apps are linked. Once GK comes alive around us, your kid will be spontaneously interested in learning more.  

Introduce family movie evenings and book reading sessions  
We keep cribbing about how tough it is to get kids to read books. You can start with a movie instead, one that is actually a book adaptation. Give them the book after the movie, and if they don’t want to read it, read it aloud. Include this as a weekly practice, and you will cover 4 movies and books every month. Books and movies are a source of information, and fiction is the best way to whet a child’s natural curiosity. They will end up looking up the encyclopaedia and an atlas just to locate their favourite characters.  

Connect real and virtual gaming  
Games are not always bad. Remember the game we called name, place animal, thing? Start playing it as a competition within the family. Kids will start learning more GK just to beat you! There are several apps and games around the theme of discovering more about planet Earth. Start competing with the kids on those too. Soon, you will all gain sufficient GK while having a lot of fun.  

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