January 6, 2025

Understanding The Learning Styles: Tailoring to Your Child’s Development

Do you know your child’s learning style? 

Understanding this is important if you want to support his/her learning and development. Once you know it, you can customise learning approaches and activities to match it. 

That’s why discovering children’s learning styles is among the top education tips for parents. You can do so much more to help your child learn more effectively after it!

If you want to learn more about this, read on. We’ve used our experience as leaders for education in Singapore to craft the guide below.

The different learning styles for children

1. Visual learners

Visual learning is a style focused on images instead of words. Visual learners are good at observing details, processing messages in graphics, and seeing spatial relationships. 

This makes visual learners fast at picking up lessons that are presented aesthetically. Diagrams and charts are better for them than plain text materials. 

As such, try to present info to your child using such media. For example, use colourful flashcards or storybooks to help him/her grasp and retain lessons faster. 

2. Auditory learners

Auditory learning focuses on sound and speech. Children who learn this way do best when they hear lessons or ideas, or even vocalise those ideas themselves. 

As a result, a lot of these children are more communicative. They use speech to process what they’re learning. This can also make them good listeners as they’re naturally attuned to information presented in sound. 

Try using materials like songs and rhymes or storytelling to encourage learning for such children. Remember too that they can be distracted by other sounds, e.g. noise. 

3. Kinaesthetic learners

Kinaesthetic learning is tactical and all about physical engagement. If your child prefers this style, he/she learns best through direct involvement with a lesson, not passive observation.

This means that kinaesthetic learners can get bored easily in conventional classrooms. They don’t want to sit still and listen to someone talking. They want to move and take part in the lesson!

If your child is a kinaesthetic learner, tap into it by associating info with physical actions. Use techniques like role-playing or art-and-craft projects to encourage learning.

4. Textual (read-and-write) learners

Textual learners prefer the written word. They work off conventional study materials like textbooks and actions like writing essays or notes. 

If you notice that your child excels in lessons or subjects focused on books and reading, your child is a textual learner. Make the most of it by providing him/her opportunities for further discoveries via books. 

You can also encourage his/her growth by offering word games, illuminating storybooks, and similar media.

Tips for identifying your child’s learning style

How can you tell which learning style your child has? 

Begin by trying to identify practical signs and behaviours. For example, what does your child naturally gravitate to for hobbies or entertainment? 

Is he/she more likely to read books in his/her spare time? Or maybe listen to music? Perhaps it could even be playing with something that requires hands-on tactile activity?

That already gives you clues on what learning style your child has. Here are some other ideas for finding it:

• How does your child react to different stimuli? Does he/she focus on visuals in books (visual)? Does he/she understand instructions better when they’re spoken instead of written (auditory)?
• How does your child solve problems? Does he/she draw diagrams when trying to understand or plan things (visual)? Does he/she experiment physically with an item when trying to make it do something (kinaesthetic)?
• What does your child claim to prefer? Ask if he/she prefers to read how to do something rather than being told how to do it (textual instead of auditory). Or ask if he/she remembers info better when he/she sees it instead of reading about it (visual instead of textual).

Remember that it’s possible for a child to have more than one learning style. Many have mixed styles.

For instance, a child can be both auditory and textual in main learning styles. Children who naturally listen in class and take notes are examples of these.

Tailoring preschool learning to a child’s learning style

If you want to tailor your child’s education in Singapore to suit his/her style, communicate with his/her teachers. 

With their help, you can better identify your child’s learning style and proceed from there. You can work together to support your child’s development and preschool progress.

At My Little Campus, we do exactly this with our students’ parents. We also cater to different learning styles through varied teaching methods and daily activities. 

For example, we indulge kinaesthetic learners in roleplaying activities that make them part of the action. This helps them associate ideas with actions for easier processing and recall. 

We also use songs and rhymes for auditory learners. By couching lessons in sounds and speech, we make it easier for them to understand and even repeat for confirmation.

Then we have storybooks, visual aids, and task demonstrations for visual learners. This way, they see the things they can learn. 

Finally, we provide structured introductions to reading and deskwork for the textual learners. This helps them understand new concepts and prepares them for a key part of the next stage of their education, which is primary school.

Get help understanding your child’s learning styles

Ultimately, getting a grasp on learning styles is a key part of every parent’s and teacher’s toolkit. If you’re struggling to find your child’s main learning style, consider letting experts help.

For instance, you can reach out to us and enrol your child in one of our programmes. At My Little Campus, we’re more than equipped to identify and support different children’s learning preferences. 

Contact us now to find out more about our curriculum and methods. We’d love to meet you and your child as well!