Sarah Major, M.Ed. is passionate about working in harmony with a child's immaculate design to support their learning strengths.  As a Title 1 Program Director and Designer, Sarah earned awards for creating her own multisensory educational resources that have now been sold in all 50 states and over 150 countries.  By design, Sarah's materials incorporate stimulating visuals with related body movements, providing a solid foundation for all students, including kinesthetic and tactile learners.

Insights, tips, and techniques to help kinesthetic learners at school and at home

Adults have the luxury of understanding and accommodating how they take in new information and what helps them remember. Children don’t have the same benefit. We treat all learners the same way, without regard to the different ways in which they take in and process new information. We put them in colorful rooms full of visual stimuli, packed with their friends. We ask them to be quiet, stop moving, and concentrate. Pay attention. Listen.

When you consider a child’s learning style, kinesthetic learners (who require movement to learn) or tactile learners (who require hands-on learning), traditional classroom environments can be the biggest obstacle to learning. Very often, the children who can’t succeed in these classrooms are labelled ADD or ADHD. Could this be the case with your child?

Reality is that children, like their adult counterparts, are not all the same in how they learn. The more we understand our students’ learning strengths, the sooner we will be able to accommodate those needs and the more our students will soar. Here are some tips that will help.

SnapWords® have helped thousands of kinesthetic readers thrive!

Kinesthetic and tactile learners have similar learning styles

1. Kinesthetic learners need to move. 

They wiggle, tap, swing their legs, bounce, and often just can’t seem to sit still. They learn through their bodies and their sense of touch.

2. Kinesthetic learners have excellent “physical” memory.

They learn quickly and permanently what they do as they are learning. SnapWords® are sight words that are taught using body motions.

3. Kinesthetic learners are often gifted in physical activities

Activities like running, swimming, dancing, and other sports are easy for them.

4. Kinesthetic learners are typically very coordinated and have an excellent sense of their body in space and of body timing.

They have great hand-eye coordination and quick reactions.

5. Tactile learners learn through fine motor movements rather than whole body movement.

They are more moderate than kinesthetic learners who require whole body movement. 

6. Tactile learners learn primarily through the sense of touch.

The most tedious of subjects (spelling and phonics) can become an enjoyable, visual, and tactile activity when you use resources designed especially for tactile and kinesthetic learners. Experience the difference!

7. Tactile learners learn best through hands-on activities.

Incorporating related motions into teaching is one way to strengthen tactile learners. Explore our Alphabet Teaching Products to see how hand gestures can play out in learning letters.

8. Tactile learners express their learning best with projects.

Is your child a kinesthetic learner?

Find out by using our kinesthetic checklist!

Find products especially designed for your tactile and kinesthetic learners

9. Kinesthetic and tactile learners have trouble sitting still.

At school: Let them move! If you tell them they can stand up, swing their legs, or even pace the floor as long as they are not disrupting the other students, their performance will improve. Integrate movement and learning by playing Pop-Up.

At home: Practice movement at home. Some children learn new material better if they are able to pace the floor while reading. They may need to swing their legs while reading with you. Try this hopscotch activity to incorporate movement! 

10. Kinesthetic and tactile learners lose interest quickly.

At school: Use novelty and change where you teach a lesson in order to help break up long periods of time when the students would be sitting in their desks. Consider changing location, letting children sit on the floor, encouraging them to synthesize their learning by sketching what they learned. Keep intensive teaching moments short.

At home: If your child is working on homework, break homework time into short spans with a break in between. For example, do math homework, then take a break to run around the yard, do somersaults on the floor, or do a physical activity of the child's choosing. Then do more homework.

11. Kinesthetic and tactile learners have difficulty learning steps and procedures.

At school: Teach students to visualize what they are learning. If you are teaching them steps for solving a problem, have them go inside their imaginations to "see" themselves following the steps. TIP: Kinesthetic learners are also visual learners. They need to be very clear on the outcome before making sense of the steps. Be accepting if the child comes up with different steps that work better for them. After all, the desired outcome is what matters and kinesthetic/tactile learners excel once they are clear on what is expected of them.

At home: Share with your child the goal or what the desired final "product" is. Next, share the suggested steps and have the child imagine doing them. Ask your child if they believe the steps will produce the desired outcome. Listen and adjust as needed if the outcome will be the same. Try this activity to encourage your child to practice steps and procedures. 

12. Kinesthetic and tactile learners are easily distracted by their environment. Their attention follows their hands.

At school: Teach them to draw sketches or diagrams of what they are hearing in a lesson. Teach them to point to each problem. Encourage the child to find a spot with minimal distraction. Encourage them to use flashcards with information they are learning. TIP: use flashcards with strong visual cues. Remember, kinesthetic and tactile children are also visual learners.

At home: Create a cozy, private environment for your child to use as they do schoolwork. A strategy that works very well is creating a "study spot" that uses a screen to limit what the child can see in a room. TIP: make a screen from a large cardboard box with one side and the bottom cut out.

13. Kinesthetic and tactile learners can be overwhelmed.

At school: Teach them to use deep breathing and relaxation techniques to help with focus. Break up their tasks into manageable segments.

At home: Take a break from schoolwork or the activity. Decide together the amount of time for rest and relaxation and let the child set the timer. Help them learn to organize their homework into individual tasks, put them in order of priority, and focus on just one at a time.

14. Kinesthetic and tactile learners tend not to be auditory learners.

15. Kinesthetic and tactile learners need manipulatives.

At school: They will focus more easily with objects to manipulate instead of always paper and pencil. Get creative with learning tools. For example, use sight word cards to build sentences. When they are solving math problems, encourage them to draw the problem or build the problem using manipulatives.

At home: Use building blocks to help them visualize math problems. Practice sight words with a game rather than pencil and paper.

16. Kinesthetic and tactile learners' attention tends to wander.

At school: Keep their attention by combining visuals and related movement into your lessons. Switch up where you teach and how you deliver the content. TIP: Try using images and body movement. You may be surprised how much it changes the focus and learning results of kinesthetic and tactile students.

At home: Homework can be difficult to do in a busy or quiet home. Try to switch up where homework is done. Share with your child that they have a powerful learning gift and that visuals make learning instant and body movement is a tool for remembering. A child can be their own best helper once they understand their "problems" aren't evidence of a disability but rather evidence of an unique gift.

Since its inception in 2006, Child1st has emerged as the leader in providing resources that parents and teachers alike can pick up and use. By their very design, Child1st resources meet the needs of children without the teacher-adult having to receive special training.  We exist so that every child has the opportunity to learn in their own learning language.  Child1st