
When we parents think past the baby stage, we often have visions for what we’d like our children to be involved in as they get older. We take the good and the bad from our own experiences growing up and go from there.
Our own interests can help guide what activities we sign our children up for, too. For example, I was in dance when I was younger, so I signed my daughter up for ballet. She then tried soccer for a couple of seasons, and I had no idea what was going on—which meant I wasn’t as excited or able to help with drills at home because I didn’t have any experience with that sport. I’ve found that it helps if we are both excited about the activity and we’re both more invested in practices and games.
Location and availability are also key factors. I grew up in a rural Iowa town, so we had whatever was available, primarily through the school. But we were exposed to everything that was available because we needed everyone involved to successfully form a team or choir. Now, as parents, my husband and I have lived in the suburbs of bigger cities that seem to have every opportunity under the sun. This causes its own dilemma—feeling like you have to decide far too early which path you want your young kids to take.
Price and time are two other major factors in choosing extracurricular activities for kids, especially in families with multiple children. My husband travels often for work, which leaves me driving everyone to everything—sometimes it’s actually impossible when they’re overlapping times across town from each other. Making friends with other families on the teams is crucial to help with carpooling. Not only are scheduling conflicts going to arise, added expenses seem to mount at every turn: new jerseys, extra practices, new music books, another mouthguard, the next size in cleats, team snacks and more. So why do parents go through all this hassle in the first place? Let’s look at some benefits from all these extracurricular activities.
Tip: Use our After School Guide to find a program for your child.

Five Things Kids Can Learn from Art Lessons
1. Creativity and problem-solving
One of my best friends, Allyce Trusheim, is an elementary art teacher in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She has her master’s in art education and has taught art for the past 15 years. She says, “Art teaches creativity and problem-solving. For example, if a child is creating something, but it doesn’t stand/look/feel how they wanted it to, what else can they try?” That spurring of problem-solving can be a huge boon to both kids and adults. They can apply that mental agility and creativity to classroom or work projects, at-home art, cooking, decorating a room or home, landscaping and more.
2. Persistence and perseverance
Another couple key skills art can teach children are persistence and perseverance. Trusheim says, “In art, things don’t always go right the first time, and similarly, good things in life take time.” In our hectic world where we tend to flit from one thing to the next, the opportunity to sit with a project or problem for a while and keep at it until it’s what we envisioned when we started out is a gift. Learning how to fail as well as learning from mistakes along the way are invaluable lessons. If something doesn’t turn out the way we want it to, we don’t have to toss it and never try again. Art can teach us how to try again or come back to our project and make changes, seeing progress over time.
3. Communication
Trusheim says, “Art is a form of communication. It is a way to communicate the idea or picture you have in your head to those around you.” This is why young children’s drawings are so fun—they oftentimes can’t explain themselves well yet, but you can see and ask questions about what they have drawn. As children develop, so do their art and communication skills, which is why art therapy can be useful for therapists. But even when our own children create at home, if we pay attention, we parents can pick up on some different feelings they may be experiencing or maybe things that are going on at school or with friends.
4. Self-expression
Art doesn’t always have to be deep either. Sometimes it’s just a fun form of self-expression and part of the journey to finding your own identity. Maybe, through some of your child’s drawings, you learn he is really into Spider-Man or would love to go horseback riding. Those little nuggets can be helpful in simple things like birthday gift ideas or other activities he may want to try. A favorite way my mom let me be creative was redecorating my bedroom a few times during my childhood. It was fun to pick a new paint color and try a new theme or style. I have since done this a few times for my own children as we’ve moved around and as a fun birthday gift. Clothing, accessories and hairstyles fall into this type of art as well.
5. Social skills
If you choose to sign up your child for an art class, your student will have exposure to opportunities to develop a wealth of social skills. Budding artists learn from each other, can be inspired by an instructor or another student to try a new medium or technique, get to see the creative process of others, practice encouraging each other and maybe even collaborate on a group project. Youth classes are available at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art as well as the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. If you’re not sure you are ready to commit to a camp or class, try a fun parent date with your kiddo to a local paint-your-own pottery class.
Tip: Use our After School Guide to find a program for your child.

Five Things Kids Can Learn From Music Lessons
1. Educational benefits
The science behind how music helps with both reading and math is what has kept me fighting the good fight to make our kids stick with our family rule of starting piano lessons at age 5 and continuing until they are 10. At that point, they can decide whether or not they want to continue their lessons. They have to challenge themselves with their daily piano practice and learn how to read music and have both of their hands do different things at the same time. It’s also important to show children that not everything learned is taught at school, so we need to seek out learning in a variety of places. Jennifer Brooks, mother of three, says, “My kiddos do music lessons. An added benefit of music is it connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain for brain balance, which in kids with ADD/ADHD is often less developed. It’s like learning another language, which makes new neuro pathways in the brain, which is great for brain development.”
2. Resiliency and perseverance
Resiliency is a trait you may have or can develop over time and refers to our ability to adapt to challenging circumstances—in this case, learning how to read music notes or learning a new song. Perseverance is the ability to keep going and to not give up when faced with a challenge. Our family rule of taking piano lessons for five years has helped teach our kids how to keep trying week after week and to prepare for their recitals. Music works on strengthening those memorization skills as well. I think these are great traits to engrain in children early so they are equipped for future life obstacles.
3. Dedication
In our experience, piano lessons are a weekly occurrence, and practicing is a daily activity. This dedication is important to teach our kids—we will be at their lessons each week, and their job is to practice at home so their teacher can continue to teach them as they advance. We’ve often referenced learning how to ride a bike when piano practice isn’t the favorite thing to do. They didn’t just learn how to ride a bike all at once. They had to continue practicing how to balance, pedal, steer, brake and switch gears. Connecting practice to something else is a good reminder of how they have accomplished other skills already.
4. Improvement
Thanks to Facebook Memories, the Timehop app and more, it’s easy to watch a video of our children playing piano a year or more ago and see how far they have come. I’m consistently amazed at how well they can play and how much they have improved their skill from year to year. Be sure to show your child and remark on how impressed you are with his improvement in just a year’s time. Those positive reinforcements can be a powerful tool to keep motivation up. Brooks says, “Another benefit of learning music is to gain confidence in themselves and learn how to improve on the skills they’ve already mastered (so problem-solving). They also learn that there are consequences and rewards related to the amount of work put into their activities.”
5. Fun
Most of all, childhood is supposed to be fun. Even though children’s brains can be little sponges as they develop, play remains a crucial component of being a kid. One of our piano teachers would assign my youngest son to play around and improvise his own song because he has an ear for music. My middle son often preferred to learn how to play a song he liked on the radio. Once my daughter learned she could play anything, she asked for new piano music for her birthdays—everything from favorite movie soundtracks to her favorite composers. It’s also a fun skill for any talent shows or to show friends when they come over to play. Plus, if she keeps it up, it could be a lifelong skill with potential to become a side job or career. She’s already begun teaching younger students and could play weddings or events in the future.
Tip: Use our After School Guide to find a program for your child.

Five Things Kids Can Learn From Sports
1. Character building
This can be gleaned from both team and solo sports in different ways. With team sports, being part of something bigger than yourself and having a team that is counting on you can teach your children to be reliable, to try their best, to be kind and encouraging teammates and to help with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. With solo sports like golf or swimming, your child learns to have mental toughness and personal motivation. In many cases, these solo events are also a team effort, but the mental game can be different. Regardless of the sport, because it is a competition with a winner and loser, participating in athletics teaches children how to have good sportsmanship. Kids learn how to win and lose appropriately and also that they’re not always going to be the best. This also can teach them to learn from their mistakes and encourage them to put in more effort if they want to improve their own skills.
2. Team building
There’s something special about being on a team, working together and losing and winning together. You’re the only ones that know how excruciating that last practice was or how heartbreaking it was to lose by one point in the final second. Teammates become some of your closest friends because you learn how to rely on each other and spend the majority of your time with them between practices, games and any traveling. Being a part of a team is also helpful if your child is more reserved because it gives him something to belong to and a smaller group of people to get to know. Even though it really pushed my daughter out of her comfort zone in middle school, being in sports ended up being a highlight and an easy way for her to meet new people.
3. Positive peer pressure
Positive peer pressure is one of the best ways to motivate children, from potty training to reading and to participating in an activity. My son got on his best friend’s baseball team and now knows that if he wants to spend time with him, he has to keep on playing baseball because of the time commitment involved. He will see his best friend more if he’s at practice with him throughout the week and at tournaments on weekends. It’s also easier to get kids to want to go to practice if they will be spending time with their friends.
4. Body wellness
This may sound obvious, but children have a variety of natural activity levels. My kids were generally active when they were little, so we often took walks and bike rides to playgrounds or headed to open gyms during the colder months. But now that they’re older, they sometimes lose the motivation to move their bodies. As a kid, I was always involved in sports and other activities and didn’t think of needing to move my body until I went to college. As a parent, I am now trying to educate my children on how movement is important to their overall health, both physically and mentally, and how proper nutrition fuels their bodies effectively for the activities they’re involved in. I wish I would have had more education on this aspect of sports during my childhood and early adulthood.
5. Discovering an interest
I’ve so enjoyed seeing how an activity highlights my child’s natural ability and talent. When kids find an activity they love, they have fun—and parents have a blast watching them grow in their skill. Trying new activities teaches children how to step out of their comfort zone and prove to themselves that they can do hard things. Watching kids experience pride in themselves is such a delightful moment for parents. That’s why I urge my kids to try an array of activities because maybe they haven’t yet found the thing that makes them feel more like themselves or gives them joy just to do it. If they love to dance, let them dance. If they love to rock climb, let them climb.
Tip: Use our After School Guide to find a program for your child.
Stephanie Loux is the mother to Layla, 13, Mason, 11, and Slade, 8, who all keep her on her toes with a variety of activities that she enjoys watching them participate in.