Activities That Teach Motivation to Children

Without motivation, very little would get done. Motivation is the driving force behind human behavior, even when we are not conscious of it. Children begin to understand the basics of motivation from a very early age. Seeing a desired toy from across the room motivates a baby to crawl. Learning to understand our motivation can help make us more productive human beings. You can teach children how develop motivation with a few simple activities.

  1. Motivation Reward Activity

    • A great way to motivate children is with a reward. Critics call this method bribery, but to make such a simple judgment ignores the basic impetus behind human nature. You don't have to bestow lavish gifts upon a child to engage them in a rewarding activity; all they really want is your approval. Start with an exercise that charts positive behaviors. Select a desired action like learning to read. Make up a system where, for every night reading is practiced, the child receives a gold star. The chart will need to use pictures instead of words so a non-reader can easily understand it. Perhaps an even greater motivator would be to come up with an agreement like: for every 10 stars the child receives, she gets to buy a new book.

    Inner Motivation

    • The above activity was an example of an outside motivator. Children can also be motivated by intrinsic rewards, or positive feelings they get when they accomplish a task. Fostering these feelings helps children develop a more profound internal motivation. This manifests outwardly by the child showing more patience and tenacity. An activity you can use to help a child develop internal motivation is to start them with a simple project like a picture find, where the child must locate a small object in a larger picture full of objects. The first example should be simple. When the child finds the object, praise him thoroughly. Provide picture-find samples that progressively get harder. Each time the child finds the object, he will feel a sense of accomplishment. By the end of the activity the child should gain more patience with the activity and will be motivated to search for longer amounts of time to receive the reward.

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