What are the best extracurricular activities for children?

Ahaana’s summer vacations are about to start, and Mrs Malhotra is ready to sign her daughter
up for after-school activities. She’s spoilt for choices as there is a list of extracurricular
activities to choose from and wants Ahaana to learn music, painting, reiki, a new language
(maybe French), magic, and so much more. While Ahaana is super excited to learn and explore
new things, a question haunts Mrs Malhotra — what are the best extracurricular activities for
Ahaana?

Although it’s exciting to see children learn and develop a passion, how do you decide which is
the best one? Does public speaking count or is abacus an extracurricular activity? Well, the
truth is, when you are in a quest to find the “best”, you end up missing out on the most
important thing — to focus on your child. Rather than looking out for something special and
for best extracurricular activities, shouldn’t Mrs Malhotra match an activity to Ahaana’s
personality?
Best extracurricular activities and personality traits:

- Attention to detail, clarity of thoughts: Ahaana might be a great observer and already has a

passion for reading. This has improved her clarity of thoughts and the first thing she always
does when she learns a new word is open up a dictionary and understand its meaning. Wait,
does that mean Mrs Malhotra can sign Ahaana up for an online creative writing course?
Something that might act as an outlet to communicate her thoughts more effectively and help
her become a famous writer, one day?

- Confidence, connection: Unlike some of the other children, Ahaana doesn’t need to be told

more than once to recite a Sanskrit shloka when a guest visits the Malhotra house. She is
extremely confident and connects easily with everyone she speaks to. An activity on mastering

public speaking might be a perfect option for Ahaana this summer vacation and who knows,
Mrs Malhotra might be attending her daughter’s Ted talk someday

- Charismatic, convincing: When the covid-19 pandemic hit the country last year, Ahaana went

around the society (wearing a mask) and convinced all her friends to start doing the same. It
felt like magic — how someone as young as Ahaana could be so charismatic, influential and

was able to convince children to do what she truly believed in. These traits do sound like that
of a great magician and how cool would it be to sign up Ahaana for one of these courses over
the summer?

- Creative, Curious: If not a great observer, Ahaana might be a creative and curious child, like

her friend Pummy’s daughter. She always dances with joy on seeing a rainbow and is known in
the family for scribbling the walls with crayons. Probably activities on doodling and painting
can be a good start, in this case, something that will also help her develop her style with
colours
We can go on and on but what we are trying to say is know your child. You might spend years
and years perfecting their physics but there might be a Salman Rushdie in them that you had

no clue about. You might sign them up for four coaching classes to crack the JEE but there
might be an M. F. Hussain in them that you had no clue about.

Allow your kids to explore their passion, their interests as per their individual personality
rather than hunting for best extracurricular activities for them. Maybe it won’t get them
scholarships at this stage, but what is more important than discovering things your children
are genuinely good at and something they can enjoy doing for relaxation and pleasure.
Something that they are so passionate about that it might become their career, one day.

Mrs Malhotra has started to observe Ahaana better now, have you?