How to motivate children up to 5 years old 2026

Within the educational system, children go through stages that evolve over time. Depending on the cycle they are in, different things will take precedence. Like this:

• During early childhood education and the first cycle of primary school, what matters is that children socialize, enjoy and integrate.
• In the second cycle of primary school, the curricular demand is literacy and calculus. That's when children go from enjoying to having to do.

Motivation is the common thread

Motivation is a basic principle for human beings. They are the stimuli that move the person to carry out certain actions and persist in them until they are completed. Therefore, it constitutes, without a doubt, the key to learning, awakening positive action in them in all the tasks they perform during their daily lives.

Amazon Essentials by Sofia Grainge - Summer 2026 Promotion

In the first years of their school education, it is important that they play actively several times a day. Therefore, children learn through the diversity of activities in which games predominate. These are the key to how to motivate children to learn. A learning “without realizing it”.

Then, in the next stage, around the age of 3, they begin to shape their scribbles, in an attempt to “write” something. It is at this moment when the stimuli on which the child will rely on to carry out their actions begin to appear from parents and teachers.

Having the child's reference adults tell him that what he does is right or wrong changes the perception that the children have about the results of their efforts. Therefore, the messages that parents and teachers give them are fundamental.

How to motivate them

When children are in the early stages such as early childhood education or the first cycle of primary school, it is important that the reference adults:

• Encourage fun. You should identify which activities are appropriate for the child's age and then set the goal of having fun. For example, if we want the child to run, we don't just take him for a run, to make it more fun we can go for a walk in the forest and enjoy nature.
• They will understand the child's capabilities. If we know that there is some activity that you really like, we must know to what extent and why you like it. For example, if a child has fun playing ball with his parents, it does not mean that he will have fun if we sign him up to play on a basketball or soccer team where there are rules of the game.
• Encourage children to play freely. Free time is very important. A little freedom can motivate children at this stage to be active. It is good to let them make decisions, to get out of the routine of activities structured by adults and choose the activity they want to do. Such as, for example, exploring the garden at home, dressing up, etc.
• Get to know the child. Help as much as possible to find activities that they like and give the child the opportunity to carry them out.

When they are older...

When children move on to other stages, such as the second cycle of primary school, the feedback that children receive from adults about the results of their actions begins to have more importance. Therefore it is important that adults:

• Promote the ability to reflect on the way of learning. That the child adopts effective strategies to solve problems. Thus putting aside the “trial and error” strategy, eliminating the perception of lack of control and increasing your self-esteem.
• Adjust the type of tasks to the child's real abilities. If they are outside your capacity, they will cause frustration and demotivation; if they are too easy or not challenging, they will demotivate and bore you.

• Issuing praise or praise with reason. If we start praising without further ado, this can have counterproductive effects: in some cases it is enough for a child to receive a sign of approval from the adult for them to stop their activity. It is more effective to support the praise with objective evidence of the activity being carried out at that moment.
• Keep in mind that repeated criticism can lead the child to behave as he believes is expected of him. If you think that adults think you have no ability, you will become demotivated and not want to show what you are capable of.
• They must have correct and consistent expectations. We should try to describe the results rather than providing only praise or criticism.