Kids soak up knowledge like sponges, so keep them interested and back up their school work with fun brain trainers that they can do at home. Even if you are pressed for time, build some of our ideas into your everyday life to keep your children curious and eager to learn.

Beginning to read: Magnetic letters and words really come into their own here. Traditionally used on the fridge, you can buy magnetic boards to use the words and letters on the comfort of your sofa. Reading words out of the context of books can help boost your child’s memory and recognition skills. Also, read signs and writing to your child wherever you see it – this is invaluable as it teaches children that communication through words isn’t confined to books.

Working with numbers: Again, magnetised numbers are great for this. Also calendars are invaluable, learning the days of the week and the months of the year is a great way of teaching number recognition and sequencing.

Simple Science: Weighing objects is fun – ask your children to guess how much things weigh – a glass of water, a plate, a coat – and see how close they get! Which things float, which things sink? Ask children to guess what will float or sink and why do they think that is? This is a great one to play in the bath. Older children will appreciate fun science kits where they can learn through play.

A globe is a wonderful thing to have around – kids are fascinated by them and they are a great way of demonstrating how countries relate to each other.

Learning through play. Board games are an invaluable resource. Counting numbers on a dice and relating that to the number of spaces that you move your piece, taking turns, making logical decisions and oh, did we forget to mention that playing games is fun! Trivial Pursuit-style games get your kids thinking and can be the springboard to all kinds of interesting conversations.