Study tips for kids that research actually supports

Four simple habits have the best research behind them. Have your child test themselves instead of rereading. Spread practice over a few short days. Mix different kinds of problems together. And ask them to explain why an answer works.

Why these four? A 2013 review looked at ten common ways to study. It rated testing yourself and spacing out practice as the most useful. It rated rereading and highlighting as low.^[1]

None of this needs a tutor or a workbook. It fits into ten minutes after dinner or on the way to school.

One honest note first. Most of the research comes from older students and adults. This post points out the studies done with children wherever they exist.

Test yourself instead of rereading

Before your child looks at their notes, have them try to remember what is in them. Researchers call this "retrieval practice". It simply means pulling something out of memory instead of reading it again.

In a 2006 study, students read short passages. Then they either read them again or wrote down what they remembered. Five minutes later, the rereaders did better. But two days and one week later, the students who had recalled remembered more.^[5]

Watch out for one trap. The students who reread felt more sure they would remember, even though they remembered less.^[5] Rereading feels smooth and familiar, so it feels like learning.

This is not only a lab result. A 2017 review of many studies found practice tests helped more than studying again. Those studies came from elementary school, high school and college.^[6]

Real grades went up too. In one set of classroom studies, sixth graders took short, low-stakes quizzes in social studies. They did better on their real chapter and semester exams for the quizzed material.^[7]

Younger children seem to benefit as well. In three experiments, 88 fourth graders who practiced recalling words remembered more than those who studied the words again. Strong and weak readers gained alike.^[8]

A 2019 review of studies with preschool and elementary children found clear signs that recalling helps children too. It also noted that only a little research has looked at children directly.^[4]

Spread practice over several days

Plan short sessions on different days instead of one long one. Cramming works for tomorrow, but it fades fast.

A 2006 review pulled together 839 results from 317 experiments. Spacing out practice helped people remember more later (the "spacing effect"). And the longer you need to remember something, the bigger the best gap between sessions.^[3] Most of those tests were about words and facts, often with adults.

One small study with young children is worth knowing. Children aged 5 to 7 had four short science lessons about food chains. Some had them all in one day, some over two days, and some one a day for four days.^[9]

A week later, the one-a-day group was best at using what they learned on new examples.^[9] It was a single study of 36 children, so treat it as a good sign, not proof.

At home, spacing means ten minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That beats thirty minutes on Thursday night before the test. It also means coming back to last week's spelling words, not only this week's.

Mix up the problems

Mix different kinds of problems in one practice set. Most worksheets do twenty of one kind, then twenty of the next. Mixing (called "interleaving") makes the child first pick which method each problem needs. That choice is the skill a test really checks.

In a 2010 study, children practiced four kinds of math problems, either in blocks or mixed. Mixing felt harder, and they made more mistakes while practicing. But it roughly doubled their scores on a test the next day.^[10]

Their mistakes showed why. The mixed group got better at matching each problem to the right method.^[10]

It worked in a real school too. Over three months, 126 seventh graders did the same math problems, either mixed or in blocks. On a surprise test one day or 30 days later, the mixed group scored higher. The gap was bigger after 30 days.^[11]

Ask them to explain why

Ask your child to explain how they got an answer and why it works. Explaining out loud, even to yourself, links the new idea to what a child already knows.

Researchers call this "self-explanation". A close cousin is answering "why" questions about a fact ("elaborative interrogation"). The 2013 review rated both as fairly useful.^[1]

One study tried this with 85 children aged 8 to 11. They were learning a tricky kind of math problem. Some were asked to explain how other children got right and wrong answers, and why each was right or wrong.^[12]

Explaining helped them use the method on new kinds of problems. They still remembered it two weeks later.^[12]

At home this sounds like "How did you get that?" and "Why does that work?" Ask with real interest, not as a trap. A child who feels tested will say "I don't know" to make it stop.

Why rereading feels like it works

Let your child read new material once, carefully, then switch to testing. Rereading and highlighting are the most common ways students study. But the 2013 review found they do not reliably raise test scores.^[1]

They are not useless. A careful first read is how learning starts. The problem is the second and third read. The page looks familiar, and familiar is easy to mistake for remembered.^[5]

Testing yourself has the opposite problem. It feels hard, and a child may get things wrong. That struggle is often the useful part.

The 2019 review of research with children found the gain was biggest when recalling took effort but the child got there in the end.^[4] So aim for questions hard enough to make them think, but easy enough that they usually succeed.

A ten-minute routine at home

Here is one way to fit all four habits into ten minutes, three or four times a week. Change it to suit your child. The order is not magic.

What this looks like at each age

Match the habits to your child's age. Little ones need play, not study sessions. Research with ages 3 to 5 is limited, so treat those ideas as gentle habits, not techniques.^[4]

At every age, keep it light. A few questions in the car or at dinner count. The goal is a child who knows how to learn, not a nightly battle.

Tala lessons end with a short off-screen "home mission", a small thing to find or do at home. It is one easy way to bring a lesson back into talk the next day. You can read how we handle children's data on our safety page.

This guide is general information for parents, not medical or professional advice. Spotted an error? Email us from the report page.