10 skills children learn outside the classroom

7. Decision-making

Children make decisions constantly, although adults may not always recognise these moments as learning opportunities. Choosing which game to play, deciding how to spend free time or determining how to complete a simple task can help children practise making choices.

As they grow older, these decisions can become more meaningful. Children may have to decide how to divide their time between play and responsibilities, which activity to join or how to respond when friends encourage them to do something inappropriate.

Parents can support this development by giving children reasonable choices instead of making every decision for them. Learning to consider options and consequences is an important foundation for responsible decision-making later in life. UNICEF also identifies decision-making as one of the transferable skills children and young people need beyond formal education.

8. Empathy and respect

Children do not learn empathy only from a textbook definition. They develop it through relationships and experiences with other people.

When a child notices that a friend is sad, comforts a sibling who is hurt or learns to consider another person’s feelings during an argument, they are beginning to understand empathy. Family conversations can also help children recognise that people may have different opinions, needs and experiences.

Everyday interactions can therefore teach children that their actions affect other people. Over time, this understanding can develop into respect, kindness and greater awareness of others.

These are important social skills because children eventually have to function in communities where people have different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives. UNICEF includes empathy and respect for diversity among important transferable skills for living and participating effectively with others.

9. Resilience

Children learn resilience when they experience manageable disappointment and discover that they can recover from it. A child may lose a competition, make a mistake while learning something new or fail to achieve an immediate goal.

If adults protect children from every disappointment, they may have fewer opportunities to practise coping with setbacks. On the other hand, providing support while allowing children to try again can help them understand that failure does not necessarily mean the end of an effort.

Games and sports can be particularly useful in this regard because children experience both winning and losing. They learn that success may require repeated attempts and that disappointment can be followed by another opportunity.

UNICEF describes play as an important setting for developing resilience, confidence and coping mechanisms, particularly as children navigate challenges and relationships.

10. Responsibility

Responsibility is often developed through ordinary family and community experiences. A child who is expected to put away toys, care for personal belongings, feed a pet or help with an age-appropriate household task is learning that actions come with obligations.

Such responsibilities should be appropriate for the child’s age and ability. They are not meant to turn childhood into work, but to help children understand that they have a role to play in their family and community.

Responsibility also grows when children are allowed to experience reasonable consequences. If a child repeatedly forgets where they put their belongings, for example, helping them understand the consequences can teach organisation and accountability better than simply replacing everything they lose.

These lessons may appear small, but they can gradually shape how children approach commitments as they grow older.
Why learning outside school matters
The classroom remains essential to a child’s education, but it cannot provide every experience a child needs. Formal education can provide structured knowledge and academic skills, while everyday experiences give children opportunities to practise using those skills in real situations.

A child can learn about cooperation in a lesson, for example, but working with siblings or friends provides an opportunity to practise it. A teacher can explain problem-solving, but figuring out how to fix a broken toy or settle a disagreement gives the child a real problem to solve.

This is why play, family interaction, outdoor activities, responsibilities and relationships should not be treated as distractions from education. They are part of how children understand the world.

Recent UNICEF evidence continues to emphasise that play supports children’s cognitive, physical, social and emotional development, while also helping them develop creativity, collaboration, problem-solving and other transferable abilities.

Parents therefore do not need to turn every moment at home into a formal lesson. In many cases, the better approach is to create a safe environment where children can explore, ask questions, interact with others, make age-appropriate choices, experience manageable challenges and learn from their mistakes.

The most valuable education a child receives may not always happen at a desk. Sometimes it happens while playing with friends, helping at home, settling an argument, making a mistake or trying something for the first time.

School teaches children many important things, but life also teaches. The goal should not be to choose between the two. Instead, children need both: the structured knowledge they gain in the classroom and the practical skills they develop through everyday experiences.