Although general knowledge may not hold much weight when your child is in school, a strong knowledge base plays an important role as your child grows older. The more knowledgeable your child, the more capable he comes across as.

Kids really do like increasing their knowledge about various subjects, especially if they are unrelated to school work. Many kids will sit and cram countries and their capitals for no reason at all, other than the fact that they want to increase their general knowledge. Trivia fascinates kids, and they can spend all day just trying to incorporate more and more facts into their brains if they are encouraged and given access to general knowledge books and games.

Here are some more fun ways that you can build your child's general knowledge.

Names of Countries

This game generally starts with the word A. Take the name of any country, city, town or village which begins with the alphabet A. For example, you say Agra. Your child should then take the name of another place beginning with the last alphabet, which in this case is A again. So your child may say something like Ahmedabad, and then the third person takes the name of a place beginning with D.

This game can be played by any number of people, and is a great game to play when travelling in the car. Needless to say, extremely young children cannot participate in this game, but your youngest child can listen and learn while the elder sibling plays the game with you and your spouse.

Encourage your child to remember names by dropping hints. "What is the capital of Canada?" In this manner your child will grow well versed with capitals too.

Newspaper

Give your child a relatively light section of the newspaper to read on a daily basis. Depending on his age, you could perhaps mark out a paragraph or an entire article for him. Give him a pen, and let him circle all the words he does not understand. Then, explain the meanings of the words to him. Keep a dictionary handy, so you can just ensure your child is given the accurate meaning.

Make sure that the paragraph you give your child to read is relatively simple, depending on his age, and is on a topic which he can easily understand or relate to. For example, you could let him read something from the sports or entertainment section.

This exercise will increase your child's vocabulary and will also encourage your child to get into the habit of reading the newspaper on a daily basis - a very good habit. There are a surprising number of people who do not read the newspaper everyday, and it certainly does not give others a good impression. Recently at a party someone made a passing mention to Jemima Khan and Hugh Grant, and 24-year-old Priti looked completely dazed, and said "Who is Jemima Khan?" The others in the group looked at her in disbelief, gave a hasty explanation and proceeded to ignore her for the rest of the conversation. A person can be very intelligent, but if she is completely clueless about major world events, she will generally come across as someone not too bright at all.