Kids Need iPads
iPad, tablet, phone, laptop whatever you want to call it, we’ve all been told that their the enemy of children’s learning. For decades its been ‘not too much screen time’, ‘ get of that or you’ll get square eyes’, but why? Children need to play outside, it’s still important for physical development and having friends ‘IRL’ is still important for learning social skills. I’m not discounting having limits on screen time, but lets look at the benefits of allowing children to use screens.
Unpopular option number one, screens are an educational resource. Not all videos are absolute brain rot, some are educational. Allowing children to watch documentaries, even short ones, can build on their knowledge and inspire learning in an area of interest. We use resources like YouTube to teach phonics, read books that we wouldn’t otherwise have access to and watch documentaries about an interest area. There are other resources online that allow children to explore shapes, planets, colours and words in fun, interactive and engaging formats.
There are curators again on YouTube like Danny Go and DJ Ralphi that post exercise or dance workouts for kids. My personal favourite is Danny Go’s ‘ the Wiggle dance’ as in incorporated both gross and fine motor skills within the choreography whilst being a catchy song that children enjoy, linked bellow. There’s visual meditation and calming videos produced by groups like Cosmic Child who does yoga workouts aimed at young children and the mindfulness teacher slow content is another favourite of mine as a soothing activity before rest. I’m not saying that these are just as good as extra curricular activities like gymnastics, dance or martial arts, but online resources that get kids up and moving are just as good for physical development than just showing some music on.
Sometimes an episode of bluey is just a good distraction, and that’s ok too. Remember not everything you show your child has to be ‘educational’ content, its entirely acceptable to distract your child with something that they like on a screen for however long you get to get something else done. In childcare, we call this free entertainment and it’s perfectly good tool at our disposal to assist your child when you can’t give them your full attention.
Unpopular option number two, don’t most employers these days require an ability to operate a device with software such as Microsoft office and some form of search engine at a basic level. Children need to learn how to operate technology for future employment prospects and the earlier they learn, the more practice they have and the better they get at it. It’s not about children learning the now, its about preparing today’s children for the jobs and technology of tomorrow that simply don’t exist yet. The legacy mechanic that knows how to work on tomorrow’s flying cars could be alive now without anyone knowing it. We need to teach that adaptability from a young age.
Lets face it every generation of children born in the last century have been raised along side increasingly complex technological advances from cars and radio to smartphones. We’ve all had to adapt to technology that didn’t exist when we where born. Having well defined understanding of today’s tablets, phones, computers, ect from a young age will allow then to adapt better to the technology that will exist in the future. Your not teaching them to use something now, your teaching your child to adapt to a future you can’t predict. Kids need iPads, yes its a balancing act between tech and reality but we shouldn’t victimise one for the other, they are of equal importance.
Last but not least activity of the week.
Room temp snow. As somebody who lives in Australia’s tropical north, the chances of me seeing snow in person id pretty rare. This is the next best thing.
You will need
4 parts corn flour (starch)
2 parts plain flour
1 part bi-carb soda
shaving cream
Mix the corn flour and plain flour together. Add the bi-carb soda and mix again until clump free, then add enough shaving cream to bring to a soft paste that resembles a soft snow texture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsUPVERZFlI Danny Go’s ‘The Wiggle Dance’ .