Older kids are currently shopping for back to school electronics. But how about the preschoolers: will we say yes or no to young kids and digital devices? For some thoughts on this, here is an article from journalist and parent Amy Williams:
Easy Ways To Use Technology As a Resource With Your Child
As parents, we have all heard the precautionary tales about the dangers technology poses to our children. Almost daily we are greeted with disheartening stories of cyberbullying or how the love of all things digital is stunting our children’s development. While the startling statistics are hard to ignore, parents need to realize that technology can be a wonderful resource for our kidlets.
The Benefits Technology Provides Children
Maximizing technology and making it work for our children can be daunting, but our kids literally have the world at their fingertips. While kids no longer have to sift through dusty encyclopedias or card catalogs to find the answer to a question, there are many positive ways today’s technology can benefit our children in their quest to gain knowledge.
Experts often stress the importance of powering down our devices, but technology, when used correctly, can allow children to interact with unlimited educational resources and learning opportunities. Technology can hone in our sons’ and daughters’ curiosity, problem solving skills, and development of thought processes ultimately equipping them to be lifelong learners.
11 Great Ideas For Using Technology With Young Kids
The problem with many of our modern technologies is that they are passive in nature. This passivity of our devices and games has the potential to stunt a child’s emotional, cognitive, social, and physical development that are forming during childhood. Technology can be an interference when it is not balanced or appropriate.
To prevent this from happening, our children need the right formula of experiences and parental guidance to help develop their digital literacy. As children interact with technology they gain a clear understanding of the digital footprint they are leaving behind.
Listed below is a compilation of eleven ideas to intentionally use technology to benefit young children:
- Parents need to ensure there is a balance in the home when it comes to technology. Experts recommend limiting a child’s daily usage to no more than two hours a day. It is also strongly recommended that children under the age of two avoid screens altogether.
- Use the Internet and apps available to discover signing with a child to strengthen communication. Teaching sign language to babies and toddlers will help develop emerging communication skills and ease the tension while parents try to guess what a child needs or wants. Start with a few select signs like eat, more, drink, thank you, please, sleep, etc. and add new signs as needed.
- Turn to worldwide web for amazing resources to help fine tune a child’s interests or hobbies. Learn how to create almost anything on sites like Instructables or connect with people who have similar passions over social media.
- Get moving with streaming services for yoga videos or take advantage of that Fitbit. Let technology motivate a love for physical fitness and healthy habits early!
- Strengthen bonds with extended family and friends by using face-to-face communication apps like Skype or Facetime.
- Have an Instagram scavenger hunt. Working with your child, snap photos of items that fit certain categories or topics. For example, look for objects that start with the letter L or are the color purple to help them develop a digital concept map that fine tunes their computer skills and allows them to stamp a bit of personality on their passion. Expand this idea to encompass any subject that interests your child!
- Take family photos or a child’s drawings and turn them into a coloring book. Children love pictures of themselves and coloring is a wonderful method to de-stress or improve fine motor skills.
- Turn to the Internet for songs or mnemonic devices to help with homework or learning new topics. Help a child commit this information to memory with fun songs on any topic ranging from the water cycle to naming the fifty states.
- Delve into favorite topics and explore new facts with gusto! Let’s face it, children often become passionate about a certain topic like horses, trains, or castles. Take advantage of this excitement and look for informative sites, interactive apps, games, craft ideas, and coloring pages to supplement their thirst for knowledge.
- Research books or products before you purchase them. Read reviews for honest evaluations before you splurge on the newest manipulatives, games, learning gizmos, or best seller books. Feedback from others might save you a lot of time and money or they may help you feel confident with your selection.
- Rainy days are no longer a problem when you have a world of blogs, Pinterest, and crafting resources at your fingertips. With a swipe of a finger you can be whipping up a fun craft in minutes.
Ultimately, our kids need to have a good understanding of digital literacy and social media etiquette to be successful in the 21st century. When technology is combined with face-to-face interaction, caregivers and parents can help make this time meaningful and empowering for a child. With a little awareness and effort, families can take advantage of the convenience of technology to benefit everyone without sacrificing our integrity and values.
What is one thing you will do today to use technology as a resource for your kids?
Amy Kristine Williams is a free-lance journalist based in Southern California and mother of two. As a parent, she enjoys spreading the word on positive parenting techniques in the digital age and raising awareness on issues like cyberbullying and online safety. Thank you Amy, for sharing your perspective on 123kindergarten.