Unlock your kid’s creativity with quality screen time
If you’re a parent like we are, chances are you’ve come home exhausted after a day’s work, wondering how you’re going to entertain your little one while you get the family ready for the evening routine. Many parents turn to screens to give themselves a break and their kids some distraction. But we’re not always sure that this screen time is quality screen time. Wouldn’t it be great if you could find an alternative to goofy kids videos?
Luckily, armed with the right tools, you can rest easy and be assured that your kid is actually benefiting from their time with technology. As a matter of fact, tech and young kids has been shown to unlock their creativity, too.
We at Papumba are constantly coming across great articles pointing both to the importance of creativity AND how technology can play a role in boosting your child’s creativity.
In fact, one of the U.S.’s premier research and advocacy organizations for young children, NAEYC, reinforces the benefits of technology and young children: “New web-based technologies allow the child to be the producer of the technology, adding to the appropriateness, motivation, and usability of technology tools.”
So where does that leave us? What does it look like when kids, quality screen time, creativity, and technology come together? Here’s a few examples that the Papumba team has observed.
Building worlds and stories: The sky is no longer the limit
If you’ve noticed your toddler stacking blocks, bowls, and whatever’s on your dining room table at the moment, you know that kids love to build. Fortunately for you (and your dining room table), there are cool apps that allows kids to do just that in an open-ended, child-directed way. Our own Papumba includes a fantastic coloring game that lets kids explore art and painting in kid-directed, developmentally appropriate ways.
Quality screen time, creativity, and the outdoors
One of the best things about technology and creativity is that kids can do it anywhere — including outside. Check out this STEAM site, which offers myriad activities for kids to incorporate art into STEM using technology.
As parents, most of us have, at some point, wished that we had more time to spend drawing, creating, and building with our kids. Fortunately, as more early childhood developers enter the digital marketplace, there are more choices than ever before for kids to spend quality screen time interacting with apps and technology tools that boost their creativity.
Resources:
- If you’re looking for more ideas to unlock your child’s creativity, check out this recent article by Washington Parent here.
- This article can tell you more about how creativity in the classroom and technology go hand-in-hand
