Like many kids these days, my children love technology. They are growing up with it, it’s perfectly normal for them to use it and I suspect they will soon be surpassing me in finding their way around the latest gadgets. I’m pretty good, but I am from the generation that had one computer in primary school – oh, the excitement when it got wheeled into our classroom and it was our turn!
Both Boo and Little Man are good at getting their homework done and enjoy completing little projects and quizzes at home. They like it, but if I can somehow incorporate technology, they become a lot more enthused and engaged. As such, we use apps, various programmes and I have been spending time getting to know my way around Typeform. As well as having some quizzes available, Typeform also allows me to create online forms, including templates for me to make a test around different subjects and personalise them. These always go down well.
Now as you’ll probably know if you’re a regular reader here, I also love good old-fashioned paper. So I tend to spend a little time with the kids harnessing all that technology has to offer for a certain amount of screen time, before getting back to basics with other favourite educational activities. Story time always goes down well here and my two are currently really into their colouring books. With these we also have a good selection of puzzle books, sketch books, dot to dots, word searches and literacy and numeracy books. Throw in jigsaw puzzles and board games and we can while away hours at home mixing screen time up with more traditional fun.
Boo likes to keep busy and active (Little Man would quite happily colour and play on the PlayStation all day if given the chance!) so we then like activities such as a scavenger hunt or tuff spot time. Oh, and a nature hunt always goes down well when we’re out and about or bug hunting in the back garden.
The thing is, with all of these things, the kids don’t feel like they are completing ‘educational’ activities, or working. They just see fun. And I do think that variety is key, whilst tapping into the play that they most enjoy.
I would happily stay home with the kids for days on end moving from gadgets to colouring to board games to a snuggled up movie afternoon. Of course our next school holiday will include the excitement of Christmas, so they’ll have plenty of new presents to keep them busy and engaged. I’m sure the break will fly by, as always!
What are your kids favourite activities?
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post
Another great post J. Harry is just too cool for primary school at the moment (he can’t wait for big school next year) so I find it hard for him to do activities much beyond Lego, which is fab, but he does like Minecraft when they are allowed their tablets, which is only Thursday, Friday and Saturday. During the summer holidays Alfie still likes doing things like writing a bucket list, writing a diary sheet when he has done something special for the day, sometimes book reviews and he is so creative when it comes to making things like super hero helmets etc from cardboard. I will probably get one more summer of printing activity sheets for him… He still loves printing colouring sheets from the computer at times like Halloween and Christmas so will suggest that to him shortly… He also gets a bit restless if he can’t go outside and play something so we often end up going down to the Rec, even if its only 30 minutes, so he can have a kick about. Love that.x
Thanks! Lego is always a hit, my two like it too. They’ve yet to discover Minecraft, though I’ve heard good things about it. Ah yes, my kids love the seasonal colouring sheets, they are fun x