There is something rather fantastic about the way the world has changed. When I was at school the teacher wrote her name on a chalkboard and one of us had the high honour of cleaning the board each day. Now, children rarely use such archaic things as technology slips into every aspect of our lives.
Most of us allow our children to play with our gadgets and tech toys because we know they can help them to learn and keep them busy. However, you can really boost this learning by working with them as they play.
To start with, engage with your children as they take part in online games and activities. If they’re on a site such as CBeebies, don’t just let them play willy nilly, ask them questions, get involved, encourage them to become more aware of the things they are learning.
This same philosophy can be applied to encouraging your children to create things while on the internet or using technology. Record a song they made on their xylophone to play on the computer, show them musical programmes so they can create crazy songs online, teach them to draw with the mouse. Your opportunities for helping to build creativity are endless and excellent for development and independence.
Spend time teaching your children how to master difficult problems or the technology itself. We may be used to waving a mouse and keyboard around, but to these little folk it is all very new and can be intimidating. We have found plenty of brilliant programmes to help develop computer control and to help develop their problem solving abilities.
Use games that have a strong educational bent, that challenge your kids, and play with them. No, it isn’t as exciting as reading your book or as necessary as tidying the house, but it is excellent for their development and bonding with you.
By actively participating in activities with your children you can learn a lot about the way they think, what their problem areas are, and what excites them. This, in turn, will help you to fine tune what they do with the technology so that they can grow and improve.