With homeschooling, kids spend a lot of time in front of the screen. We know many of you as parents are concerned about your children. We came up with 5 activities that do not require screen and teach one of the most important skills of the 21st century: CODING!
How to play: Get yourself a piece of paper and write down your morning routine. The keystone of algorithmic thinking is to break things down into steps. The game starts with the question of what everyone does when they wake up and what the order of this routine is.Think about having breakfast and washing your face. How does one pass from one activity to other one? It is the concept of transitions! How does one change these steps? In the end, kids should have a structure of their morning routine and understand how they can modify it. What you learn: Children will discover decomposition and transitions. They will learn how to break down a problem into smaller parts and define its pattern.
2- Teaching Robot Making Hot-dogs
How to play: Make a story about a robot just starting to work in a hot-dog restaurant. The kids are asked to teach the robot how to prepare these hot-dogs. Do not forget to mention that the robot is not a human, so it doesn’t know how to proceed with the food. They need to tell how they make a hot-dog. Then, you can ask them how they would tell these instructions to the robot. When they are ready, you can pretend to be the robot and make the hot-dogs according to their instructions. Let’s see if it tastes good. What you learn: Decomposition is an important term to understand coding. Breaking down a task into small tasks is the basics of code development.
3- Algorithm Cups
How to play: First of all, you need to print the piece below to start the game. The kids are asked to record their design on this printable. Give kids cups to start their design. They can use these cups later on to ensure that their algorithm is accurate. You should describe what each symbol means in the algorithm. They may use all of these symbols for their design. They will form their stack accordingly. What you learn: Children discover the concept of algorithms with this cup game.
4- Binary Messaging
How to play: Gather kids together and ask them to think of a secret message. Give them the ASCII code printable below. They need to transform their messages into ASCII codes as if they will store them in computers. Then, ask them to change their messages between one another. Now, they need to understand the message stored in their friend’s computer. Let’s see who is the fastest! What you learn: Children will learn how information is stored in computers as binary values.
5- If…, Then…
How to play: In this game, one of the kids determines the actions of the others. For example, if he looks at them they need to stand still. If he raises his left arm, they need to dance. Children all agree on these signals and the game starts. This way, kids pretend like computers. They obey the rules as if they are the commands pressed. The command makes them do the related move. The list of moves is endless! What you learn: Children will learn “If-Then” cause structure of coding. This is the logic that all computers were built on. Kids will discover how commands result in programming.
Technology is in every part of our lives including schools. There are many devices that can enhance the education for students. Such tools make it fun and more engaging for kids to learn while making it easier for teachers to teach and track their lessons. We came up with 5 classroom technologies you can adopt to your own lectures.
1- Smart Boards
The smart board technologies are evolving day by day and they are getting more popular. It is for sure that using smart boards is easier than white boards. With one click, you are able to clean the whole page in one second. The amazing feature that these boards have is the recording. Whatever you write or draw, you are able to record it and send it to your students or keep for yourself. Some boards are even able to turn a digital market line into a tangible visual element. For teachers, these smart boards are incredible tools for an easy, fast and colorful teaching experience. Students also enjoy these digital boards a lot.
2- Tablets, Laptops
The students of the 21st century live with their tablets and laptops. They play games or complete their homeworks with them. Many countries let students use their electronic devices in classrooms. Kids use them in order to take notes or to find the answer of a question that comes to their minds. These portable devices are easy to use compared to carrying 4-5 notebooks. These devices and apps are developed to function better regarding educational purposes.
3- Online Tools
With the growing edtech trends, many online tools are developed to make the classroom experience better. These apps or websites serve gamification to prepare a fun and fruitful learning environment. Quizzes are quite boring for children. You can use Kahoot to enhance competition and enjoy them more! Additionally, it might be tough for kids to ask questions during lectures. Use Google Forms and let them ask their questions anonymously.
4- Cameras
Cameras might be really useful devices for teachers. A camera that records the lesson can give a teacher an idea about how he performs. While teaching, it might not be easy to evaluate which words, which topics or which behaviours attract kids’ attention. A record of the lecture is a good tool for teachers to do self assessment.
5- Activity Kits
For kids of the Gen Z, reading and writing are not enough to engage with the concepts they learn. They want to discover these concepts with hands-on experiments. The best tool to enhance their learning is to provide them activity kits. For arts, you can buy a small but comprehensive instruments kit or a painting set. The whole class can share and enjoy being the owners of an artwork. For science, you can buy a robotics kit and develop your own cars and robots easily. Twin Science Kits have different options that might appeal to your students’ interests.
For years, pediatrics supported the idea that children should not be dealing with their computers or phones for more than 2 hours. With the strong integration of technology into our lives, these beliefs are about to change. Although these screens are a big part of kids’ learning, it is still an important responsibility of parents to ensure that their little ones do not grow dependent on these devices.
Problems with the screen time
Your kids cannot imagine a life without their phones, right? They were born into a world where they were directly exposed with any form of technology. The impact of these devices for learning and entertainment is undeniable. However, a poor quality screen time might have harms more than benefits for your kids’ growth:
Irregular sleeping schedule: Looking at screens for hours may cause severe sleeping problems including insomnia due to light emitted.
Obesity: Sedentary activities such as playing an online game for hours might be a cause of getting overweight.
Tendency to Violence: Many TV shows, video games and movies include violent elements. Children may learn through these and try to imitate such acts.
Trouble focusing: Kids might find it difficult to engage with real life activities after being exposed to unreal concepts.
Lack of communication: Kids may spend hours in front of their computer without speaking a word. This may lead to further problems about self expression in the future.
Why new screen time rules?
In a world where everything goes digital, it is impossible to ask kids to quit their phones. This digitalization procedure brings a more flexible approach for the screen time. Parents are encouraged to moderate their kids’ engagement with devices but they should not have strict restrictions as before.
American Association of Pediatrics(AAP) emphasizes that an overall embargo on technological devices is not necessary. Although the kids might be exposed to inappropriate content, there is an undeniable amount of educational content online. It is the parents’ job to make sure that kids get the right out of it.
What should be the approach?
How to set the limits for screen time depends a lot on kids’ maturity and age. Although it differs for each kid, we have several recommendations to ensure that your kids enjoy quality screen time:
Encourage educational content:
In the early ages, it is important to teach kids that the media available should be used for the good. It is fine to play games and enjoy your time but this should not be the main focus of screen time. Lots of educational content is available on apps and websites. For example, Twing App includes many activities related to arts, science, robotics and many more. Children can try experiments at home while inspiring each other on the platform safely.
Be a role model:
We all know kids imitate their parents. Make sure to set healthy limits for your own use of devices. Try to engage in physical activities or books to show them you are not dependent on your phone.
Engage with kids’ digital world:
Learn about their favorite activities online. Try to engage with their digital world by coming up with options that you can enjoy together on your devices.
Establish limits:
Kids might not be mature enough to set their limits and it is crucial to take the important steps before screens turn into an addiction. Recommend no screen times for dinner or car rides. Establish these rules as the whole family to engage kids better.
Turn mistakes into lifelong learnings:
Be prepared to see your child failing in handling their devices. Whether he logs into an inappropriate website or goes over the data limits, make him understand the lesson of the mistake.
Check their social media:
Social media can be challenging to handle for kids especially for younger ones. They might develop their communication skills as well as their confidence while expressing themselves online. However, make sure you have an idea of their accounts and what they share.
Take a day off:
You can consider a digital detox day or week. The family as a whole should accept to leave their phones, iPads and laptops aside for one day. You may come up with activities such as book discussions or box games to strengthen the family bonds. At the end of the day, do not forget to talk about how it made you feel to be away from the screens.
Although many jobs will disappear in the future, jobs centered around STEM are expected to get more demand. Thus, STEM learning starts to take a huge part in education both at school and at home. Besides being a composition of science, technology, engineering and maths, STEM resembles a rational growth mindset. We came up with 7 tips to incite passion in your little ones towards this interdisciplinary field.
1- Learn with experiments.
We all know seeing is a hundred times better than reading for learning procedure. In this case, experimenting and learning through experiment results is critical for kids. Whether they fail or succeed in the experiment, make sure they understand the principles behind it. Making connections with real life examples also enhances the active learning period. There are many resources online that you and your little ones can do together. You can grow your own bacteria or make your own lava lamp. You can take a look at Twing App for cool activities to do at home easily and start with your favorites!
2- Visit a museum together.
A trip to understand a historical event or how an invention was made is remarkable for every child’s learning period. Besides the informational service in museums, fun activities created for kids such as painting with Van Gogh or experiencing ancient times with VR encourage active learning. Do not forget to share what inspired you the most in the museum at the end of the trip.
3- Explore tech toys.
We all enjoy making our little ones happy with the toys they like. However, it is important that they develop themselves with these toys while having fun. Toys based on STEM are getting popular each day. The robotics sets or coding modules are available in many stores. Such toys enhance the curiosity of kids while also developing their motor skills. Twin Science Kits might be a good start for kids interested in robotic coding!
4- Learn about STEM role models.
Role models are the best teachers. They do not teach any lectures but their life lessons are inspiring. Discover such STEM role models with your kids and learn about their school life. Seeing that these amazing people such as Edison, Da Vinci from past or Elon Musk from today’s world were also kids once and they failed a lot in the journey that took them there. This way, they can engage with STEM concepts better. You can also encourage them to imagine themselves as the future STEM role models.
5- Go for a walk to discover nature.
There is an infinite amount of knowledge hidden in nature. How a plant grows or why an insect group follows each other are all amazing information for kids to discover. Go for a walk to discover what is around you in the closest park. Try to see the hidden beauties in the forests. Find insects from different families and give them your own names. See which plants prefer living together and understand the concept of mutual relationships in nature.
6- Make a DIY project every week.
21st century is proving that science and art are complements of each other. Da Vinci’s works such as golden ratio is one of the best examples of this great combination. The best way to discover this combination is to build DIY projects. Every week, design a project yourself whether it is about robotics or sewing. Make a quick research to find the best DIY projects that you are interested in and start this week!
7- Join STEM camps.
The best way to engage with STEM is to experience and share it with others. Many foundations organize camps that offer you a week full of STEM activities as well as funny games. Search for a camp that might appeal to your child’s interest areas and get ready to learn science in a collaborative environment. Kids inspire each other while developing their knowledge on related fields of science. It is much more engaging than reading about it on the Internet. Make sure he keeps a camp diary to take notes about every experience he has.
We all know those toys that are left under the couch for months or do not get out of the closet. For many parents, one of the concerns while purchasing a toy is to understand if their little ones will play with it over and over. Here we gathered toy gift options which we ensure will give your kids endless joy.
Toddlers (1-2 years)
The times when there is a whole world out there waiting to be discovered. For this age group, a smile, the first step and first words are milestones. The toys preferred for them should develop their such skills and keep them busy with colors and sounds.
Peg Board Set
Number Train
Stacking Rings
Plush Toys
Building Blocks
Count and Learn Jars
Music Band Set
Pre-School (3-4 years)
For preschoolers, keep it simple. Materials that encourage kids to develop their motor skills, language and also spark curiosity in their minds will mostly bear their attention. Another important criterion is the durability of the toys. Here are some examples:
Wooden Blocks
Brick Block Set
Trucks and Cars
Doll House
Puppets
Play Food, Pots and Pans
Doctor Set
Drum and Guitar
Wooden Threading Toys
Magna Tab
Dough Kit
Plush Toys
Grade School (5-7 years)
This age group is generally quite excited to imagine, create and learn. The toys picked for this age group should definitely leave some space for further creativity. We gathered some of them but we all know they see every material at home as a toy waiting to be discovered:
Yes, she is no longer a child! This age group is ready to take responsibilities while discovering their interests. The toys for them should meet their expectations. A little bit of challenge mixed with fun is the perfect match for them:
The summer holiday is almost over and the bells ringing for classrooms. The long and complicated back to school shopping lists might seem challenging. We prepared a comprehensive school supplies list that fits every age group for you! You can manage your time and budget well with the help of our list.
