The Kids Are Alright Part 2

A final thought on technology and your kiddo:
For those of us who occasionally use technology as a babysitter, I seem to remember my mother giving coloring books to me in the car, or Color-forms tagging along to restaurants. The idea that, as a parent, I don't have to engage you (child, you can engage yourself) isn't new. What's new is that we as parents are allowing the misunderstanding of how to bring this to our homes as reason to limit and avoid "playing with our kids with technology" altogether. Remember, you are their model-show them how interactive technology SHOULD be!

A few more apps to use together as a family!

 Telagami
What it is: This voice recording app allows your child to create a cartoon-like character, and then record their voice for the character (it's like creating a monologue with an avatar, rather than in real life).

Ideas for your family: This is a great way to practice reading aloud--your kids can record a page of their favorite book or poem and then have the Tellagami say it back to them. We also just had fun making the characters, making it say silly things (don't you worry, our character did say that it farted--my daughter's six, so this was outrageously funny to her).

Educreations
What it is: A blank interactive white board that your child can draw, record their ideas, practice their math--the possibilities are endless

Ideas for your family: We use this more for "school work"--it's a great place for our kiddo to work out math problems, to share her ideas for a story, or even just draw and then record herself talking about her drawing. You can also take a picture of something and then have your child record their thoughts. We've done this hiking before--we've taken pictures of plants or animals, and then our kiddo has recorded her thoughts about what it was like to see these animals. This is a GREAT instructional tool to share with your child's teachers