How Technology can enhance Your Kids’ Creative Streak
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As technology becomes further integrated into our everyday lives, it simultaneously becomes more and more involved with how we bring up our children and hence integrated into their lives too.
We have all been guilty of sitting our kids down in front of the television for a couple of hours while we run some errands, or perhaps even handing them an iPad instead of a book to keep them amused on a rainy afternoon.
So, are we as parents limiting their creativity or enhancing it through the abundance of technology in today’s society?
That distinction is entirely up to you. The beauty of technology these days is that it has become so clever and you can do pretty much anything with it.
It is how you encourage your children to use the technological devices that are available to them, and decide whether it will either open or narrow their growing minds.
Video Games
Whether you like it or not, your kids will be aware of video games and apps from their friends at school, or even from the school curriculum itself. It is not necessarily the case that just because other kids are playing the most violent and obscene game on the market that your kids have to too. You can set the boundaries, and help them choose more interactive games which can actually be beneficial to them. A study carried out at the University of Oxford stated that: “Games provide a wide range of novel cognitive challenges; opportunities for exploration, relaxation and socialisation with peers, like non-digitally mediated forms of child play, games may encourage child well-being and healthy social adjustment.” It’s not just about which video games they are playing which will affect their overall reaction to the games, but how long they are allowed to play them for. It makes sense not to allow them to sit in front of their games console all day, but a limited amount of time a day can actually exercise their imaginative skills.
Phone/Tablet Apps
Children from as young as even 3 years old are becoming more proficient with iPads and other similar tablets. While this may sound shocking, and rather diverse from our own childhoods, but in fact it’s not such a bad thing. Tablets have an intuit ive interface which makes it easy for children to navigate. A child can easily interact and engage with a tablet touching specific areas of the tablet, even if they can’t fully understand what their actions mean. Having a child feel comfortable and in control of a technological device can be very beneficial to their future in the digital age, where a lot of jobs require adept use of a computer, and many top creative jobs your kids may aspire to are technologically based. For example, jobs in the media, photography jobs, jobs at a video production company or at a graphic design company, even office jobs require a skilled talent in computer software.
Cameras
Your kids may be using cameras more than you think. On your phone, on their phone, or on computers, games console, etc. - everything seems to have an integrated camera nowadays. And as long as these photos/videos aren’t being posted anywhere online, it’s actually quite a creative activity for your kids to be practicing their skills in front of and behind a camera. If you think about it, both sides can provide several opportunities for creativity for your kids, and an excellent boredom busting exercise, which could actually develop some very valuable skills if they keep at it. For example, just taking photos of their siblings, framing a shot, practicing responsibility with a valuable piece of equipment can be very beneficial to them in the long run. Also, if your kids are into acting, or role play of any sort, a camera could enhance this activity, and create new activities for them-watching themselves back, showing their friends and family, and even taking it as an opportunity to see their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to performing.
These are just some of the ways in which technology can be utilised advantageously for your child. The amazing thing is, with technology improving every day, who knows what the future holds, and how those updates can positively affect your child, and their development.
We have all been guilty of sitting our kids down in front of the television for a couple of hours while we run some errands, or perhaps even handing them an iPad instead of a book to keep them amused on a rainy afternoon.
So, are we as parents limiting their creativity or enhancing it through the abundance of technology in today’s society?
That distinction is entirely up to you. The beauty of technology these days is that it has become so clever and you can do pretty much anything with it.
It is how you encourage your children to use the technological devices that are available to them, and decide whether it will either open or narrow their growing minds.
Video Games
Whether you like it or not, your kids will be aware of video games and apps from their friends at school, or even from the school curriculum itself. It is not necessarily the case that just because other kids are playing the most violent and obscene game on the market that your kids have to too. You can set the boundaries, and help them choose more interactive games which can actually be beneficial to them. A study carried out at the University of Oxford stated that: “Games provide a wide range of novel cognitive challenges; opportunities for exploration, relaxation and socialisation with peers, like non-digitally mediated forms of child play, games may encourage child well-being and healthy social adjustment.” It’s not just about which video games they are playing which will affect their overall reaction to the games, but how long they are allowed to play them for. It makes sense not to allow them to sit in front of their games console all day, but a limited amount of time a day can actually exercise their imaginative skills.
Phone/Tablet Apps
Children from as young as even 3 years old are becoming more proficient with iPads and other similar tablets. While this may sound shocking, and rather diverse from our own childhoods, but in fact it’s not such a bad thing. Tablets have an intuit ive interface which makes it easy for children to navigate. A child can easily interact and engage with a tablet touching specific areas of the tablet, even if they can’t fully understand what their actions mean. Having a child feel comfortable and in control of a technological device can be very beneficial to their future in the digital age, where a lot of jobs require adept use of a computer, and many top creative jobs your kids may aspire to are technologically based. For example, jobs in the media, photography jobs, jobs at a video production company or at a graphic design company, even office jobs require a skilled talent in computer software.
Cameras
Your kids may be using cameras more than you think. On your phone, on their phone, or on computers, games console, etc. - everything seems to have an integrated camera nowadays. And as long as these photos/videos aren’t being posted anywhere online, it’s actually quite a creative activity for your kids to be practicing their skills in front of and behind a camera. If you think about it, both sides can provide several opportunities for creativity for your kids, and an excellent boredom busting exercise, which could actually develop some very valuable skills if they keep at it. For example, just taking photos of their siblings, framing a shot, practicing responsibility with a valuable piece of equipment can be very beneficial to them in the long run. Also, if your kids are into acting, or role play of any sort, a camera could enhance this activity, and create new activities for them-watching themselves back, showing their friends and family, and even taking it as an opportunity to see their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to performing.
These are just some of the ways in which technology can be utilised advantageously for your child. The amazing thing is, with technology improving every day, who knows what the future holds, and how those updates can positively affect your child, and their development.
