The digital world plays a big part in our lives, and children are brought up with it from a very young age. Quite often, they know more about digital devices than their parents, and the technology that goes with them can be good in many ways. It has had a large impact on education, and many of the schools your children attend will use digital devices and the latest technology to some degree. It is also good for youngsters to do things other than being constantly on their iPad, Xbox, or whatever other digital device they may have, so here are just a few suggestions on non-digital things to occupy your children with.
Some of these might seem obvious, but for parents who have grown up in a digital world, there might be a few things on this list you haven’t thought of.
Books
Children can read on their digital devices, but it is not the same as reading a physical book. There are so many for them to choose from, such as Captain Underpants, if they want funny books, or the Harry Potter books if they are after adventure. Then, of course, there are all the classic children’s stories like The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, and Snow White.
Of course, the age of the child has to be taken into account when choosing books, but with stories like The Gruffalo for young children and Charlie and The Mouse for those that are a bit older, there is no end of books to choose from. There are books full of nursery rhymes, alphabet books, music books, and encyclopedias or other books they can learn from.
You do not need to spend any money on them; just take your children to join the local library. There, you will find a huge array of books for them to choose from.
Reading is a basic art that everyone should be able to do and encouraging your children to read books will not only help them with this, but it can occupy them for hours.
Jigsaw Puzzles
Jigsaw Puzzles are a great way to keep children occupied, and many adults as well. You can buy them designed for all different age groups, with just a few large pieces for little hands to deal with, up to jigsaws with many thousands of much smaller pieces.
The pictures on them vary greatly as well. You will always be able to buy them for your children’s favourite TV or film characters, and these puzzles can encourage them to get involved with jigsaws. As they get older, the pictures they choose will change. Completing jigsaw puzzles is a hobby that often continues into adulthood and one that all family members can take part in.
Colouring And Drawing
Colouring and drawing is a brilliant way to get children to be creative. With the many different mediums of colours, such as pencils, wax crayons and felt tips, and colouring books galore on sale, it is easy to find colouring they will enjoy. Even just plain paper that they can draw their own pictures on can give them many hours of fun, and who knows, you might just find a budding artist.
Coloring is something that has all generations hooked and there are groups on social media dedicated to it. They work on the same principle of buying or downloading pictures to color, but of course, they are more suited to adults.
Card Games
Card games can be a good way to help your children learn numbers while they are having fun. Starting with simple games where they have to match pairs of numbers, you can progress to more difficult ones as they get older. There are packs of cards especially for children, like Happy Families, which helps to teach them grouping things together.
All games are a way of learning while they play, but it is even more so with card games. Most of them will need more than one player, but there are several forms of Patience that they can play on their own.
Board Games
Board games are available in simple forms, such as Ludo or Snakes and Ladders, and then there are the more complicated ones such as Monopoly or Risk. Monopoly can help them to understand money and in Risk, they will learn about maps and geography. Then there are games like Yahtzee that will teach them about probabilities, and Game Of Life, which answers all sorts of questions for them.
Some schools use these board games in the classroom as a teaching aid, and as they all need at least two players, they can help teach kids to interact with other people.
The beauty of board games is that in a family situation, anyone can play and have fun.
Playing Outdoors
Kids love to ride their bikes, play hide and seek or games like tag. Being outdoors is good for their wellbeing and helps to keep them healthier. It can be a problem if the children are very young, as you have to make sure the area they are playing in is very secure, but apart from that, you may find you have trouble persuading them to come back in at meal times.
Hopscotch is a classic outdoor game, which used to be marked out on the ground with chalk. Nowadays, you can buy hopscotch mats that have the layout printed on them. The same has happened for other classic games such as marbles and Foursquare.
The Benefits Of Non-Digital Play
Encouraging your children to play non-digital games can help them to become more sociable, and it can be part of the learning process without them even realizing it. Of course, digital devices such as smartphones and tablets have their part to play in your child’s development, but there needs to be a happy mix of the two. In the technological world that we live in, it would be wrong to stop digital games altogether, as they will need to know as much as possible about digital devices if they are to progress later in life in their chosen careers.