Recently I was sitting in my office typing something up in Microsoft Word and I clicked to print it. I asked my 8-year old, who standing nearby to grab the paper out of the printer and hand it to me. He picked up the document, gave it a quick glance, and said in a mildly judgmental tone, “Sooo, decided to go with Century Gothic, huh?”
Um, how do you even know what that is?? He knows because unlike me, who took her first keyboarding class as a Sophomore in high school, our kids start learning typing, word processing, and other computer skills starting in Kindergarten. My second grader this year was making PowerPoint presentations in class and learning how to type and edit papers. This blows my mind!
We definitely live in an age where kids are very familiar with technology. As a mother to 3 (almost 4!) boys, electronics are a huge part of our lives. And while my husband and I make sure to encourage a well-rounded, balanced life full of activities like sports and outside play, we also embrace technology and have found it to be a great way to keep our active kiddos engaged, entertained, and learning. I’m going to share a few of the ways we do this at our house. I’m featuring the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet, but these things all apply no matter what type of devices you may have in your home. (Check out yesterday’s post for more about the Surface Pro 3)
Safety First
One of the best things about kids having access to electronics is that the world is at their fingertips. One of the worst thing about kids having access to electronics, is that the world is at their fingertips! Parents, I urge you to make good use of parental controls on the electronics that your children use. One of my favorite things about the Surface Pro 3, is that just like my PC, and other Windows products, I can set up an account for each of my kids and have control over exactly what they have access to.
They can’t access the profile of anyone else, and theirs is set up just for them. On our tablet, my husband and I use it for work, so aside from safety, I don’t want my kids messing with my stuff! I’m happy to know that I can hand it off to my 8 year old and on his profile he has limited access to the things we allow. His favorite games are there, a few appropriate websites and apps, and we can set timers (my favorite!) With the timers, he can play for say, 30 minutes, and then it locks and tells him time is up. There’s an option there to ask your parent for more time, and I can easily give him 15 more minutes. I can also get detailed reporting of what my kids are spending their time on, and any websites they access, which really gives me peace of mind.
Art and Creativity
Want to know a secret? We don’t own paint. Never have. I see pictures on Facebook of my friends’ toddlers covered head to toe in water colors and finger paint with captions like, “having fun with art today!” and I can’t look. It’s not cute; it looks like a disaster. You know what’s not a disaster? This.
I’m not going to lie, I am just as obsessed with the app FreshPaint as my kids are. If you have a Microsoft device, try it out. Little fingers have just as much fun as big fingers.
My kids’ favorite thing to do is snap a photo of themselves with the built-in camera and then convert it to a drawing that they can then paint. It always starts off cute, and then they inevitably put monster eyes on someone or paint their face green.
There are so many fun art and design applications on tablets these days, and it’s a great way to get kids interested in being creative and using their imaginations. And let’s face it: it’s much, much cleaner.
Education
As a parent, my favorite aspect of my kids’ obsession with electronics is the ability I have to trick them into learning stuff. The simple fact is that games make things fun! During these summer months we have rules at our house that along with lazy summer days, we also do chores and we do school work. They don’t even know half the time when I’m making them do homework when it’s disguised as a fun math game, or story time. The summer is a great time to pick a random topic and spend some time learning more about it. My boys have a particular interest in space, planets, and stars, so we’ve had tons of fun laying out on the trampoline on warm summer nights studying constellations with SkyMap. Like I said, the world at your fingertips. Literally!
Crafting
My comments about painting may have made it sound like I’m anti-crafting, which is not true. I’m just all about selective crafting. I often get overzealous and hand my kids books and websites about science experiments and craft projects and tell them to pick something fun we can do together. Then I look at the supply list and realize I need 8 cans of liquid nitrogen, a Moroccan horse hoof, extra strength super glue and 4 acres of open space and I say, “Um….so is there anything in there that uses tape and a piece of paper? We can do that one.”
I created a brilliant solution (if I don’t say so myself) by collecting projects I already know are doable and organizing them all on a Pinterest board. That way, just like when I “let” my kids choose what they have for dinner (between two options I’ve already picked) they can browse through the fun activities at will and I look like super mom when they point to homemade rockets and I say, “Sure! Because I’m an awesome Mom and we do things like that!”
We have tons of fun ideas like this on Our Best Bites. Check out our tutorials for Ginormous bubbles, or Homemade Lava Lamps and have some fun with the kiddos.
Entertainment
I’m not all about homework and creativity. Sometimes it’s also okay to just relax and have fun! We keep our Microsoft Surface Pro 3 loaded with age-appropriate games and entertainment for our young boys as well. Sometimes after a long day of playing out in the sunshine, you just want to relax on the couch and look for Waldo.
Or build a blanket fort and watch a movie inside. The Surface Pro 3 has awesome Dolby® enhanced sound, and the kickstand and large screen means there’s no fighting about who gets to hold it or sit closest. There’s definitely something magical about watching a movie in a blanket fort.
We have an upcoming road trip, and we’ll definitely be loading a microSD card with our favorite movies in hopes of lulling them into a comatose sleep.
As you can see, technology can be a great part of balanced family life, helping everyone to stay organized, entertained, and engaged!
We’d love for your family to integrate a little more technology as well, so we’re thrilled to be giving away a $500 Best Buy Gift Card to a lucky reader! Use it toward a Surface Pro 3 or any other fun electronics or accessories that your family will enjoy, and have an extra fun summer!
WOW!! What a great tablet I could really use one of these for the ease and multi-functionality of it. I will definitely be looking into one of these for our family possibly 2!
I am about convinced to leave my iPad for the Surface Pro!
I’m pretty sure my husband is just counting the days until his laptop dies and a Surface is what he wants. If I win this card it’s what I’ll get him for his 40th birthday!!
It’s crazy to see your son doing Where’s Waldo on a tablet! I still have all my Waldo books from my childhood.
I would use the tablet to look up recipes, write longer emails (that aren’t easy to type out on my phone), etc.
I would love to use it while cooking. Love that you stand it up on its own!
I want to try out That Paint app- looks so cool!
I would use definitely use it for cooking. Our computer is on a desk on the side of our kitchen and right now I have to keep walking back and forth to check the recipe and this tablet would make it so much easier. I also the Kindle app to read books on my phone, but with such a small screen you have to “turn” the page constantly. That problem would be solved with a tablet!
Wow, how fun! I would use this for so many things! Organization, entertainment for myself and especially my kiddos and cooking! Great product!
With 4 kids, a Surface Pro 3 will help out with the fighting over who needs to use the computer for homework vs who wants to use it for fun.
The meal planning tool looks awesome!
My husband has been raving about wanting the Surface since it came out.
This is exactly what I need! I really need to add a computer or tablet to the mix for my 4 boys as we have more and more need to use electronics and only my little computer to pass around. Thanks for the giveaway!
I can see my can and I fighting over this.
Currently we only have my laptop from work, and I don’t think my employment will last much longer. This would be awesome to get a replacement that we actually own.
I have 3 teenagers – one about to go to college. This would be wonderful for them to use for papers, powerpoints, and other assignments. Great write-up.
I’ve never had a tablet so I would like to have one and see all the things it can do for me.
I have a Samsung tablet and my kids LOVE IT. But I don’t think it can do near the stuff that this thing can do. My oldest uses the desktop computer because she knows what to do but I find that with my youngest I have to sit there with him and *GASP* I don’t always have time. He can work the tablet like nobody’s business though. I.WANT.ONE.OF.THESE. 🙂
Hmmm… maybe this is better than my iPad! I like that you can print so easily from it and you can use it with a keyboard!
I would use it try some of those microsoft apps! The painting one looks awesome for my little ladies!
The Surface Pro looks like a fantastic resource for so many uses! Thanks for the opportunity to win a gift card to buy one!
This gift card would be a HUGE blessing for us! Our laptop died and we need a new one, and my daughter is starting Chinese Immersion and they require a tablet – $500 would go a long way here!!! Pick me 🙂
Laptop replacement! My power cord has a short in it and I have a battery life of about 5.15908 minutes (give or take). A Surface Pro would also help me to conquer my fear of Windows 8 🙂
I’d love a surface pro! We could definitely use a technology upgrade around here!
This is a fun series, and I think it fits fairly well with your blog theme. I like the specific examples you gave about things to do with your kids (I have none but have 4 nephews we visit). I had no idea about the child profiles, and I LOVE the idea of timers.
I love that you can have separate profiles for everybody and put timers on it!!! Looks great for keeping up on my kids school a fun way!
Love the versatility of the Surface!
I would like to use it to look up recipes, check e-mail, and more!
I’m a teacher, so I would looove to have a Surface. So useful in the classroom.
I’d also use this for recipes! Love the kickstand. I always find new recipes online and hate printing everything out.
Entertaining my 3 year old sounds awesome!