Playing versus Watching others Play

Games are not what they used to be. Play is fun and the easiest way to learn something. As we watch kids play, they are actively learning a zillion things, but we only notice them playing. In the interaction naturally built into play, kids learn cooperation, fairness, give and take, competition, handling loss, reading emotion and a long list of things we might not even know about.

Star Wars Trilogy Video Game by Anthony Crider

A big part of playing, be it a spectator sport, a video game or just a game on the street, is watching others play. We watch better players to learn from their game. Occasionally we watch players of a lesser caliber to have some fun or to teach them to play better. There is also a rush in watching a competitive game. Spectators can take sides and root for their teams. Games can also be used to familiarize kids with computers via play.

Watching others play has always existed, but watching an e-league is definitely a big change. It means big money is being poured in. Let's Play videos exist and a huge following has been built up over the past few years. Just like other games, kids learn while watching others play video games. One thing parents need to make sure is that kids are watching age appropriate videos and that they don't get addicted to violence and bad language. One way to ensure this by joining them while they watch. Go on, have some fun!

Activities for this Earth Day

April 22, 1970 was a remarkable day.

From the West Coast to the East, people of all ages stepped out of their comfort zones and participated in rallies and protests bringing environmental degradation center stage. Americans tired of polluting factories, untreated sewage flowing into water bodies, oil spills, uncontrolled usage of pesticides, toxic dumps, garbage patches, shrinking green spaces, extinction of wildlife and a whole other bunch of issues decided to do something about it. That day saw an unusual coming together of people - of all ages, hues, political beliefs, backgrounds - and this resulted in the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In 1990 this movement went global as 200 million people participated world wide!

Earth Day by Christopher Michel

Ideally everyday ought to be Earth Day, but the way our lives are structured, we do not live lives which are environmentally friendly. The goal is to live a sustainable life on earth. The need of the hour is to educate our kids about living a sustainable life. Towards this end, here are three activities for kids:

1. Encourage them to spread the message

With schools having a strong curriculum which includes environmental education, kids are ideal spokespeople to go out into the community to spread the message of living a sustainable life. People need to know the consequences of their actions. If kids are the kind to play kid games, encourage them to play more games built around the environment. This will help them learn about the environment in a fun way. 

2. Ask them to adopt a simple habit

Sit together as a family and see if you can change something small which will make your life more environmentally friendly. Perhaps kids can carry a bag when they help out in the shopping or maybe, they will switch off lights as they exit their rooms. Alternatively they could decline the plastic cutlery and tissue sent with home delivered food. 

3. Make recyclable gifts

A good way for kids to understand recycling is to make something out of recycled material. Just a few decades ago this was not uncommon. But today it has to be taught because our lifestyles have changed drastically. You could use old beads to make a new neckpiece, use old paper to make a papier mache mask, use old plastic containers as pots for gifting plants or make new things out of old clothes. 

This Earth Day try to make a difference. It's easy and simple. Our planet sustains us, let us help by living a sustainable life. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. 

Take an Eggciting break from Online Games!

Not so fun fact of life: video games can be addictive. It would be real sad to have a kid at home who goes from enjoying simple online games to getting addicted to them. Such things are insidious and need to be caught on time. While parents are feeling happy that the kids are enjoying educational content, it might just be yet another step to addiction. 

fun 32 by Yana Sedlak

A simple way to avoid walking down such paths is to create a balance. A good balance between video games and other activities. Though video games are all about immersive experiences, there is nothing more immersive than real life. Kids need to be alive to things in real life. One of the best ways to do this is via play and activities. Outdoors play is very important for kids, but sometimes kids need to enjoy some indoor activities. With Easter Sunday around the corner, here are 3 activities involving eggs and just playing together:

1. Rubberize an Egg

This is by far one of the coolest experiments I have ever seen. All you need is a real egg, half a glass of vinegar and some food coloring(optional). Put the egg in half a glass of vinegar. Leave it untouched for three days, and voilà you have yourself a rubberized egg! 

Handle it gently, even if it feels nice and rubbery, for inside the skin, the rubberized egg is still and egg!

2. How many eggs can you carry?

This one definitely needs wooden or plastic eggs. They need to be unbreakable. For every person playing you need about 6 eggs. Sit around in a circle. Take turns to tuck an egg into the crook of your elbow or under your armpit to start with. None in your pockets or palms. As the game continues from player to player, keep increasing the number of eggs you can tuck into various spots on your body. The winner is one who can tuck away the maximum number of eggs!

3. Egg-spotting

You just need and egg and a limited space, as in a smallish room. Players take time to hide the egg and the rest of the players have to spot it. The player who has hidden it, needs to call out how close or far the rest are from the egg. As they get closer, the player needs to say they are getting warm. When they are real far away, it's cold or ice-cold. If players are just a whisker away from the egg, well, they are red -hot. This involves lots of shouting and fun - enjoy!

4. Make Bath Bombs

This is one of my favorite activities. Simple and fun to make it, but even more fun to see them when popped into water. All you need is 2 measures of bicarbonate of soda, 1 measure of citric acid, 10 drops of food coloring and a teaspoon full of olive oil for binding. Mix it all in thoroughly and fill the egg molds. You could leave it out for 24 hrs or pop them into the freezer until they are frozen. Get them out and pop them into a bowl of water to see the bomb's effect. 

Well, Easter's around the corner. Enjoy the activities and have a Happy Easter!

5 Activities from the Natural World for Kids

In this digital age, digital devices are used by parents and teachers to interact with kids. There's the ubiquitous phone, TV, computer, gaming console etc. Occasionally it is good to interact with kids, without digital bridges. Parents must give kids their full attention, especially in the younger years, when kids keep looking towards the parent for assurance and comfort. It is a fact, that kids react to the voice of their mother even before they are born, so where is the surprise in mothers and fathers playing important roles in the formative years of their kids!

Image Credit: Javierosh

When parents are busy, especially if they are working parents, it is easy to put educational preschool games in the hands of a child and feel less guilty about not spending time or playing, with the child. These games are good for the child, but they cannot replace the good that comes from interacting with a child.

Here are 5 activities for interacting with your child in the natural world:

1. Play Imaginary Games
Playing imaginary games and building an elaborate imaginary world with characters and other details is not a sign of troubled child. It is just fertile imagination. In fact 'paracosm' is the word which describes this imaginary world with it's own entities, geography and other details. Some of these imaginary worlds persist in an adult's world too. Research shows that older children, single children and children who don't watch much TV, create such worlds. Research suggests that it could be because they have the opportunity. Such imagination requires unstructured time. Here is a list of imaginative play.

2. Go on a Nature Walk
Right from when a child is young, it is imperative for a child to understand that humans are a part of Nature around us. We are like a puzzle piece in an evolving puzzle. Taking a child out into Nature is a good beginning. Growing this into a Nature walk is a simple and fun activity. Recognizing elements  - stones, trees, rivers, lakes, birds, animals - of the world we live in a very important part of a child's life. There must be a sense of belonging in the outdoors. If it's raining, then there's always some indoor activities for a rainy day.

3. Build something 
There's just something about building stuff, that can be engrossing. Just piling up blocks or pillows are great activities for little kids, but using sand, mud, snow, sticks etc. is much more fun. As they grow, it is amazing to see their imagination flower. One of the simplest activities is to get cartons and let a child lose on them. They can stack them, crawl into them, sit inside/on them, carry them over their heads, pile things into them, the exploration can be endless.This is great for a rainy day, but when the weather is good, head out.

4. Go shopping for food
Food is crucial to a human's survival. We eat to live, although there are many who live to eat!
Shopping for food is a fascinating activity for younger kids. They can explore color, texture, words, communication with people at the store via shopping. In fact as they age, they can learn responsibility by shopping for the family from a certain section, while the adult wraps up shopping in another section. Kids feel they are contributing, even as they learn to identify things, understand expiry dates, weight, good quality, ingredients which go into a particular dish etc.

5. Involve the child in simple chores
Living within a family is all about co-operative living. The give and take, wheeling and dealing, empathy for family members, responsibility etc., all this is absorbed by a child even as they do simple chores. As long as the chore is not harmful, a child can do it. Parents have to consciously create small chores for kids, slowly growing them as the child grows up and it's abilities improve. It is also a good way to build family relationships.

So here are 5 ways you can interact with your kids, in the Natural World. This is the world we belong to, and it is imperative that they understand what they are a part of.

4 Great Ideas for this New Year

December is a good month to look back. It's also a good time for reflection and planning ahead. Apart from all the serious reflection and planning, it is also a good time to celebrate life with the kids.

Happy New Year by Thanasis Anastasiou

Make memories to last a lifetime. Kids should be able to remember these moments of fun and playing together. Here are some activities which are easy to organize:

1. Dressing Up with a Twist
It's quite common for people to decide what they want to dress up as and then to go ahead and do that. Give that a twist. Everyone decides for someone else. Yes, you dress us as what another person in your family wants you to be dressed up as. Make sure everybody understands that sourcing outlandish clothes and other gear is not possible. It is strictly a 'source from home and wear it at home' activity.

2. Remembering Lines
Sometimes kids get their best lessons in life from ogres, dragons and pandas. Something about movies attracts us young and old to the moving pictures. Have a fun game where everyone takes turns to name a movie they really like and then they need to rattle off a line from the movie.

3. Create a Time Capsule
Open up a nice clean and dry bottle. Every one decides to put 1-2 things into the bottle, which will remind them of things they did through the year. For babies, other family members drop in a picture or something else that will remind them of this year. Notice how this opens up a barrage of memories. It's also a great way to remind you of things you did through the year. Once done, seal it and put away the bottle, to be opened up at some time in the future.

4. Make a collage 
Go through old photographs from the year together. Pick 10-12 pictures everyone approves of. Put them all together in a collage software and print it out. Hang it up to remind you all of a wonderful 2015.

Go ahead, pick an activity you like for New Year. If you have other ideas of your own, let us know them.

Happy New Year!

3 Activities your Family might enjoy this Christmas

Christmas is a time when members must play together and eat together. It is not a time to be alone. With busy lifestyles that families have, many have lost the rhythm of doing things together. With people spending an inordinately long time alone on their devices, Christmas is a good time to pull back and bond.

Here are 3 activities your family might enjoy doing together:

1. Work on a large jigsaw

Redhill Family Celebration - Nov 2014 -The Team Celebrates A Job Well Done by Gareth Williams

This is for families which might include kids interested in jigsaw puzzles. Buy a large one or you could even try out a 3d puzzle ball. Many of these puzzle offer a way to make it permanent once complete.

2. Cook up a delicious big meal
This is definitely for families which enjoy food. The whole family can participate and decide on a menu. Yes, it could be a little off beat, but then as long as it gives everyone a chance to participate, it is a great way to bond!

3. Visit relatives you otherwise would not
As our lives get busier, we become more and more of islands. We cut out all those parts which feel are extraneous. This is okay for us adults, but kids need the comfort of large families. They must strike friendships and establish long term relationships of their own.

So try one of these three this year and Merry Christmas!

Playing Together

Many families today are single child families, unlike earlier times, when families were mostly larger and siblings ranged from teenagers to young tots. There are definite pluses in having smaller families, for kids can have more resources, and time from their parents and caretakers. But, there is the loss of warmth and bustle of large families, which can act as safety nets in times of crises. Most importantly the biggest plus of a large family is this - kids grow up with siblings who double up as playmates. Therefore as the size of the family shrinks, the importance of play cannot be overemphasized.

Importance of Play

Play is a basic human right according to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. In spite of understanding this important aspect of development in children, the time and opportunity for explorative play, available for modern day children is shrinking. This leads to higher levels of anxiety and stress among children.

What we think of as play is actually how our babies are learning. With their creativity flourishing, they along with their playmates and adult caregivers, learn to create worlds, where they learn to overcome their fears and develop their understanding. They learn to recognize faces, voices, things, feeling and communicate back. With physical play, their bodies grow tall and strong, creating a good space for their intellectual development. This in turn happens via play which stimulates the brain. Play at home, on playdates, at the park or while holidaying - never underestimate it's value. 

Playing with Parents
A child's first playmate is the primary caregiver, which is invariably a mother. A child traditionally accompanied the mother wherever she went, or the child stayed behind with some other responsible adult. Children like being spoken to and playing with their parents. Even though it might seem one sided, when they are too young to speak, it's a fact that they are listening, which is how they actually learn to speak. In fact a mother's voice can actually calm a distressed baby. They learn to recognize tones and looks and react accordingly. All this learning is only through play.

Playing with other Kids

Having a Laugh by Lars Plougmann

Play can be joyful, and when play happens with friends, the joy is boundless. As kids grow, they need to play with other kids. This teaches them cooperation, sharing and empathy. Children must play with other children, to learn and understand peer behavior. This will help them build friendships, bond and learn to negotiate the world they live in. Over the years when children grow into adults and go on to take our place in the world, most of their learning happens through play without their even realizing that they are learning. 

Playing in Nature

Nature is a great teacher. Spending time in nature and spending time with fellow creatures, helps kids understand the importance of interdependence in Nature. Pet games on digital devices are great, but nothing can beat the rough lick of a dog, or the warm furry body of a kitten curled up in your lap. Parents must inculcate the habit of playing outside, enjoying a trek, observing nature and the appreciation of beauty and balance in nature. 

To conclude, play is important for the well rounded development of a child. As parents and caregivers, it is our responsibility to ensure that our kids have safe spaces and opportunities to play.