Playing with your kids is a great way to connect with them as a parent. Fortunately, there are many ways to do so and many tools to help you, such as the internet. It may sound counterintuitive, considering that the internet is full of content that is not child-friendly.
But hear us out first. The internet is a trendy entertainment medium, which can help you bond with anyone, even your children, if you know what and where to look.
What can you do with the internet to have fun with your kids? Here are four activities you can use the internet for.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts are popular activities you can have your children do. It is as easy as getting whatever art material you have at home or buying supplies from a hobby shop. You can introduce arts and crafts to children as early as six months to a year old. Ensure that the activity is age appropriate.
Using the internet is one way to turn your kids’ artistic side up a notch. You can do two specific things to amplify your activities using it.
One thing you can do is use the internet to look for art tutorials and inspiration. There is much artistic content on the internet, particularly on social media. You and your kids can look up anything you want to make, and follow the instructions, whether it’s a youtube video, a blog site, or even Pinterest inspirations.
Another thing you can do is use your device for your art activities. If your kids want to draw or paint but have no art supplies, you can use your internet-connected device instead. There are several free websites where you can draw, paint, or color. You can also download art applications so you and your kids can make fun drawings anytime.
Sing and Dance
Music is easily one of the best forms of entertainment for children. It is one of the things that can help develop their musical skill. You can get your kids to know music as early as infancy, and you can do so by singing to them. Just singing to them can get them to learn language, rhythm, and rhyme.
How can you involve the internet in this? The world wide web has vast catalogs of different types of media and entertainment, music and dance included. Of course, you will have to introduce to them age-appropriate material, especially for very young children.
For example, you can get your kids to know music as early as infancy, and you can do so by singing to them. Just singing to them can get them to learn concepts like language, rhythm, and rhyme. You can look up songs on media sites like YouTube to learn more songs.
You can also play those songs to them so you can sing together. There are a lot of YouTube channels that showcase nursery rhymes in creative, vibrant visuals to keep your children entertained. Videos with song and dance numbers are also available if they prefer dancing.
For kids past the toddler stage or older kids, you can introduce them to some of your favorite (and child-friendly) songs that you can enjoy together, helping you both bond.
You can also have them engage in dance exercises like calisthenics or Zumba to enjoy a good bond and even to help introduce them to being physically active. There are a lot of videos online to use as references. You can also download video games such as Just Dance, a rhythm game that involves you copying the choreography of a dance as accurately as possible.
With so much online music-related content, it will take a lot of work to run out of material to entertain yourselves with.
Puzzles
An entertaining way to kill time is to do puzzles. This is a classic pastime anyone can do. There are various puzzles, from jigsaw puzzles to wooden puzzles, crossword puzzles, and more. You can buy them at shops and even order them online. But you can always get some for free on the internet.
If you want to use a touchscreen device like a mobile phone or a tablet, you can head over to Google Play or the App store and download any mobile puzzle application you would like you and your kids to play. Alternatively, if you want to play on a PC, you can look up browser puzzle games on Google that you and your kids can play immediately.
Puzzles are a great way to bond with children. It helps children develop skills such as memory and problem-solving.
Virtual Activities
Ever want to take your kids to educational or unique places but never have the time? The next best thing is doing those things virtually; the internet has your back. After all, meeting people from anywhere in the world and experiencing things foreign to us is its specialty.
An activity you can do is to engage in a virtual simulation. It’s like playing pretend, but the visuals and ambient music. One such virtual simulation is a virtual tour of various real-life places. The internet has many real-life online tours from zoo trips, museums, or even world heritage sites that you can look up.
These simulations are often done in partnership with these places to give people who could not come personally an experience like they’re going to the real thing. Having this virtual visit with your kids can help them learn interesting facts and educational things.
Besides these virtual tours, you can also do other activities you or your kids have never done before. There are lots of virtual activities available, from simple things such as virtual fishing, driving a car, or cooking to the more adventurous ones such as rollercoaster riding or even skydiving. Many of these virtual activities are either animated or virtual reality games, so you and your kids are sure to have a fun time together.
To Sum it Up
The internet is a virtual place that offers hundreds of means of entertainment, many of them available for your kids to try. But while it is a creative way to bond with children, ensure screen time is appropriate for their age.
