Alternative activities with tech

It's been the subject of many a conversation over the last week or so; tech, screen time, devices… To impose limits or not to impose limits? To allow more freedom and flexibility or not? Now, I'm not actually here to tell you the answer to that I'm afraid. Striking a balance and what works for you and your family is the key here and only you know what's best.
 
What I can offer you, however is some ideas for using tech in ways that might not spring to mind immediately. When we think of devices and screen time we tend to default to thinking we are somehow doing something wrong. The activities we tend to associate with them is watching cartoons and playing games.
 
It's so much more than that, my small folk love tech and so do I. There's a whole world of things out there for you can learn and do and discover!
​

​Stop frame animation

This is one of our favourite things to do with tech. We use Stop Motion Studio which is a free download and really user friendly, it works across all the platforms so you can download it on iOS, android and amazon. There are lots of other options available and I've not thoroughly investigated them all, but this works for us and it's easy enough for for my 3 and 4 year olds to grasp without being too basic for my 9 year old.
 
What you'll need
 
A device - A phone or tablet works best as they are portable
A stop frame animation app
Things to create animation with - we've used everything from lego figures to tiny stuffed toys, plastic dinosaurs to finger puppets, plasticine models to toy cars… use whatever you have to hand, if it's small and you can move it around easily and create a story, give it a go. Magnetic letters or a pen and paper for creating notes or messages work really nicely too and can be a really creative way to communicate with family.
​

What you do 

​Come up with a plan, collect your materials and then photograph, move, photograph and repeat. Play back and watch your creation. We've made short messages for friends and family by adding one letter at a time and had lego figures exploring our house, abseiling down the bookshelf and getting lost in the long grass! 
​

Photo Editing 

This is another great way to use tech to get creative, my 9 year old loves taking photos and this helps him to take it one step further. I like ArtFlow, it's a cross platform app that works on iOS, Android and Amazon and is a free download. It's not the simplest app in the world, but my 4 year old can do the basics, my 9 year old can really play around with the different features. It also has the option to do digital drawing without a base photo for those who want to extend their activities into starting from scratch.
 
What you need 
 
A device - a camera and touch screen are the  key features with this one
A photo editing app
 
What to do

Take some photos and play around with the app to edit the photos. You can combine photos, add text and drawing, use filters, add colour, colour and get really creative. We've recently done graffiti, taken pictures of of people and then added glasses, moustaches, spiky hair etc. And cartoonised ourselves by using the drawing tools to distort and exaggerate our features, but the possibilities are endless!

Audio Books

​This can be a lovely way to use a screen without staring at a screen. My small people like to listen to audio books when there having some quiet time and just chilling out. It's a nice way to relax and sometimes we sit and listen to something all together and sometimes it's a solo activity, particularly when one of them is really needing some time away from the others.
 
Audible has lots of children's books available for free at the moment and David Walliams is also offering free books. So, if this is something you'd like to try, now could be an ideal time to give it a go and see if it's something you and your family enjoy.

Learning Apps and online courses

Ok, so some Of this is playing games, particularly when its aimed at younger children, but you can console yourself with the fact that they are learning at the same time! If you're finding yourself suddenly taking on the role of your child's teacher and struggling to get them to put pen to paper apps can be a good alternative way to get some learning activities in if that's something you want to do.
​

I really like the doodle series of apps for very quick Maths and English tasks, it takes us around 5-10 mins a day for each one. The features are limited with the free version, but enough for us and works well for my 3, 4 and 9 year old. I would also look up Teach your Monster to read and Prodigy Maths which are also free downloads and are both fun and interactive learning activities.
 
If you have older ones who want to extend their learning or even if you want to expand your knowledge yourself while you're spending more time at home I would highly recommend Future Learn. They have a wide range of free online courses, they range from a couple of weeks to a couple months and are generally 3-4 hours a week so they're relatively low commitment. My 16 year old has done quite a few of these now and I would say they would be suitable from maybe 13-14 depending on their ability and interest.
​

Virtual Tours and Theatre shows

​There are so many opportunities available at the moment to access some awesome arts and culture activities. There are lots of museums and art galleries offering free online tours and theatres offering free to view performances so there's a wide range of options here. I've not tried one yet but I definitely have my eye of a few (Guggenheim in particular) and I'm really looking forward to sitting down with my small folk for a look when we're wanting a quiet and calm activity.
 
I hope that gives you some inspiration for activities you can do to help alleviate some of that tech guilt. I'd love to hear your ideas and recommendations for apps and activities so please feel free to share your creations and photos of the activities you've tried out.

---

By Jeni Atkinson - CalmFamily Director