Feeling Guilty About Screen Time? Make Learning Fun! Discover how to incorporate fun into learning

Below are a few examples of fun games and activities that keep minds engaged and learning:

Activity: Board Games

Age Range: 5  & up

Board games can show children how math & reasoning is used beyond the classroom. Take turns playing banker in Monopoly® or play a game of Yahtzee® and calculate the odds of rolling specific number combinations.

Activity: Journaling

Age Range: 5 & up

Find a special diary or personalized writing tool for your child and they will have hours of enjoyment writing journal entries every day. Before he or she realizes it, they’ll have set aside extra writing time to look forward to! You can even find electronic journals online if you want to encourage an older child how to type. Assist your child with topics to write about if necessary (talking about day trips you take in the summer or providing a different theme each week).

Activity: Science Kits, Chemistry Sets and Ant Farms

Age Range: 9 - 12

These science-based activities offer great insights into the world of science and help enhance reading comprehension and critical thinking. They also encourage your child to follow the rules and strategy behind experiments.

Activity: Educational Apps

Age Range: All

There are tons of terrific educational apps in the marketplace.  Be selective and search for one that meets your needs. One example is SylvanPlay, a library of fun, educational apps all packaged together that can be found in the Apple App store or Android’s Google Play Store. Your child will love the entertainment; you’ll love that he or she is learning. (Talk about guilt-free screen time!) All you have to do is get your family ready to play!

Activity: Dominoes

Age Range: All

Dominoes are a fun game for children of all ages. Smaller children can use them to recognize similar quantities while older children can use them to explore the concepts of addition, subtraction or probability. For example, ask, “How many dots are on each side?” Asking them to count the number of dots in total is just the start. Next, cover up one side of the domino and ask, “If there are 12 dots in total, how many more do I need?” Your child will first need to identify how many dots they can see, and then they might use their fingers or another domino to count how many more dots they need to reach the total of 12.

Activity: Farm to Table

Age Range: All

Growing your own vegetables can be fun and educational in its own right, but add to that activity by cooking a meal with your child and incorporating what was harvested in your backyard or patio planters!  Cooking (and baking) present many opportunities to learn measurement, as well as reading and following directions in a recipe. The reward is learning and then tasting yummy creations! You can continue to build on this activity by having your child write the grocery list and shopping for the items together, incorporating money, memory and math skills at the same time!  The learning opportunities are endless with farm to table!