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Tips to make your child’s screen time more meaningful

By Zi Qi (Writer) and Tammy (Editor) on 06/10/2021

With rising concerns that the use of technology may be bad for children, it is understandable for you to want to limit your child’s screen time. However, it is not the usage of media that you should worry about but rather, how it is being used. When you use technology in moderation and meaningfully, you’ll find that it can actually benefit you and your child greatly! Here are some tips to make the most out of your child’s screen time:

1. Get involved 

Engage in online learning together with your child! Research shows that passively watching videos does not lead to effective language learning. It is important that there is 2-way interaction so that your child can actually learn to communicate. Hence, watch a video together then engage in a conversation to discuss what you are watching. You can also make learning more effective by asking your child questions. This way, you can not only test his/her knowledge, but also encourage critical thinking/spark his curiosity by asking more inferential/advanced questions and reinforcing concepts learnt.

2. Connect to offline learning

Bring your child out for learning journeys, make a kite, or grow a plant together! With a wide variety of apps and educational videos online, your child can definitely learn a lot just by viewing them. However, there needs to be a bridge between what is learned online and applying it in real life. By conducting offline activities like going on learning journeys, online learning comes to life and your child will be able to discover so much more than what is taught on the apps. Knowledge learned online will also be much better retained when it is applied in real life. 

3. Choose the right content

It is important that the content your child is viewing has some value to it. Before letting your child use an app/watch videos on Youtube, take some time to go through them yourself. Pick apps that are of high quality and age-appropriate. Also, choose a variety of apps: music, coding, math, languages — this can help to increase your child’s exposure.

We have created an app – Prep Junior which has worked towards all these. Prep Junior offers English and hanyu pinyin translation, so that parents are able to guide their child through the interactive stories and games. The app is also designed based on the sights and culture of Singapore so that learning is made relatable and parents can bring their child out for learning journeys to simulate connections between what is learned online and real life. 

Prep Junior also designed a set of home-learning kit, which parents can engage in with their child during home-based learning. The home-learning kit consists of fun and creative hands-on activities which are in line with every chapter of the app. 

Picture credits: Jolene (@jjloves86 on instagram)

Simply download our app to embark on a virtual learning journey with your child and subscribe to our mailing list today!