What Do Younger Kids Do For Fun Before Getting A Call Phone?

12 things your child tin do with a smartphone

Smartphones and kids

Whether they've got their very own phone for the first time or just love to commandeer yours, at that place are learning experiences aplenty at your child's fingertips. We've rounded up 12 screentime activities y'all don't need to feel guilty about.

i. Go geocaching

Most of us associate screentime with being shut up indoors, simply geocaching – a kind of high tech treasure hunt – is brilliant for getting your child exterior.

The idea is that you utilise your telephone's GPS to track down a geocache: a container that has been hidden by a member of the public, who has posted its coordinates online. On finding the geocache, yous tape your details on the logbook inside it, and hide it over again in the aforementioned place.

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Many geocaches besides contain a small treasure, such as an item of stationery, keyring or piffling toy, but if you accept something away, etiquette says you lot take to supercede it with something for someone else to observe, so brand sure you take some swag with you lot on your geocache hunt.

2. Listen to an audiobook

Listening to audiobooks has many benefits for children, helping them become better readers, go used to the rhythm and menses of stories, and admission books that would be beyond their reading historic period.

Websites like Audible take huge ranges of children'south books to download to your phone, and many libraries loan children'due south audiobooks free of accuse. They're perfect for beating boredom on long car journeys, or only for giving your child some quiet time at home.

3. Master spellings, times tables and more

In that location'southward no need to feel guilty almost screentime if your kid is learning something new at the same time, then why not download some educational games-based apps?

We've rounded upwardly the very best children'due south apps for mastering spellings, times tables, phonics, add-on, subtraction and more. Many of them take multiplayer functions, so siblings can compete against each other, and kids will also savor trying to beat their own highest scores.

4. Become a junior photographer

Kids love taking photos with mum or dad'due south phone, but rather than letting them snap an countless stream of selfies, why not accept the opportunity to teach them how to make their shots more professional?

They tin can experiment with using dissimilar filters, exercise taking panoramic and macro (farthermost close-up) photos, and fifty-fifty have underwater pics if y'all take a decent waterproof example.

They could also try their hand at photojournalism and employ a camera phone to document their summer holiday or weekend activities.

5. Rail their activity

Child obesity is a constant business, and screentime is often cited as ane of the reasons today's kids are less active than in previous generations, but smartphones can actually help your child go out and about and motion more.

Most phones accept inbuilt fitness trackers that record their activity level throughout the twenty-four hour period (and if non, you can download an app), and children will get a kick out of challenging themselves to exercise their daily steps or come across how many kilometres they've walked.

6. Keep tabs on your child

When your child is old plenty for their own smartphone, installing an app that lets yous track their whereabouts will give y'all peace of mind if they're out and nigh alone or with friends.

There are lots of family finder apps that will link your phone with theirs and bear witness you their location on a map so yous're not worrying about where they are and what they're getting upward to.

7. Get involved with household tasks

Everyday life is full of learning opportunities for kids, and adding a smartphone to the mix could make your child a more willing helper.

They could wait upwardly a recipe on the telephone and follow the instructions to bake a block, take accuse of the weekly shopping list using an online supermarket, programme a route for a daytrip, bank check the weather forecast before a family outing: there are so many possibilities.

8. Brand their own movie

If your child is part of the YouTube generation, chances are they're obsessed with making habitation videos, and using a smartphone allows them to become the director of their own mini movies.

Stop-movement animation is a especially satisfying action for them to get stuck into, using Lego minifigures, playdough models or even their own drawings: check out our guide to three blitheness activities they can try at home.

ix. Borrow a library volume

Having a phone on manus means your kid demand never be without reading cloth (although to avoid eyestrain, it's probably all-time to limit the time they spend reading on their phone).

Many libraries rent out children'due south e-books that tin can be accessed on your phone. We too honey the Me Books app, which brings together a drove of hundreds of kids' books, comics and magazines, from Biff, Scrap and Kipper to The Beano, and is recommended by the National Literacy Trust.

Readly is a magazine subscription app that gives you access to hundreds of titles (including lots of kids' magazines) on your tablet or smartphone for £7.99 a calendar month.

10. Heed to a podcast

Podcasts are keen for filling placidity moments, and there are some fantastic ones out at that place for kids that pack an educational punch, too.

Our listening list includes Fun Kids Book Club, Fun Kids Science Weekly, philosophy podcast Pickle, CBeebies Radio and the brilliant science and engineering science themed Wow in the World.

11. Tackle homework

Learning to use the net for inquiry is a vital skill for primary school children to master, and having a phone at their fingertips gives them access to a virtually unlimited data trove.

They can besides apply the calculator to cheque their maths calculations, await words up in online dictionaries and thesauruses, cheque their spellings – and unlike the family reckoner, a phone is portable and always connected.

12. Keep in touch with friends and family

Information technology's oft argued that spending likewise much fourth dimension on screens is affecting children's ability to communicate, but permit's not forget that the number one purpose of smartphones is advice – and at that place are lots of ways for your child to tap into this.

Video calling programs like Skype, Facetime and Viber are great for letting your child continue in touch with friends and family the world over, and as they get older, they can put their written communication skills to the test, sending emails and online messages.