Safe Search Kids - Education, Parenting, Internet Safety for All

Although kids love playing with dirt, they don’t see gardening as a fun activity. Kids enjoy engaging in action-packed and captivating activities. But you can make gardening engrossing. Kids learn important lessons when they participate in gardening activities.

They learn about patience, responsibility, building relationships, preserving the environment, and eating healthy. Gardening also keeps them connected to nature. So, how can we get kids to love gardening?

You will need to turn up the fun element while gardening. It will make your kids enjoy the activities. Stick on to the article. I’ll talk about how to turn gardening into a fun activity.

Carve Out a Piece for the Kids

You’ll have to teach the kids basic lessons about gardening. Let it be a hands-on activity. A fantastic way to get hands-on is by sectioning part of the gardening for your kids. It will allow them to learn and garden alongside you. Get them their gardening tools and let them explore different gardening ideas on the little plot allocated to them.

Let them choose what they wish to grow in their little section. Your child learns lots of things when they have the space to explore and try new activities. Teach them how to grow these plants and let the picking and planting be child-led. Don’t take over the planting. It will encourage independence and cultivate responsibility among the kids.

If you don’t have enough space in your yard, you can take the gardening indoors. Section off your garden from the kids’ garden using dividers or indoor grow tents. Use artificial grass to make it all look more like the outside. The second one will allow you to teach the kids more about controlling lighting conditions, water, humidity, and temperature levels for the plants.

Quirky Planters

Let the garden be an arts and crafts lesson for your kids. Turn plastic bottles into quirky and adorable planters. You can paint and turn the bottles into animated creatures. Let your kids paint the eggshells and use them to germinate seeds. You can let them create mini gardens using eggshells. Additionally, consider privacy planters for your railings, providing both greenery and seclusion to your outdoor space. Moreover, eggshells contain calcium and nitrogen. The seedling will love them.

Also, you can let them create colorful garden markers. The markers will be a gorgeous addition to the garden. It’s fun and brightens the garden.

Sensory Stimulation

Let your kids touch the soil, plants, and worms. Allow them to learn about insects. You can let them dig and plant using tools and bare hands. It’s a safe way to let them amuse themselves in the dirt away from your white walls and furniture.

Let them clean the garden, pull weeds, and help you harvest.

Create a Fairy Mini Garden

Ask them to design a fairy garden. It’s an amazing way to expand their imagination and creativity. It will upskill them on how to turn simple things like rocks or sticks into something magical. Let them be in charge of their mini gardens. Don’t be worried about the dirt. Let them feel the different textures and enjoy getting messy. Don’t be surprised to see them covered in mud from head to toe. Messiness is part of crafting a beautiful fairy garden.

Artsy Self-Watering Planters

You kids can also learn how to make self-watering plants. It’s fun and educational. Teach them about recycling and how recycling preserves the environment. You’ll need plastic bottles with caps and strings. Paint the bottles. Cut them in half, drill holes on the caps, tie knots, and pull the strings through the holes.

Tighten the caps and upturn the top half of the bottle. Fill the top half with soil and plant seeds or seedlings. Add water to the other half and insert the inverted top half. Let the strings touch the water. And there you have it, a self-watering planter.

Composting

Let your kids actively engage in the actual composting process. They can watch how food waste turns into nutritious food for the plants. Get them transparent jars to make their compost. Let them label their containers and set them in a place that receives sunlight. Let them top up their compost jar every two weeks. Within 2 to 3 months, the compost will transform nutritious food for their plants.

Last Thoughts

It’s easy to make gardening an enjoyable activity for your kids. Gardening gets your children away from video games, technology, and screens and connects them with nature. Studies have established that kids who play and connect more with nature perform better academically. Moreover, they learn about the environment, insects, and plants. They learn about plants, their life cycle, and how to tend their gardens. They also learn about food and eating healthy.

Gardening is just one of many activities that introduce children to something new to do.  Ultimately, these endeavours help determine what they may become interested in for life.  Here are a few other projects that help kids bond with parents while learning a new skill.

Author:  Marigona Ismajli

Almost all students have a least one subject that they consider to be their least favorite. While this subject will vary from student to student, the one that most kids tend to hate is math. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Math is one of the more difficult subjects early on in school, and it doesn’t really get easier.

However, the difficulty isn’t the only reason students struggle with math, in particular. There are usually other explanations as to why this is. In this article, we will go over those reasons so that you can better adapt your teaching strategy to account for them.

Learning Disabilities

One thing that many schools have become much better about these days is acknowledging any learning disabilities a student might have and making adjustments for them. Things such as autism or ADD/ADHD are well-known problems that can make learning math more difficult for some students, but dyslexia is another one.

Most of the time, dyslexia makes reading more difficult for children, but it can also happen with numbers. In fact, some students might only have dyslexia with numerical values and not letters, making it harder to detect. Regardless of what learning disabilities, your students may face, changing the way you teach to accommodate them is crucial for their success.

Lack of Patience or Concentration

Not all mental struggles come from learning disabilities, though. Many young children struggle with common concepts such as patience and concentration. Kids can work on and develop these traits as they get older, but in the meantime, they will struggle with their math studies if they lack either of them.

That means, on top of finding new ways to help your students master math, you should also figure out how to help them improve these traits. Not every day needs to be a math lesson. Taking the time to help students develop their patience and concentration will go a long way.

Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain

Of course, one of the more well-known reasons why some students struggle with math is because they are right-brained people. Those who use more right-brained thinking are those who are creative and expressive. Math is very straight to the point and analytical, something that comes more naturally to left-brained individuals.

In order to combat this, you should try to find ways to inject creativity into your lessons. Maybe you design a project around a complex topic or come up with problems that are more stimulating to right-brained people. The choice is up to you.

Math Anxiety

Finally, we have math anxiety. Sometimes, the thought of having to do math will stress kids, teens, and even adults out and cause them to struggle even more than before. This problem can be made worse by all of the previously mentioned difficulties. It can also be hard to identify, but once you know how to recognize and overcome math anxiety, you will be able to help a lot of students do much better with this troublesome subject.

Nowadays, social platforms and messenger apps play a vital role to stay in a loop with friends around the world. Kik is a well-known smartphone messenger app for teens that you may hear about. Like any other messenger app, Kik isn’t 100% safe. So, parents may worry about cyber security while teens use the Kik app.

For this reason, we recommend legal guardians know about Kik’s features, settings, privacy, safety, and other important things before allowing teens to install it.  This article will guide parents about the Kik messenger app and helpful tips to assure your teens’ safety while using Kik. So, let’s get started.

What is Kik Messenger?

Kik is a popular messenger application for pre-teens and teens to chat with each other. This smartphone application is free to download. It’s available for Android, iPhone, and Windows-supported phone devices. Anyone above 13 years old can create an account here using his/her phone number.

The Kik messenger app was developed by a group of passionate students at the University of Waterloo in 2009. Now it has more than 300 million registered users and 15 million monthly active users. Kik’s annual revenue is around 1 to 1.5 billion dollars.

This app allows sending texts, videos, pictures, GIFs, sketches, and much more. So, by installing this app, teenagers can use it for versatile purposes like education, communication, and entertainment. It also lets users go in Live. You can contact anybody having the app.

Is Kik Messenger App Safe for the Kids?

The Kik smartphone app was developed for teens ages 13 to 18 years old. So, anyone above 13 years old can use it. But, children below the age limit can’t create a Kik account here due to the age restrictions. Even for teens, getting permission from parents or legal guardians before registering an account is recommended.

Like other platforms, there are online predators who may send adult content or criminal activities without any permission which could be dangerous for kids. So, Kik messenger is not safe for children.

Why Parents Should Be Aware of Kik App

Kik messenger app has lots of stunning features, however, there are some risks. This is why parents should know the harmful things about the app before allowing teens to install Kik on their phones.

• Unauthorized chatting is common in Kik as anyone using Kik can send messages to other users without their permission. This could be dangerous as criminals may communicate with teens anonymously and could mislead them.

• Although, Kik isn’t a dating app, still, sex offenders may harass teens by sending sexual content. Even though there are different groups and people who promote nudity that isn’t safe for teens.

• Online predators might also steal users’ personal information.

Are there Parental Controls on Kik?

Actually, there isn’t any parental control explicitly in Kik. But you will find different settings and filters here to reduce the risks of teens and users from the potential dangers.

Install Parental Control App on Teen’s Smartphone

To monitor the teenagers’ activities with whom they’re chatting or communicating, parents should install a parental control app on teens’ phones. This will let you know what the older children are doing on smartphones and within the Kik app. If they do any wrong, you will get notified to take proper action.

Filter the Kik Chat App

The Kik app recommends parents do the following things to limit the activity of teens within the app.

• Usernames: When registering a Kik account, tell teens to use a hard-to-guess username. Also, tell them not to share the username with unknown persons.

• Strong password: Take access to the teen’s Kik account and secure it by putting strong passwords combining the uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, etc. You can change it from settings> my account> change password.

• Use phone contacts: This is an optional feature in Kik. If teens turn on the feature, people in their phone contact list (either saved by phone number or email address) will get a notification that they have a Kik account. Similarly, teens can recognize their known persons.

• Mute or leave a video chat: In the Kik app, there is a feature ‘New Chat’. When any user sends a message to your teen for the first time, they will get a notification and see these under ‘New Chat’. If teens don’t know the person mute or leave them.

• Reporting and blocking users or inappropriate groups: If you see any unknown user or inappropriate group in your teen’s profile block them for safety reasons. Also report the users, who send violent or sexual content.

What Can Parents Do to Prevent Their Kids from Kik?

To keep children away from the Kik app, you can do the following things.

• The first and foremost thing is to educate your children about the dangers of the Kik app and cyber security.

• Use a good parental control app to monitor and control kids’ activities on phones. If you see they’re trying to install the Kik app, disapprove it.

• If kids have already installed it using any fake birth date, uninstall the Kik app manually.

• Set restrictions on the privacy settings of the smartphone so kids can’t download the Kik app in the future.

Takeaways

Kik messenger app is a good communication platform. But there are some risks that every parent should consider before allowing teens to use it. The main thing to protect teens from its dangers is making them aware of cyberbullying.

It’s recommended to install a third-party parental control app, avoid chatting with unknowns, customize settings as mentioned above, etc to create a safer Kik platform for teens. And if teens face any harassment contact Kik’s help center soon.

Ensuring your child is safe online doesn’t just mean protecting them from other users. Apps can provide your child with tempting offers of additional features and tokens, encouraging them to spend money. Keep reading to learn how to set parental controls for in-app purchases and keep your child safe online. Don’t miss out on this crucial information.

What Are In-App Purchases?

In-app purchases are a clever marketing strategy for app creators. They allow you to purchase additional features within an app that make using the app more accessible. In-app purchases come in different forms:

• Subscriptions – an example of an in-app subscription purchase would apply to services like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon prime. For an additional fee, you can subscribe to a premium service by adding to your monthly payments. If you use these applications in your home, your child might subscribe to a premium service and add to your monthly bill without your knowledge.

• Unlocking permanent non-consumable features – some apps allow you to upgrade the features and access more in your plan with a paid upgrade, like unlocking the whole game after a free trial.

• Consumable purchases – many consumable purchases include tokens and lives or spendable in-game currencies. Consumable purchases can rack up a hefty bill if you’re not on top of your in-app purchase controls.

Now that you know some in-app purchases to look out for, you can begin listing all of the apps and games your child accesses and setting parental controls for these applications.

The Dangers Of In-App Purchases

In-app purchases can be tricky to resist. Often, you purchase an app for a specific purpose and download it only to find that you can’t use it properly without making an in-app purchase.

For children, in-app purchases are tricky to resist, such as purchasing a premium pass to access more of their favorite films and games. Or, your child might purchase lives or tokens to make a game more accessible and lose track of how many lives or tokens they have purchased.

Children are especially vulnerable to in-app purchases, as many do not yet know the actual value of money and can intentionally rack up a hefty bill without your consent.

How To Set Parental Controls For In-App Purchases

Disabling in-app purchases work differently depending on which app or device your child uses. Below you’ll find a list of different platforms and how to disable in-app purchases.

iOS Apple

In the settings menu, there will be an option called ‘screen time’. Here, you can specify that this phone is your child’s phone. This will allow you to set a parental password and place your child’s content and privacy restrictions. You will also have the option to restrict iPhone and Apple Store purchases in this section.

Android

Android primarily operates using Google Play for app purchases. To restrict in-app purchases on an Android phone, you should enter the Google Play settings and select the ‘user controls’ option. Then, you can set a pin for purchases. So long as you do not share this pin with your child, this will mean that they need your consent for any purchases they make on their phone.

As a side note, Android TV Boxes also feature options for parental controls and anti-virus options, so if your children are using them for streaming to a big screen, be sure to set them up correctly.

Games Consoles

Whether your kids are glued to their Xbox, Nintendo, playstation, or one of the lesser known consoles such as the Evercade, or the Atari VCS, you’ll want to rest in the knowledge that they’re enjoying their games safely.

For additional controls for your child’s games consoles you should be able to amend this via the Account Settings menu to set more advanced permissions for your child’s activity.

Educating Your Child About In-App Purchases

In addition to setting parental controls, educating your child about the dangers of in-app purchases and why they must avoid them could be beneficial. Teaching your child the value of money will help them take online spending seriously. In-app purchases can be highly compelling and manipulative, and even older adults can succumb to their appeal. Teaching your child that these kinds of purchases are dangerous will go a long way in establishing their financial awareness for the future.

Implement Parental Control Software

There are hidden dangers even in the most friendly games, so it’s always best to error on the side of caution.  Many parental control tools can help you keep your child safe online and monitor their activity. You can block your child from specific applications and see what they’re accessing on the internet. Of course, you should not use this kind of software to invade your child’s privacy, only to ensure that they are not cyberbullied and that they are not spending money on in-app purchases or revealing personal information to strangers.

Summary

Allowing your child to access the internet can be highly frightening for parents. Not only is your child vulnerable to online predators, but they can be preyed upon by companies offering persuasive in-app purchases.

By implementing parental controls, you can be confident that your child cannot spend money online without your permission – which will be a massive weight off your back. You might consider using parental control software if you want to monitor your child’s online activity and set parental controls across all applications.