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Screen time may be an easy way to keep your child occupied, but too much of it can be detrimental to their physical and mental well being. To effectively limit your child’s screen time, you don’t have to go cold turkey. Instead, find fun activities to keep them busy. It’s all about setting good habits for life, balancing fun between online and offline play.

Statistics show that young kids and teenagers spend an average of 3 hours and 23 minutes a day on their phones. These numbers are worrying, and something needs to be done. Here are a few suggestions to try out.

Create technology-free zones in your home

Select a few rooms in your house where electronics such as mobile phones, laptops, and handheld video games aren’t allowed. This can be the dining area, the kitchen, and bedrooms.

Reserve these rooms for family conversations and resting. Make it part of their and ensure regular routine that you also participate in this to set a good example for your children.

Get them outside

Kids aren’t going out as much as they used to, but a few minutes outside the house will do them a lot of good. Physical exercise increases cognitive function and promotes better sleep, so allow them to run around, ride their bikes, take walks, etc.

A simple drive around the neighborhood is also a great way to get them out of the house for some fresh air.

Play with them

Kids don’t like to feel neglected. Therefore, if you limit their screen time, ensure that you find other ways to keep them occupied. Buy age-appropriate puzzles and board games, and let them play amongst themselves. Toys such as building blocks and dress-up props are also great for young kids. This will keep them busy and entertained for hours on end.

Get crafty

Set up a creation station in your house and let your kids spend an afternoon painting or creating something. Since we can’t see friends and family members right now, challenge them to create cards to send to their friends. After they are done, set up a family gallery and display their pieces.

You can even frame their work and hang it in their rooms. For the older kids, take up a bigger project such as painting, woodworking and redecorating their rooms and do it together.

Motivate them to help around the house

Chores aren’t fun, but they can be depending on how you position them. Children are naturally curious, so take advantage of their “me too” attitude and allow them to help you around the house. When cooking or cleaning, let them participate in the hustle and bustle. Teenagers are not that easy to convince, so create a reward system to encourage them.

Buy them books

Reading can be fun for kids too. Get them age-appropriate storybooks and novels and dedicate a few hours a day where everyone sits down to read.

You can also try storytelling with the younger kids. Stories of adventure and fantasy help boost creativity and imagination in children.

With 53% of UK parents concerned about excessive screen time, you’re not alone. These are only a few suggestions, and there are many more out there you can try, but hopefully this will give you a good place to start.

You may be wondering why creativity is so important, other than the fact that is it a lot of fun. It is important because being creative can help you see things from a new perspective and solve any problems that you may encounter in your life. Research suggests creative people are more able to deal with uncertainty because they can think outside the box!

How Can Being Creative Help you?

Creativity increases our experiences, which in turn expands our knowledge and opens our eyes to a new way of experiencing the world, having fun, and gaining intuition, and adding spice to our lives. For many people, creativity equals making something – art and crafts, but it isn’t that is defining creativity into a very narrow box, when in fact, the foundations of the word mean to grow.

Essentially humans are born creative. We find ways to navigate life as we grow and discover creativity will give us ways around any obstacles we encounter. Being creative can also be fun. So make time for creative thinking next time you feel overwhelmed by a never-ending to-do list make time for creative thinking. It might be that you discover new ways of getting things done!

Fun Ways to be Creative

Being creative can involve so many things. For example, it might be your son or daughter’s birthday, and you have an exciting idea for a birthday cake, or perhaps you want to create a family collage. Maybe you are missing spending time with your friends and family during this time of being confined due to the pandemic and are looking for fun, innovative ways to stay in touch. Try being creative by using your camera to record different videos or tell exciting stories through video, which you can share with the world!

Or you could even use VSTs to virtually produce music and impress others with your talent. It might sound complicated at first, but it is straightforward to send large videos. Imagine how thrilled your loved ones will be when they open the file and see the incredible masterpiece you have created, especially if it is funny. Research shows laughter is essential and is an excellent pick-me-up tonic.

Start a Blog

For those who like to write, why not start a blog?  It can be a fun way to share your passion for your interests.  There are a variety of blogging websites make it easy for anyone with a little computer knowledge to get started.  Adults, teens and kids alike will find blogging a great way to express themselves.  It goes beyond simply posting ideas on social media.  The first step is to figure out what to write about.  Do you want to tell stories, help people with a problem, write about cooking or share your love for animals?

Here are some ideas help you to start your first blog.

Be Creative Using Your Camera and Video

The best thing about photography is that it captures moments. Take a moment to consider some of the creative shots you have seen, and ask yourself what made that shot stand out to you? What inspired you or made you laugh; invoked a feeling – a response. It stood out because it was different. It captured your imagination and was creative. So whether the shot was taken or filmed in an interesting spot or a special lens was used, or maybe they used a funky filter?

Whatever it was, it stood out to you. Now you feel inspired and want to try being creative by using your camera to record different videos or tell interesting stories through video, which you can share with the world! And send it to your friends and family. Once you have mastered moving your camera around, you will start to see endless creative possibilities. Then all you need to do is learn how to send large videos. You could even zip it and send it as an email attachment. Learning how to send large videos is easy, so don’t let it be a stumbling block!

Making Creative Choices

If you don’t fancy shooting videos or taking snaps, consider other ways to be creative with your time and connect with your family and friends – how about hosting a virtual Netflix or Zoom party? Or have a craft afternoon, make cookies, create a vision board, learn a new language, take a pottery class, or take a virtual tour of one of many attractions that have opened their doors virtually.

Creativity is essential because it can help you see things from a new perspective and solve any problems you may encounter. You can be creative using your camera to record different videos or tell interesting stories through video, which you can share with the world! Then send them to your friends and family. Learn how to send large videos, and you can bring laughter to the ones that you love!

Do people call you the comedian in the family?   Try your hand at telling these original funny jokes written for kids.

There are thousands of different career options for students but one of the most popular and fastest-growing in the area of web design. Not only are students encouraged through this field to learn technical coding and design skills but they’re also able to develop their creativity by putting together sites that are aesthetically pleasing and functional.

Students that are interested in web design can check out several different apps and sites along with other web design articles like this one that will allow them to start to hone these important skills even before they hit a major study area in college. Learning to do the basics is as easy as signing up and getting started!

We’ve featured apps that are educational kids.  Here, we explore some of the best web design apps and sites for students so they can start learning and growing in the web design field!

Codemoji

If you’re looking for something that will engage students of any age, even as young as the second grade, Codemoji is a great place to start. As the teacher, you can guide students through the main coding technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that are prevalent in today’s world.

Students can work collaboratively or independently and experiment to learn the ins and outs of each system. The teacher dashboard can help track lessons and progress so each student is shown to grow and mature as they work through the program.

The design elements that you can tinker with are limited to images, videos, and sounds that are inside the program already. But each lesson is taught sequentially and follows along with the traditional core web technologies that run and design our world.

Weebly

This is a great place to get started coding and designing websites with students in mind! There are both paid and free versions of Weebly available so however, you want to invest is up to you.

Weebly is designed for students aged 6^th-12^th grade and is a drop-and-click based platform. Students will be able to design and create websites that can be monitored and receive feedback from the teacher or other instructor.

The sites themselves are easy to direct and manage and help teach students the ins and outs of being part of a bigger community. They can safely design and manage their sites through Weebly.

Codecademy

Get any upper-level students coding with Codecademy! The courses and classes offered on Codecademy allow you to start working on technical computer science information, application development, and many other related topics.

Each of the projects offered by Codecademy is a simulated version of a computer engineer’s work environment that will quickly introduce any students to this fast-growing career path with an eyes wide open approach to the work.

Teachers and students can both jump right in and not need to install or download anything with all of the lessons and feedback happening on the interface. There’s both a free to try and a paid version of the site so you can test the waters before investing in the program for your classroom needs.

Adobe Express

Adobe has consistently turned out programs that have made a mark on society and continue to influence the next generation of designers and collaborators. Adobe Express is a flexible design tool that allows you to create and design images, videos, and websites starting in 6^th grade!

This is an in-depth design site and app that teachers and students alike can use to create stunning images, videos and sites. The interface is easy to use and teachers can follow along as students design and create. One of the biggest drawbacks is access as your school will need to have the Adobe Suite subscription to access the interface and content therein.

CodeHS

Each of the video lessons in CodeHS is easy to follow so your students and anyone who chooses to use the program will get guided information from real tutors. The video tutor lessons can be accessed by a premium subscription and the tutors are completely accessible with the subscription as well.

All of the aspects of CodeHS are great to teach kids the ins and outs of coding and programming but to access all of the features, you’ll need to get a subscription which can cost you some cash in the long run. The individual aspect of the program is such that students can effectively teach themselves without as much oversight from the instructor or teacher.

Treehouse

The programming on Treehouse is more applicable to high school students or those that have a basis of coding and programming already. Each lesson is self-directed and self-paced so students will be able to work through the issues themselves without as much oversight from the instructor.

The overall program is one of clear instruction, directed by a clean interface that offers focused and clear goals for students. It does require them to be self-motivated when it comes to finishing lessons. If your students are self-starters and motivated to do projects on their own, this is a great site that is hands-off for teachers but effective for students.

Takeaway

When you’re on the lookout for web design apps and sites that are great for students, you want to choose a site that offers great benefits without breaking the bank. If you’re planning to have lots of students use the program, you’d be better off finding money in your budget to go with the full subscriptions so you can access all of the features on whatever site you choose.

Entering into the world of web design and coding is a gateway to a passionate career that will benefit society at large as well as engage the minds of the most curious students. They can search job sites with vacancies to see the types of companies they may be working for.  Starting small with web design apps and sites like these can help students learn the basics of coding before launching on to bigger projects.

Choosing a web design app or site is a great way to add quality skills to your student’s repertoire at an early age without recreating your entire lesson plan or overwhelming students. Get started and engage their curious minds with a whole new way of thinking, as well as helping them discover what they may to choose as a career after they graduate.

From being a choice to becoming the only option for education throughout the world, eLearning has helped millions of students and tutors connect in virtual classrooms.  As schools and colleges return to normalcy again, the use of online teaching and learning remains to be significant.

Students, teachers, and educational establishments, who have learned the importance of online learning alternatives, may want to explore new ways to enhance traditional teaching methods.  In addition, regular home schoolers, teachers or tutors online may want to grow their skill in this area.

Are you one of the progressive minds?

Online teaching is not reserved for schools and colleges alone. Millions of skilled people have already been teaching on the platforms like Udemy, Coursera, Khan Academy, etc. It’s time for those who feel overwhelmed by online teaching to put themselves at ease and discover new methodologies.

I am certain that most teachers who taught online in the pandemic never wanted it. It can be unsettling not being able to connect with students in person. However, many progressive minds also got a taste of eLearning and it wouldn’t be surprising if they start considering online tutoring as an addition to their skills:

Virtual classrooms, recorded lectures, digital learning materials, and online quizzes, etc. can make great additions to regular teaching routines, while they could also be used in blended-learning methodologies in the regular classroom sessions, too.

If you are a teacher who feels overwhelmed by the pressure to engage students online, or if you are looking to learn how to teach online on your school’s platform or some eLearning marketplace for added income, this post will offer you some useful insights on how to get started.

We will look into tips from professional eLearning experts, different online tutoring software that you can use, and how you can start your journey as an online tutor with limited experience.

What should you know about online tutoring as a beginner?

For those who are used to usual teaching environments, online tutoring could be a strange experience. Even a tech-savvy person could take a significant amount of time to teach themselves the best way to be a virtual instructor. However, with some simple strategies and groundwork, it’s possible to not just survive but also thrive as an online tutor.

Keep in your mind that:

• You are not alone– there are thousands of educators like you who are trying their best to streamline ways to engage students online. As schools and colleges shifted to the online mediums, thousands of teachers got the taste of online tutoring for the first time.
• You are still the subject expert: Be it your school classroom or a virtual classroom, you are still the subject matter expert, mentor, and regulator of your class. Summon your confidence knowing that you have the skills and experience to do the job, irrespective of the platform.
• Don’t rush into applying everything: It can be overwhelming to try everything that other experienced online tutors or teachers are doing. Start with the simple stuff. For example, you don’t have to start doing instructional designing and create automated workflows in the beginning. Start with simple live streaming of recorded lectures, which you can also script and edit in advance.

How to create digital study materials?

The types of digital/online learning resources that you might need depend on whether you want to teach in 1-to-1 or group environments. However, some learning materials are relevant in all types of settings:

• Live streaming: You can live stream your audio/video lectures.
• Recorded videos: You can record, edit, and prepare video instructions.
• Visuals: You can include drawings, maps, gifs, charts, photos, and screenshots.
• Written materials: You can use written materials like Docs, PDFs, PPTs, Spreadsheets, etc.

How to put your study materials online and share them with students?

You can either use improvised ways or dedicated eLearning solutions to take your study materials online:

1.  Improvised tools:

• Cloud Tools: Create text documents directly on Google cloud tools (docs, sheets, forms, assignments etc.). You can share these e documents directly with the students using their Gmail ID.
• Videos: Upload and share recorded lectures on video sharing platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Daily Motion tec.
• Real-time: Use free video conferencing and collaboration tools like Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Google Classroom.
• On-premise tools: Create your documents on Microsoft office, WPS office, or LibreOffice, etc., and upload on a cloud file sharing platform like Google Drive, One Drive, or Dropbox, etc. You can also convert your documents into PDF by simply saving them with the extension. PDF or using a PDF converter tool. You can share such documents with the students by simply using their email IDs.

2. E-Learning tools

All of the above-given tools are either free to use or offer free trials. An improvised combination of these tools can be used for creating study materials and sharing them with the students. However, if you want to make it professional, you can rely on dedicated online tutoring software solutions that offer consolidated ways to create and share online courses seamlessly.

You can use such tools to:

• Create courses and instructional designs.
• Share courses and perform access control.
• Track and manage learning progress.
• Sell courses for revenue.

Please note that these tools are paid. So I don’t want to name any specific brand. Your school or college might already be using such a tool or LMS (learning management system).

In case you are looking for such a tool for selling online courses, search for online tutoring software on the internet, and take your pick as per your unique requirements. For example, if you don’t want to take live lectures, you can skip a live tutoring software and go for a self-paced course management tool.

How to stay connected with the students?

If you are using an online tutoring platform/software, you can use on-site communication tools like live chat, discussion boards, direct messages, etc. to connect with the students. However, if you are improvising your way, there are still many ways to stay connected with your students:

• Email
• Internet messengers- Skype, WhatsApp, Signal, etc.
• Third-party collaboration tools: Slack, Trello Board.
• Third-party Forums and discussion boards: Facebook groups, Sub-Reddit.

How to track the learning progress of students?

Since you might not be able to have face-to-face sessions, you wouldn’t be able to know if your students are tagging along. It’s important to understand your students’ requirements and accommodate your strategies, which you can do by tracking the learning progress of your students via digital mediums. You ask your students for feedback, quizzes, and polls using an LMS software, or standalone tools like Google forms, Survey Monkey.

What other tools can be useful?

Besides the tools given above, you can also use the following tools for an assortment of resolves:

• Canva: For creating documents, slides, and infographics.
• GIMP: Free image editing software.
• OpenShot: Free video editing software.
• Audacity: Free audio manipulation tool.
• Awesome: Screenshot and screen recorder tool.
• Team Viewer: Desktop sharing software.
• See more top screen recorders to record lectures.

Get going with new ways.

Teaching is a noble profession. Only those in education can understand the efforts a teacher or tutor makes to deliver the best of his or her efforts. Change is always tough, but an entirely new way of teaching can be overwhelming. If you too have been struggling, or see someone struggling, I hope these little tips and tricks help.

Review online teaching opportunities.