How To Keep Your Kids Thinking & Learning During Holiday Break

It is an ongoing debate as to whether or not technology is truly beneficial for the younger generations. Some argue that young students spend too much time glued to their screens, thus inhibiting their sleep, learning, and educational performance; others believe that there are several ways in which technology can enhance learning opportunities. With the holidays approaching, students will return home for some deserved time off and may resort back to their technology obsessions to fill their free time. Here, the team of edtech professionals at SchoolMart discuss several tech apps that can keep your tech-obsessed young students learning while home during their holiday breaks. 

Curation Apps

Apps that encourage curation will help young students develop stronger reading, organizing, and categorizing skills. Pinterest is a popular app many may not think is for young learners, but it can actually work well as a “visual pinboard” where students can work on organizing and creating a collection of images. Learning Lab, a website created by the Smithsonian museum, allows students to curate museum artifacts, and List.ly is another site where  kids can create a personalized list of other websites, videos, and more. 

Conversation Apps

Apps that encourage socialization online can better a young student’s ability to discuss and debate different topics, as well as make new relationships or further current ones. Maily is an app that allows students to create fun messages, images, texts and drawings, all while being parental-controlled and safe to use. 

Correction Apps

One of the best ways to learn, especially at a young age, is to make mistakes. Experimentation and learning through correction can be very beneficial, especially for a young learner. Scribblenauts and Kahoot! are two excellent choices for encouraging correction. Scribblenauts allows students to use any object they wish to help solve problems by simply typing its name, while Kahoot! Makes quiz creation and completion fun and engaging. 

Creation Apps

Incorporating creative learning helps to strengthen key skills for young learners: namely, creative thinking and problem solving. Some of SchoolMart’s favorite apps are Book Creator, Monster Physics, and Scratch. Book Creator serves as a platform for students to create their own books using their own writing, photos, and videos. Monster Physics allows students to dip their toes into the world of building and science by allowing these young learners to work with contraptions such as wheels, rockets and magnets. Scratch is a popular choice amongst kids, especially for those with an interest in creative thinking and learning the world of programming on a very basic, junior but fun level. 

Chaos Apps

Before students reach the high school, or even middle school level, it is important to start teaching them how to avoid conflicting information or handle too much of it. There are a few apps that SchoolMart believes will help young learners encounter chaos throughout their education. Worditout is a great site that allows students to create “word clouds” from any piece of text they wish, helping them turn larger pieces of information into more meaningful visual representations. Corkulous makes mindmaps simpler and easier for kids to use, while a site such as Powtoon keeps the brain wheels turning by allowing young learners to create their own cartoons instead of just watching them.

Contact SchoolMart For More Tips & Tricks On Learning Engagement

Even though our team of experts have listed some excellent tech apps to keep your students learning and engaged, it is still important to limit your child’s use of a technology device. Consider setting a daily limit on your child’s screen time. These boundaries encourage socialization or outdoor play while allowing young students to be excited about the screen time they do have, and hopefully use that limited time to learn and grow. For more tips and tricks, contact a SchoolMart edtech professional today by visiting our website.