The holidays are coming! It’s time to clean the house, change out the summer clothes, and plan to make this time of the year so special for our little ones. However, making the “Mom Magic” happen in your home takes some time, and we need to be able to use screen time positively to occupy our kids and get our stuff done.
If you’re like me, you feel guilty putting the kids on the iPad or the TV for hours to do household chores, but we don’t have to feel so bad if we can use technology to better our kids in some way when we need them occupied. Whether it is coding, emotional learning, physical education, math, or reading skills, many resources count as “screen time” that we can feel good about giving our kids when we need a break.
Let’s check out some online programs, apps, and TV shows that can help our kids learn and grow!
Scratch – Programming Developed by MIT
Scratch—MIT is a free, kid-friendly programming website developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help kids learn coding. This website lets kids make cartoons, video games, movies, and more. The site boasts, “Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children and a coding language with a simple visual interface that allows young people to create digital stories, games, and animations. Scratch is designed, developed, and moderated by the Scratch Foundation, a nonprofit organization.”
My eight-year-old loves making short animations on the site. He has never really cared for drawing or coloring in real life, but on Scratch, he draws his own Mario and Luigi and programs them to jump and talk. I feel it is a great creative outlet for him, and he gets excited to draw characters and then code their actions on the easy-to-use site.
Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins, available on Disney Plus, is a true pleasure to listen to or watch with my kids. It follows four children exploring classical music, arts, and culture worldwide. As parents in Westchester County, we live close to many museums, such as the Cloisters Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains the Medieval Unicorn Tapestries featured on an episode of Little Einsteins. Watching my children connect art from the show to the tapestry we saw in real life right here in New York was great.
Ask the StoryBots
StoryBots is a Netflix show that explains different subjects to kids, ranging from “How are planets formed?” to “How do you catch a cold?” The “Bots” explain both simple and technical terms, everything in terms that children from ages 4-12 can learn quickly. The teaching is surrounded by silliness and celebrity guest appearances like John Legend and Wanda Sykes. I heard my four-year-old daughter explain that planets are made from dust and gas the other day, and I felt great about letting them watch StoryBots while I prepared dinner!
IXL
Our school district in Eastchester uses IXL a lot in the school setting. When I asked moms in my district and the “Special Moms Westchester” site about what “guilt-free” screen time they would use, many cited IXL as a great resource. A free trial leads to a membership with rewarding learning tactics and personalized action plans for your child, so while not “free,” the feedback from many moms in the community is that it boosts their child’s learning so much that it is worth the membership.
Ms. Rachel
Ok, most moms will know Ms. Rachel by now, but if you don’t, you should know Ms. Rachel by now! She is a speech and language teacher who made YouTube videos that became a sensation because she is amazing. Putting her videos on is like having the best SLP talking to your kids directly in your living room. One mom says, “Ms. Rachel has taught my one-year-old son so much. He’s doing sign language at a year old! She is the best, and he is obsessed with her. No guilt here!”
Peekaboo Kidz – Dr. Binocs Show
I am not a huge fan of YouTube shows that I am not familiar with, but I found Dr. Binocs with my kids recently, and there is a lot of good information in these short videos. There are a few episodes about anatomy, the circulatory system, and learning about our bodies. Still, many subjects are covered, and the information is easy to learn and appropriate for children. My eight-year-old son has recently become obsessed with talking about “farts,” and they are explained very well in an episode. I hope this answers all the questions about flatulence, but anyone else with a son knows it will never end.
Blippi
Blippi is a child’s show on social media platforms like Prime and YouTube that portrays curiosity about many subjects, including vehicles and construction equipment. According to a mom of two young boys, Blippi is “high-energy and engaging with real-life scenes and education. The kids love catchy songs and learning about all the parts of trucks.”
ABC Mouse
ABC Mouse is an award-winning app for young children that helps with reading, math, and phonics. This app engages kids ages 2-8 with activities to boost learning for perfect guilt-free screen time. You can try it free for 30 days and then pay a monthly fee. I have yet to hear any parent complain about the subscription price related to the value of the app.
Bluey
This Australian animated series on Disney Plus has stolen the hearts of so many families because of its ability to show love, kindness, and real family situations. One episode shows sweet and energetic Bluey and her sister need to let mom have a few minutes alone because she feels overwhelmed and tired. Most episodes show entertaining imaginary games the girls play at home with their parents and average about seven minutes long, making it a great compromise when the kids want a little TV before bed.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
Mister Roger’s Neighborhood inspired this animated series, the class show from our parent’s youth. It features Daniel, a toddler Tiger who goes to school, makes friends and becomes a big brother. He deals with emotions and sings songs to get through them, like, “If you’re feeling mad and you want to ROAR, take a deep breath, and count to four.” The episodes are calm and slow and great for a midday break needed to replace naptime. Some episodes are available on Amazon Prime; you can purchase them every season.
Raz Kids
Raz Kids is an online program offering reading help for kindergarten through fifth grade children. Educators and moms recommend it for children who struggle with motivation to read, as it pairs incentives with reading activities to keep children wanting to learn more.
Cosmic Kids Yoga
Available on YouTube for free, my family discovered Cosmic Kids Yoga during COVID to combat boredom in the house all day. The yoga poses are incorporated into storytelling so that young kids can stay engaged, and kids can do the activity independently or with parents who need a stretch.
“Brain Breaks” with Coach Corey Martin
As an energetic boy with ADHD, my son loves watching “Brain Breaks” in school (aka short videos that engage children physically so they can return to a seated and focused academic activity). When the teachers told me to use this strategy at home and find brain breaks on YouTube, my son immediately liked Coach Corey’s videos.
He has every theme, from Sonic to Pokemon to Super Mario videos, that encourages kids to jump, dodge, freeze, and dance through simulated courses. It’s a great tool for giving your kids some screen time while also letting their bodies get some sensory stimulation so you can direct them back to a non-screen activity.
Little Bear
Does anyone remember watching “Little Bear” on Nick Jr. when we were kids? It was about a small bear learning simple, slow-paced life lessons with nice music in the background. One mom says, “Something about it is so calming. I love it for sick days when he is home with me.” Episodes are available on YouTube.
We are in a new generation of motherhood. We know our kids should not be on screens 24/7, but we don’t have the whole neighborhood of kids outside playing on the block every evening to occupy themselves until dinner time. Most kids have an iPad, so you can’t just say no all the time. I would love it if my kids never asked for screen time, but the reality is that they do, and I DO want to give it to them so I get a break sometimes. As a parent, it’s my job to moderate it, direct them to use the time well, and ensure something harmful does not appear on their screens.
