I was perusing mom blogs and (ironically) I found a dad blog that I really liked. The blog that struck my fancy was DC Urban Dad.
I found a post he'd written where he talked about Kneebouncers.com. The theme of the site is toddler-centric computer games. I decided to give it a try. My son loved it. Kneebouncers.com was so exciting to him, that he was able to tear himself away from Yo Gabba Gabba (his current favorite TV show) to play a shape learning game.
The cool thing about Kneebouncers.com is that the games let your kid press absolutely any key on the keyboard and the game will work. What a brilliant idea!
Thanks DC Urban Dad for a great toddler friendly website!
I just checked this site, and Zalah liked it. However, I am nervous that she will touch the computer even more now! Z has a problem...we don't let her watch TV too much and at home she even bores of it (its really NEVER on at home) but at Bubby's, she watches for EVER and flips OUT when we shut it! We hate this. (I'm sure you sympathize!!) So I tried this site. She played for a while and then of course flipped out when I took her off. It was already way past bed time! So I tried to read her stories in her bed to calm her. She liked that too, but again flipped out when I stopped... She has a mobile that we play but cries when that stops too. What's with the over stimulation!? Some nights we play Sigur Ros quietly on a CD player and that seems to work because she falls asleep before it ends. *Sigh* Kids.
ReplyDeleteOh, another thing that works is when she flips out I try to tell her to stop and calm down, and tell her to meditate or breathe. She does copy us when we do that, and it works! Yay!
ReplyDeleteOh man, do I sympathize! It's really hard. I think the situation here was that Wil would let Ari watch TV when I was at work and he was exhausted from working the night shift. I get it, sometimes we all need a break for constant toddler watching. But then it became a situation where HE was letting Ari watch TV and I wasn't. And then I became more lax about TV because Wil was letting him watch it. You see where this is going? Vicious TV cycle.
ReplyDeleteBut it's hard when your in-laws are doing things that you disagree with with your kid. That's really difficult because you have even less control over that.
But I digress. Ari is also technologically addicted. And I feel like at this age transitions of any kind are hard, technologically based or not. For example, Ari hates getting out of the bath JUST AS MUCH as he hates stopping a game on the computer or shutting off the TV. I think they have a hard time with change.
But I hear you. I could see how this site would make her more obsessed with the comp.
I love that she meditates! So cute!
Well, valid tech-over-stimulation-transition issues aside this site looks AMAZING. It isn't using commercial characters like disney or something and it teaches cause and effect somewhat and it seems really developmentally appropriate.
ReplyDeleteMaybe just don't play it close to bed? Only in the daytime?
Even for grown-ups studies have shown that using tv or computers close to bedtime (within an hour I think?) negatitively affects sleep quality.
It is an AMAZING site. Ari loved it! He wanted to play the shape game over and over. And you're right, it doesn't use Disney-esque characters or crazy over-stimulative features.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to continue to let him use it. Also, I loved that I could keep repeating "Press any key!" And know that he wouldn't accidentally check my email.