Balance of physical and digital play for children is critical!

Kids have many choices, yet they favor little, there are things that they never get bored of and things that they enjoy for a couple of seconds at most. I am a parent who allows limited time for my children to watch TV or Play on their tablets. As usual, little boys and girls have different tastes which means more discussions and fights on who gets to choose which TV episodes or movie to watch :-)

Brother and sister have different interests, but they always converge on outdoor-adventure play

Dawoud's (7 years old) favorite TV show was Tom & Jerry on Boomerang, and best movies in his opinion were Hotel Transylvania 3 (which his little sister found scary) and Shaw Dog, which they both enjoyed. On Youtube, he watched Alpha blocks or number blocks and alternatively watched PrestonPlayz as it helps him learn about different tricks and tips related to his favorite games Mine Craft, followed by Pixel Gun. When I ask him why does he like Mine Craft so much, his answer is ‘because I love building stuff and I can build whatever I want and play with my friends as well’, for Pixel Gun he liked the concept that when we die we get a chance to live again …. Brilliant thought according to me……..

During weekends, and as part of his Friday morning ritual, he would spend hours playing and arranging his cars, then another hour playing LEGO, he says Lego makes his brain happy. And all times we went to the desert, he enjoyed playing with his remote control car on the sand, which made the trip even more exciting for him.

As for Alia, (5 years old), she loved watching Summer Camp Island on Cartoon Network. Her favorite movie up to this point is Frozen and Small foot. As much as I emphasized on the importance of using tablets to learn new things, Alia always found a way to spend some time to play her favorite Barbie Makeup app and Barbie Styling game, both reflect her real love for shopping and choosing outfits and looking her best wherever she goes.

Alia also loves LOL, so all through 2018 she loved playing with LOL toys, watching unboxing videos on YouTube, any chance for a new surprise makes her happy. She spends hours playing with her big dream house, cutie egg that cracks and coloring.

Both Dawoud and Alia agree …finally!... on something, they love adventure HQ, Lego land (more than MotionGate) and Jump.

In a time where technology is everywhere, I teach my kids to spend limited Tech Time, I feel proud that they spend most of their time playing games together, creating plays and shows , and I love to see how their imagination become a reality!

So in 2019...

I would love to see products in the market that ignite kids’ imagination and help them create playful engaging experiences, for example, a set of costumes and a small book about the play where the kids can wear the costumes, read the story and act it which doesn’t exist up to this point.

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About SuperMom Zina:

Zina Ashour, an entrepreneur and consultant, is a mother of 3 children - Jana (10 year old), Dawoud (7 year old) and Alia (5 year old).

She is a Jordanian, living in the UAE.