The countdown begins.
Three weeks till summer break. Two weeks till summer. Four days, three two one….
Now depending If you are an adult or a child, have kids or don't, that countdown means very different things.
The kids are very excited, freedom at last no more structure- hurray!
Being a parent of four children under eight, my wife and I have to make sure for both their and our own sake that structure returns. So, my wife has booked the three older ones for two weeks of camp whilst our two year old will continue in nursery.
Though we all need ‘chill time’ too much has devastating effects. We get bored and find ourselves unproductive.
Boredom can be cured in two ways;
- Screen time, tablet, phone, tv and computer
- Reading, crafts, sports, meeting with friends or family.
Now if you were to choose, which would it be? I would certainly want option 2, however nowadays option 1 is very easy to fall into. Even with option 2, option 1 will very often kick in.
However, screen time can be turned into option 2 too!
There is passive and active screen time, unproductive and productive screen time.
On the web, Google Play and the App Store there are thousands of applications that encourage learning or being creative such as Dualingo to learn a language, Youscian or GarageBand to create and mix music and Swift Playgrounds, Hopscotch or Scratch for those who love to code.
For Jewish learning there are great apps too. Check out Kerem B'Yavneh by Frankel Jewish Academy Kerem BYavneh. In this game (which my 8 year old loves) you learn how to farm produce with the shivat haminim (seven special species) of Israel, sell the produce and earn more shekalim by answering questions on Jewish trivia.
Another brilliant app to engage your kids with their Jewish learning is Ji Tap. Your kids can learn Ivrit/Hebrew with over 30 games, like Hebrew Pictionary Transport. Ji Tap has Jewish games about all the Jewish Festivals, general knowledge and so much more - with over 2000 games Ji Tap is a super way for you to keep your kids learning during the vacation - download it now:
