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| (Image Source: TechSpot.com/Google Play) |
Monitoring children's online activities goes beyond keeping track of their daily screen time. Especially now that parents need to keep their kids entertained while staying home, extra effort goes into searching for kid-friendly content to plan out children's activities for listening, watching and playing with their devices.
Google Play Store's Kids tab helps make it easier for parents to find quality apps for their children. It now offers "teacher approved" apps which are both entertaining and enriching, rated based on several factors like age-appropriatement, quality of experience, enrichment and delight. Only apps that meet quality standards are given a "Teacher Approved" badge. The app listings also provide parents with additional information on why the app is rated accordingly to help determine if it is recommendable right for their children. To browse "Teacher Approved" content, simply go to the Kids tab of the Google Play Store via either the app or at play.google.com.
The academic experts and teachers behind the review and rating system of these apps are Joe Blatt from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Dr. Sandra Calvert from Georgetown University. Blatt is a children's media expert and has created educational multimedia and broadcast television programs over the past 20 years. He has also been a consultant for many major production companies including Sesame Workshop and The Pokémon Company among others. On the other hand, Dr. Calvert leads the Children's Digital Media Center in Georgetown University where it studies the effects of interactive digital media experiences on children's long-time social adjustment, academic achievement and personal identity.
Remember to always encourage conversations with children to set digital ground rules, find out about the content they like and discuss smart online habits and other digital topics. Check out Google's Family Link for a set of helpful tools and a family guide to help initiate such conversations.
