I often read articles about the dangers of too much TV or computer games and sigh. To me, children should have a wide range of different experience and TV and electronic games are a part of the whole. Something they can go on for a short amount of time but should not be the only thing they do. I love the idea of a play diet which you can find on the new website Fundamentally Children. they say:: “The Play Diet is a practical approach that parents can use to help guide the activities that they encourage their children to do, and can help them resist the pester power that parents tell us they find so difficult to handle.”
Just like a food diet they want children to have more active free play and imaginative play. This really helps. My girls do a lot of this section as well as arts and crafts but we definitely have been slacking on the board games and team games section. The chart really helps you look at the sort of activities children get up to and consider whether they are getting a balance diet.
There is also a brilliant Good Toy Guide section. This helps you choose the best toys for your children. Each toy is given marks for fun, skills development and ease of use. This is brilliant if you are wanting to help your child develop certain skills. There is also a link to buy the games.
We were sent a couple of toys from the Good Toy Guide which will be brilliant for the girls. I am putting them away for Christmas.
Games like Guess Who? and What a Performance are lots of fun but also encourage sharing and team work as well as thinking skills.
Each item in The Good Toy Guide shows the skills developed and has links to related articles so you can find out the importance of this sort of play.
Fundamentally Children is a really great site to bookmark for parents, grandparents or educators. I am definitely going to be using this site a lot in the future.