Let us start out with: No, this is not the same post as Games + Education = _____ only under a different name – this post is more like Games + Education Part 2.
As stated before, educational games are usually not fun – sad but true. Having your kids play videogames is probably not as beneficial as having them play outside is obvious too. Games make your kids violent – that’s your own fault, there are plenty of non-violent games available, do your homework next time before buying – or send us a comment or email, we’ll help you out.
Let’s assume that your kid is just as addicted to games as our kid. What to do? How many hours should you let them play? We don’t have a PHD and even the “experts” are not sure – use some common sense. Fact is that the biggest problem associated with playing videogames and watching TV is eye-tracking – especially for kids that are still growing. To limit eye-strain (this is different then eye-tracking) use a small screen with high resolution. Ideally kids play games on a modern PC/Mac, which offers far better resolution compared to your TV. But chances are that you have a console such as PS2, PS3, Xbox, 360, Wii or a Gamecube. If you have a newer “3rd generation” console do yourself (and your kids) a favor and buy an HD TV – you’ll notice a difference on your eyes too. By the way – Nintendo’s Wii could be considered 3rd gen, but it’s not HD.
Anyway, back to learning –
We usually don’t buy edu-tainment games, cause nobody in our family will play them. So how do we limit game-time, make sure our kid gets some extra education, all without coming across as the “mean” parent? Simple solution: Worksheets! Go to your local Bookstore or online and look up “workbook”. Depending how difficult the worksheet is we credit 15 min of game-time for each page. Tell your kid to imagine this being an arcade: instead of quarters, this arcade takes worksheets.
Problem solved – game time is limited, cause the kid won’t do more then 6 pages, he or she learned something, no discussion when to turn off the system and you can buy the “really” fun games guilt free.
Do you have a better solution? Please tell us (and everyone)…