麻豆淫院

Kids these days have a penchant for high-tech and would rather play with smartphones and tablets than board games and building blocks.

And they start younger and younger. A whopping 83 percent of children age 6 and younger use some form of screen media, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Although screen time has been linked with diminished creativity, childhood obesity, sleep disturbance and the like, it doesn't all have to be negative, said University of Alabama at Birmingham education experts.

"When used appropriately, technology and media can enhance children's cognitive and social abilities," said Jennifer Summerlin, an instructor in the UAB School of Education. "Interactions should be playful and support creativity, exploration and authentic learning."

Summerlin offers some tips and to help ensure children make the most of their screen time:

• Have a plan: When choosing media for your child, be informed and intentional and make appropriate choices. It should be appropriate for their age, individual nature, cultural upbringing and linguistic abilities.
• Make sure their brain is put to work: Select apps that are active, hands-on, engaging, empowering and give the child control.
• Enable fun: Be sure to provide your child with any accessories needed to make the device easy to use.
• Don't let the app be the sole teacher: Let the device be one of many other options to support learning.

UAB instructor and elementary school teacher Allison Hodges, Ph.D., recommends these applications for toddlers and preschool-age children:

• introduces children to animal names using the familiar peek-a-boo game.
• is a library of animals, modes of transportation and their sounds.
• is an alphabet-teaching app that works well.
• is an excellent tool for helping children learn the alphabet.
• helps children learn their ABCs by sight, sound and touch.
• is designed to teach preschoolers numbers from one to 20.
• teaches kids the basics of reading.
• drills kids on letters, numbers, shapes, coloring and counting.

Hodges suggests these applications for elementary school-age children:

• allows children to create amazing multi-scene cartoons with musical scores.
• lets children explore the habitats of various animals.
• makes learning the 50 states fun.
• uses fun mazes to teach kids to solve math problems.
• , based on the Common Core Curriculum, is an engaging way to learn mental math.
• lets kids practice basic math facts while helping superheroes fight evil villains.
• is a math-estimation game that directly involves kids in making word problems with just enough guidance to keep the problems relevant and challenging.