Just sharing my experience will you all, in case it helps.
Early this year Batbaby girl (Bbg) randomly wanted to get a laptop. She saw ours and said ‘maybe’ she could get one for herself too. Of course the first thing that popped in my head was the toy laptop my dad got me as a kid. But honestly, those days, we didn’t do much screen time. Anyways, so we upcycled a cardboard instead. We used marker to draw out the permanent buttons and used chalk to draw whatever was inside the “screen”, so she could wipe and re-draw whatever, whenever she wanted to.
So, why didn’t I just buy her a toy laptop?
- I really didn’t want to add another screen in her life. We all know by now, how too much screen time can be bad for a child’s brain. I’m not gonna annoy you and yap about that (simple google search will do). But I also know that at this day and age, it is very hard to keep them away from it. So I try my best to do without screen time whenever I can.
- This laptop encourages imagination. And that is good for her brain! Plus, I remember as a kid, how much I absolutely loved to pretend play. I’m sure you’ll know what I’m talking about.
- This laptop will be less distracting and help her gain problem solving skills. Since it doesn’t come with extra effects or sounds, it’ll help her interact with it better by figuring out things in her own way. (For eg: If she wants to pretend she’s watching something, she will draw a still from a cartoon show she likes. Or, if she wants to pretend she is typing, she will erase the chalk and write her ABC’s. It may sound sad to some people but honestly she has been having so much fun with it! It turned out all she wanted to do was pretend play. She didn’t even actually need to watch a show.)
– It is more eco friendly. I saved this cardboard from a furniture box and up- cycled it. When she’s tired of it, she can easily recycle it. Also, it won’t turn out to be just another plastic junk if it somehow ends up breaking.
Check out the laptop on the photos below!
☺️🌍♻️💻🎡
Psst: So far, we’ve “watched” Earth to Luna, Angry Bird and Yoohoo to the recue on her laptop! And today as we were “watching”, she said ‘Ok mamma, thats enough watching. Now its time for me to work, okay?’ -*pretends to type on laptop*
*cape swish*