RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY: tablets

Showing posts with label tablets. Show all posts

Circle with Disney...Great New Online Tool for Parents

10:25 AM Dale Hudson

Circle is a great new device that helps parents monitor their kids online activities.

It's an Internet gatekeeper with the brains to control which devices can connect to the Internet, when they can connect, which apps and websites can be used, and how long those apps or websites can be used.

It can block ads, pause and restart the Internet at the touch of a button, and let its user(s) access historical data about what kind of content devices have accessed, and when.

You simply add Circle to your Internet connection by giving it access to your router. This can be done by either connecting it to a router with an Ethernet cable, or by connecting wirelessly. Once Circle is connected, it has complete reign over anything connected to your Internet connection.

Circle with Disney is positioned as a tool for parents, but it can be useful for anyone who wants to keep tabs on what’s going on with their Internet connection without having to log into their router and deal with its horrendous user interface. Circle can tell you if anyone is “borrowing” your Internet connection and let you put an immediate stop to it, track down the bandwidth hog causing your Netflix binge session to buffer, or simply clue you in to how much time you spend streaming YouTube video, all through an easy-to-use smartphone or tablet app.

If you want to see more about how Circle works, be sure to check out the video below.

Who Uses Tablets the Most? The Surprising Answer

6:19 AM Dale Hudson

Who uses tablets the most? You may be surprised by the answer.

A recent report says the biggest users are not teens...but kids.

The reason? Think about it. Parents of young children are aware of the multitude e-books, games, and learning apps that are available for tablets.

Since kids age 2 to 5 spend more time at home with their parents, it makes sense that parents would be using tablets to entertain and teach their kids through this avenue.

And they are easy to use on the go as well. Think about how many times you have seen younger children with tablets in the waiting room at a doctor's office or in the backseat of a car.

Elementary kids? Studies show they are not only using tablets for entertainment, but for schoolwork as well. 56% of elementary kids who have tablets report using them for schoolwork.

These studies reveal an incredible opportunity for the church to reach and disciple kids for Christ through apps, games, and online discipleship tools designed for tablets.

There are a few groups who are tapping into this, but we are just scratching the service. My prayer is that God will raise up creative and innovative leaders in this area who can develop these tools.

Who do you know that is developing apps and tools for tablets with the goal of reaching and discipling kids?

What apps and tools are out there already that we can help promote?

What are your ideas and thoughts in this area?

Leave your thoughts in the comment section below so we can spread the word.

Generation Touchscreen

6:58 AM Dale Hudson

Who's leading the way in a new generation of kids who use touchscreen more often than a keyboard?

The kids in your early childhood rooms! The use of touchscreen apps for kids under five is accelerating.

A recent study shows that 38% of kids two and younger have used mobile devices, up from 10% two years ago. 47% of three to five-year-olds are able to navigate a smartphone and 57% can operate at least one app.

Ownership of tablets among families with preschoolers has increased from 8% to 40% in two years. The amount of time preschoolers spend with touchscreen tablets has tripled during this same time frame. The average infant or preschooler spends 15 minutes a day with a touchscreen device. Infants and toddlers spend twice as much time with tablets as with books.

As the prevalence of tablets and smartphones increases with kids under five, more kids entertainment companies – including Nickelodeon and Disney - are expanding in the mobile preschool space. Here are the top 5 apps that are connecting with Generation touchscreen.

1. Disney Story Central – Disney
2. PlayKids – Movile
3. Endless Numbers – Originator
4. Little People Player – Fisher-Price
5. Disney Junior Appisodes – Disney

The preschoolers you are ministering to truly are digital natives. Are you prepared to connect with them?

Kid Tech...According to Apple

7:56 AM Dale Hudson

The Printed Page - Going, Going...

6:52 AM Unknown

The printed page continues to move toward extinction.

Americans enjoy reading as much as ever. But the format in which they read is rapidly changing.

For young adults under thirty, 33% get their news online compared to just 13% from newspapers.

In 2000, 47% of people read printed newspapers. Today the percentage is only 23%.

In 2000, 26% of people said they read print magazines. Today the percentage has dropped to 18%.

55% of New York Times readers say they read it on a computer or mobile device.

Print books are being replaced with digital books. The Association of American Publishers reported that in the first quarter of 2012, adult eBook sales were up to $282.3 million while adult hardcover sales came to only $229.6 million.

Today's kids are growing up immersed in the digital world. For them, the shift is not even a shift...it's what they have always known.

What does this mean for Children's Ministry?

You will continue to see the shift toward kids (and adults) reading the Bible on tablets and other mobile devices. Not the stone tablets of Moses. Digital tablets. They are easier to carry and weigh a lot less than stone tablets. (my attempt at humor)

Communication with parents will continue to shift from the printed page to digital. Printed communication will continue to be replaced with mobile apps, text, Facebook, etc.

Registration for classes, events, etc. will continue to move from the printed page to digital. The pen will continue to be replaced by the touch screen or the keyboard.

Curriculum delivery will continue to shift from print to downloadable.

Normally the church lags behind a few years. We will continue to see these changes take place rapidly in society as a whole and gradually in the church.

What other changes do you see happening in Children's Ministry due to the demise of the printed page? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

What You Need to Know About the Rise of Tablets for Kids

6:11 AM Unknown

The number of kids using tablets is on the rise. A study shows that 44% of children wanted an iPad this past Christmas compared to 31% in 2010.

Sales are forecast to be nearly 250% higher this year than the 18 million tablets sold last year. PC sales, meanwhile, will increase by an anemic 3%. A new survey from the nonprofit group, Common Sense Media, finds nearly half of 2 to 4 year olds, and 10 percent of children younger than that, have used a smartphone, tablet or video iPod.

Tablets have become a communal item among families. One-third of parents share their tablet with their kids. 65% of mothers regularly let their children use their tablet. In many instances, parents are handing the tablet to their child to keep them occupied while they are shopping, waiting in line, in the car, or at a sibling's soccer game.

Educational leaders are recognizing the potential of tablets being used in education. Apple recently announced that it is targeting its products for classrooms. Many teachers are already using tablets to engage students and make learning more fun. Valerie Nash, the Director of the Peoria Unified School Distict says,"the power of having that in the classroom is that it’s a tool for learning." A tablet called the Nabi is linked to 33,000 educational and kid-friendly websites. Here's a couple of examples.

Online safety is a concern. With most tablets comes direct access to the internet. Not the most ideal place for a child to hang out if it is not filtered. Companies such as Fuhu, Fooz, and Playrific have developed apps that parents can install to protect their children while they are using tablets.

So what does this mean for Children's Ministry?

Should we be developing apps for tablets that teach kids God's Word?
How can we equip parents to use tablets as a discipleship tool for their children?
Do you think the Bible on tablet will eventually replace the Bible on paper?
How can we make tablets a creative, interactive teaching element in our classrooms at church?

Would enjoy seeing your thoughts in the comment section below.

Posted by Dale Hudson