Monday, April 13, 2009

Transportation- Weekly Unplugged Project

I have been meaning to write about this amazing blog called Unplug Your Kids. This family lives a life free of TV, Video Game and loud toys. Each week the blog hosts an unplugged project. I decided to participate in last week's unplugged project. The theme was transportation. In honor of the theme we worked on a puzzle about transportation, took a trip to the canal museum in PA, and played red light/ green light!

Here are some pics from our trip to the canal museum.



Please check out Unplug Your Kids if you are interested in participating in the 3rd Annual Turnoff Week blog challenge. I will be participating in the challenge. I am hoping to turn off my TV (it isn't on much anyway) and computer for the entire week. Yup! Cold Turkey on the computer just might kill me. I could try to cut back but I am afraid I would end up cheating. I am already considering no TV at all for E in the summer but am not 100% sure yet. I currently use 25 minutes of Signing Time to get cooking done that I just can't seem to get done while E is tugging on my pants. If Pete was home a little earlier I would not put it on at all. There is certainly something to be said for cutting back on screen time. My niece was not allowed to watch TV while Eliza was awake and instead taught herself how to knit. Something tells me that would not have happened if she was glued to the TV all week. I personally believe it is all the wonderful things you miss out on while zoning out to mindless shows that makes watching TV so harmful.

What are your plans for TV turnoff week?

Screens & Young Children Fact sheet

7 comments:

Future Mom (Heather) said...

i could definitely cut back on my tv wathing during the week without any issues...i would just nap to pass the time LOL. but considering i work in front of a computer all day there's no way i could avoid the internet.

i think there is a major difference between using the tv as you are doing (exposing E to something educational and informative while you are cooking which is dangerous for her to be around anyway) and people who use nick jr/sesame street as a babysitter for 5 hours a day. it's great that E has the chance to learn to sign!

Beth said...

You are so good. We've been living in a hotel for almost a month and the TV is what is keeping us sane. I think we'd kill each other "The Shining" style from cabin fever if we didn't allow ourselves to zone out in front of the TV.

I'll certainly miss your blog if you don't turn your computer on all week.

PletcherFamily said...

Very cool idea. TV does rot the brain! I myself could do with a little less tube! There isn't anything on anyway!

Now that it is getting nicer, when I pick up the kids from school we go out and play for one solid hour before dinner. Then we eat together, then my husband entertains the little ones while Arlington and I work on a project together. Before we know it, it is bedtime! :)

I don't think I can go without the computer, though. I think that is AWESOME!

Andrea said...

Looks like you had tons of transportation fun! And I agree...tv is pretty much the most unimaginative activity around. I find that Tate learns SOOOO much more and imagines and plays so much better when he does not watch tv! My 1 exception is when either he or I are sick...then we have kids movie days. :)

Mommy Mechanics said...

Just wanted to stop by and say hi! Its been so long I have been out of the loop. Just so busy the last few months haven't found the extra energy to blog about my busy days. I will be back though! Congratulations on #2!!! Thats so exciting! Take care!

CC said...

I love the projects (other) people come up with from the unplugged ideas. But alas, not me.

In all fairness to tv, my kids learned signing, their alphabet, and phonics skills from videos. ;) Not that I'd be sad if we "lost" ours....

La Mama Naturale' said...

Looks like you two had a lot of fun. We cherish our unplugged time. It's such a good feeling.