A No-Screen Summer Is Possible With Alexa: Here’s How

It’s that time of the year when kids spend more time at home relaxing and enjoying the break from school during the summer holidays. But keeping kids engaged during the summer is a real challenge for parents.

A study conducted by Kantar for Amazon indicates that 85% of Indian parents worry about kids spending excessive screen time during summer vacations.

Much like several kids, Rudra, a seven-year toddler, loves spending time on the phone, tablet, and other screen devices, especially during meal time. On many days, he ends up spending more than two hours on screen devices –a concern that the majority of parents expressed during the survey, which was conducted among over 750 parents with kids (3 years- 8 years) across 10 cities. Understandably, a no-screen summer for kids is every parent's dream. This year, Rudra’s parents have pledged a NoScreenSummer for him by finding alternatives that can keep him busy and engaged, without using screen devices.

And their first choice was ‘turning to Alexa for help’. With numerous interactive games, riddles, quizzes, stories and much more on Alexa, his parents were soon to realise that the journey to a #NoScreenSummer started by just giving voice commands. In no time, Rudra began enjoying engaging with Alexa by playing his favourite rhymes, Bollywood songs, quizzes, etc. Spending time with Alexa not only helped in reducing screen time but opened new ‘screen-free’ ways to find answers to his many ‘Whys’, improve vocabulary, enhance his communication skills, and keep him engaged –while having fun. Alexa became his new friend for all things ‘learning and fun’.

Here are a few ways parents can gift their kids a #NoScreenSummerwithAlexa

Make learning fun with games and quizzes

Parents can just say “Alexa, open Games for Children” and choose from a range of games including Animal Game, Chhota Bheem Adventures, Amar Chitra Katha’s India Quiz, Riddler or Magic Jinn for their kids. Games like ‘1-2-3 Math’ help kids in improving their core mathematical concepts including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division etc. Other skill-based games like ‘Kiddo ABC’ can help them learn the alphabet and new words.

Build vocabulary and grammar, improve communication skills and general knowledge

Interacting with Alexa can help improve kids’ communication and vocabulary without relying on screen-based language learning apps. Kids can learn English by saying “Alexa, teach me English”. Responses from Alexa on questions like “Alexa, why is the sky blue?” or “Alexa, how big is the sun?” or “Alexa, when was the first world war?” can help satiate their curious mind.

Improve kids' listening skills and their attention span

Kids can listen to bedtime stories in both English and Hindi by just saying, “Alexa, tell me a bedtime story; “Alexa, open children’s stories”, and more. Amazon Storytime on Alexa helps kids choose from a range of categories including bedtime, silly, family, and friends, or spin the magic story wheel for a surprise set of stories. Keep them engaged and entertained with

Kids’ music and nursery rhymes

Parents can ask Alexa in Hindi and Hinglish to play popular nursery rhymes including Lakdi ki Kathi, Nani Teri Morni and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. From kids’ music to mainstream hits, parents can create songs for their kids to dance, sing, and have fun at home. Kids can enjoy 100s of audio songs on ChuChu TV, the world's most-watched kids' education channel online.

*This article has been posted in collaboration with Amazon Alexa*

Suggested reading: Infotainment At Their Beck And Call: How Amazon Alexa Aids in Parenting