Encouraging An Unplugged Childhood

We are passionate about instilling authentic values in our children. Teaching them how to think practically and how to form meaningful relationships and appreciate the beauty of our natural world. We believe in an unplugged childhood where our children can experience every day to the fullest through spending less time on screens and more time being creative, playing and growing, exploring nature, and using their imagination.

Painting is an open-ended, creative activity that engages with so many aspects of an unplugged childhood. We gave this a lot of thought and recently conceptualized our Stumped kid’s paint set around 5 key factors that we believe are vital during early childhood development.

1. CREATE

It’s so important for children to go through the process of creating. Whether it be learning macramé or building a bird house, when a child creates, there are so many important elements that are at play. Creating something of their own gives them a sense of achievement. When they make mistakes, they learn to persevere through trial and error. The creative process is imperative for their little minds!

2. IMAGINE

Open-ended play deeply engages with a child’s imagination. As they play and build, their mind creates more ideas to develop on their current ones. It’s amazing to witness the immense scope of each child’s imagination, how each is totally unique and differs from the other. When we encourage our child to utilize their imagination on a daily basis, we normalize a pattern of thinking that is so important as they get older and work towards their dreams.

3. PLAY

When a child plays, they are relaxed, and so they are naturally more receptive and patient in the skills that they are building. For this reason, learning through play is one of the most important ways for a child to learn. With our Knock-a-Block for example, when a child is learning to hammer a dowel into a block and keeps missing, their own determination to build and play keeps them focussing harder on their aim and adjusting their hand grip until each dowel is firmly in the blocks and they have created their masterpiece.

4. GROW

Every parent can attest to how quickly their children seem to grow! Growth is beautiful, and it is present all around us – in family, nature, society – everything is on a constant progressive journey. Growth in its purest form can be seen in nature, and so allowing our children to witness this is so important. This can be teaching them how to plant seedlings, showing them how a mother hen nurtures her babies, or simply keeping track of their own height on a wall ruler. Let’s help our children foster healthy growth by constantly stimulating their minds through learning new, tactile skills that screen time cannot do.

5. EXPLORE

Children are naturally curious, and so allowing them to explore the world around them is imperative. Let them get outside! This may be difficult during lockdown, however a simple walk or bike ride allows them the freedom to explore their surroundings. A picnic with a nature scrapbook is also great learning fun – as they sketch and paint a leaf or an insect they are encouraged to explore and find more!

Let’s raise our children to be kind, honest, creative individuals that use their incredible minds and bodies to add value to the world around them and create unforgettable memories.