“Snowed in? Fun ideas for kids — and adults” plus 2 more |
- Snowed in? Fun ideas for kids — and adults
- China seeks parental control over kids' online gaming
- China gives parents control of kids' online gaming
| Snowed in? Fun ideas for kids — and adults Posted: 01 Feb 2011 05:06 AM PST Article updated: 1/31/2011 03:52 PM By Teresa Schmedding tschmedding@dailyherald.com Remember the thrill of a snow day when you were a kid? Holding your breath while you desperately listened for your school's name to be called on the list of closings? Somehow, we grew up and snow days turned into a scheduling and driving headache. If you're lucky enough to get a snow day this week, we thought we'd prepare a list of fun things to do to shrug off the stress and enjoy the day (once the danger has passed). Try these activities with your friends or family: 1. Take an old spray bottle, fill with water and food coloring. Then head out into the snow and write your name, or make a face or colorful designs on your snowman (just don't spray on a bare fence or anything that might stain). 2. Create a Kids' Idol show where the youngsters dress up like their favorite artists and perform. You can videotape, then later watch with popcorn. 3. Create a picture on a window with dry-erase markers. When finished, close the curtains, go outside and see what it looks like. You could also practice writing backward. 4. Have your kids write a movie script, create costumes and "stages," and then film. After dinner, snuggle down on the couch to watch your creation. 5. Snazz up a cookie-baking session by turning it into a scavenger hunt for items around the house to use as shape cutters, or stash toppings in unusual places and let the kids hunt for them. 6. Take a pretend camping trip in your living room. Pack up your blankets, pillows and snacks and tent (or a large blanket to hang over two chairs). Cut up orange, yellow and red colored paper to make a fire, sing songs, tell ghost stories and eat your snacks. Then snuggle up for a nap in the tent and pretend it's night. 7. Blow bubbles outside. When it's really cold, the bubbles shatter when they hit the ground, which is pretty fun for kids to watch. 8. Collect fresh, clean snow and make real snow cones by drizzling fruit syrup over the top. Or make your own snow ice cream (mix 1 gallon snow; 1 cup white sugar; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and stir in up to 2 cups milk until desired consistency). 9. Knock on the doors of elderly to make sure they're OK and offer to shovel their driveways for free. 10. Play themed relay games, like a race to get dressed in all their snow gear. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| China seeks parental control over kids' online gaming Posted: 01 Feb 2011 01:25 AM PST Beijing, Feb 1 (IANS) In an effort to curb internet addiction, online game operators in China have been asked to provide parents with a tool to monitor their children while using internet. A statement issued Monday by the ministry of culture and eight other central government departments said they have ordered the implementation of the Parents' Guardian Project for Minors Playing Online Games from March 1, the China Daily reported. Under the plan, as long as parents prove their identity as guardians and the gaming account of their children, the game operators should follow the parents' request to restrict their young children's online game-playing, including setting a limit on the daily or weekly playing time or imposing a total ban. The operators must also regularly monitor the game account and help parents to prohibit or restrict the inappropriate playing of online games, the statement said. The government instructions suggested a school student play online games for less than two hours every week and spend no more than 10 yuan ($1.5) on playing online games every month. According to statistics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the number of teenage internet addicts in China has risen to 33 million. The country has around 200,000 internet cafes. According to Macao Daily News, 457 million Chinese netizens are now sharing 250 million IP addresses, which means many of them use Internet cafes. The General Administration of Press and Publication said that the country's online game industry's annual sales have reached 32.4 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| China gives parents control of kids' online gaming Posted: 31 Jan 2011 10:52 PM PST SHANGHAI (AFP) – Chinese authorities have ordered online video game operators to allow parents to monitor their children's playing sessions as part of a nationwide crackdown on the growing problem of Internet addiction. The Ministry of Public Security was one of eight government departments that issued a joint notice on Monday ordering online gaming companies to comply with the new guidelines by March 1. Upon proving their identity, parents will be able to put daily or weekly restrictions on their child's game playing time, the notice said. They would also have the option of putting in place a total ban. Some parents and experts however expressed doubts that the order would be effective. "It's unnecessary and it will prompt more rebelliousness from the children," Xie Guangji, the father of a 14-year-old boy in Cangzhou in northern Hebei province, was quoted as telling the China Daily newspaper. Gu Jun, a sociologist at Shanghai University, said the order seemed unfeasible and a recipe for family conflicts. "It's a governmental gesture rather than an efficient solution," Gu told the newspaper. The notice also spelled out that online game companies had a responsibility to help parents restrict "inappropriate" video game playing. It urged game operators to employ special staff to assist with the project and to set up web pages and hotlines. The document suggested children should spend less than two hours a week playing online games and should spend no more than 10 yuan ($1.50) on online games a month. The number of teenage Internet addicts in China has risen to 33 million, the China Daily reported, citing the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think-tank. Concerns over Internet addiction have spurred a new industry, with unlicensed Internet treatment centres springing up around China. Last year, two web "boot camp" instructors were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison after a 15-year-old was beaten to death at a treatment facility in the southern region of Guangxi. At another rehabilitation centre in east China's Jiangsu province, 14 youths staged a mutiny in June, tying up their instructor and fleeing the facility over its tough military-like techniques, state media reported. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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