Due to a boom in technology advancement, this generation of children are having more screen time than ever before.

As quoted by the NHSGGC website: ‘In the UK children aged between 5‐16 years spend an average of 2-3 hours per day watching television, 1-3 hours on the internet, 1-2 hours playing video games and over an hour on mobile phones (not talk), a total of 6.3 hours of screen time per day.’

The covid pandemic has increased this further due to the lockdowns forcing us all into our homes to avoid social interaction and slow the spread of the virus. Children have spent more time than ever looking at a screen.

This leads us to ask the question: how can we make screen time healthier and more positive for children? Reducing screen time is the obvious place to start. By reducing the amount of time spent staring at a screen we can reduce stress and improve sleep.

The second positive change is to remove time wasting apps and instead use educational apps for children. Educational apps have a positive effect on children by encouraging them to learn in an engaging and interactive way.

The Zap Maths educational app delivers the entire maths curriculum to children in the form of games, conundrums, and tournaments. It meets each individual child at their level of knowledge and allows them to progress at their own pace picking up points and coins along the way to unlock further levels.

There are many benefits to learning through the use of gamified educational apps. They are a way of delivering the curriculum in a more engaging and interesting way. Below are three of the main benefits!

1. Its fun! Its no secret that some children find learning a bit boring sometimes! Making learning fun motivates children to focus on tasks for longer and push themselves further. Because it is fun and interactive, it has a positive impact on retention of the information.
2. Its competitive. A bit of friendly competition is healthy for children. Winning isn’t everything, but competition in games helps to encourage children to do their best while learning in the process. Its always good to have a challenge!
3. Learn wherever you are. Continuing the learning outside of the classroom is an added benefit of gamified learning. While games can be incorporated into lessons, they can also be enjoyed at home too!

“Play is our brain’s favourite way of learning.”

Diane Ackemen

Life Ninja was founded by Tom, Trevor, and Helen who recognised the need for technological solutions to the issues schools, parents, and students face on a daily basis.  The business is based in a quirky studio in central Middlesbrough, and has gone from a team of four to eight in only three years.  Two of the co-founders live locally and have children in local schools which has driven their desire to level up the area through the use of innovative educational apps.

Life Ninja has a vision of making education technology affordable to all, with a key feature being rewarded collaboration where teachers, parents, and students all work together around the life and learning of the student.

With the priority on collaboration, it aims to supercharge students’ learning, fully engage parents and free up teachers to focus on teaching their students, and greatly reduce the administration and time burden they currently face.

The business has developed a new and exciting network, Learning Ninja and Message Ninja.  Message Ninja is used by schools as a communication hub between school and parents, and can also be used as a hub for internal school communications.  The app is original because it enables parents to book appointments with teachers, make payments, fundraise, and create events with digital consent from parents and carers.  Learning Ninja is a one-stop-shop home learning solution that enables communication between school and parents, including reading records, live quizzes, tournaments, and students can earn coins to use on building their own avatar.  The beauty of the system is that all the apps work alongside one another.

Having operated as a Sole Trader for a number of years delivering the Multiply Music service to local schools, HW Trading Group was founded in 2018 as a more formalized and expansive version of its brand. HW Trading Group is a privately owned business specializing in additional education and private music tuition services from their facility in Buckinghamshire, UK. They currently employ around 25 staff members who are led by a management team of two directors – Huw Williams (Managing Director) and Harry O’Neill (Operations Director) – and their Office Manager, Sara Wootton.