Last week we took our 5-year old grand daughter to the Activision Games for Girls Summit where all three of us had an extraordinary time.
Activision has taken the most popular toys and made interactive video games from them. These games are available in the DS format and have been a hit with not only Kennedy but her older brothers and parents too. The six games we were introduced to are Moshie Monsters, Wappy Dog, Lalaloopsy, Zhu Zhu Babies, Zoobles and Squinkies.
We were treated to a fabulous lunch before we settled in to hear all about Activision’s new games for girls. While we were learning some amazing facts and statistics about girls and gaming in general … Kennedy was having a jolly good time with her new friends.
Marcy Massura (@MarcyMassura, Marcy Massura Media) was our host and introduced Suzanne Kantra (@techlicious, CEO and founder of Techlicious), Nicole Armstong (@ATVIGAMES4GIRLS, Director of Marketing for Activision) and Amanda Young (@ayoung620, Sandbox Strategies).
I think the most important thing we learned is the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics: Children over the age of two should have no ore than 1-2 hours of screen time each day. This not only includes video games but television, iPods and smart phones as well. That’s two hours total combining the use of all those devices. So … who’s playing video games? According to the 2011 NPD study, over 90% of kids ages two (yes two!) to seventeen play games in the U.S. Wow! Studies by the Office of Naval Research and the University of Michigan have shown that the physical rewards of gaming can produce:
- faster reaction times
- increased hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity
- increased spatial skills
- ability to divide and switch attention, pay attention to more than one object/person
- It is the way video games defy/ignore reality that opens doors in children’s minds saying it could be otherwise” says Linda Jackson, professor of psychology at Michigan State.
- They learn to be resilient in the face of failure because gamers spend 80% of their time failing.
- They learn to process information faster. (Office of Naval Research.
- Gaming improves fundamental abilities to reason and problem solve in novel contexts.
We’re grateful to Marcy Massura for the invitation to Activision’s Games for Girls Summit. It truly was time well spent with wonderful women who went out of their way to share their knowledge and expertise on an activity that is part of children’s every day life.
Kennedy had a wonderful time and was over the top excited and impressed with her very first swag bag. She and Wappy Dog were exhausted from the day’s activities and they both slept all the way home.
The six new Activision games for girls (Moshie Monsters,Wappy Dog, Lalaloopsy, Zhu Zhu Babies, Zoobles and Squinkies) are available in the Nintendo DS format. Kennedy’s favorite is the interactive Wappy Dog. Her older brothers and parents are having just as much fun as she is playing the new games.
This is not a compensated post. We were invited to the Activion Games for Girls Summit by M3 (Marcy Massura Media) and received product samples to thank us for taking the time to participate.
Beth @ TheAngelForever says
Oh my goodness Kennedy’s face is priceless. Sounds like all of you had an amazing time. I love the photo of her sleeping in the car on the way home.