Science, Nature and Tech

Facebook For Kids – Good or Bad?

Do you use Facebook? While it is officially banned for under 13 years, a survey last year showed that almost half of Britain’s pre-teens have a Facebook account. Joanna Bradey tells us what she likes about Facebook.

 

Facebook: What’s it all about?

 

Facebook is a website created in 2004 by a US college student Mark Zuckerberg. It started off as a way of college students to network with each other, which quickly spread throughout the world, and now has millions of members. Facebook works by people registering and creating a profile for themselves, and then becoming ‘friends’ with other people. A user can update their status to let their friends know what they’re up to, upload photos to share, send private messages to each other, and play games.  You need to be at least 13 years old to be a member, and Facebook is banned in some countries altogether, like Syria and Iran.

The thing that I like about Facebook is that it is a quick and easy way to keep in touch with all those people I have met in real-life but don’t have time to write to or call them, like old workmates or family that have moved away. I can upload a photo and anyone I am friends with can see it, and comment on it. In the days before Facebook, if I wanted to share a photo with everyone, I would have to print out lots of copies and send them in the post, which is very expensive and time-consuming. Since I joined Facebook, I am better at communicating with people and I enjoy seeing what all my friends and family are doing. I think that I know them better and it’s easy to keep-in-touch.

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Home, Health & Style

What Makes a Family?

What does the word ‘family’ mean to you?  It can mean many things in our society. Some define family as a mother, a father and one or more children.  For others, there don’t need to be children in the home for there to be a family.  Where there are children, about three quarters of the parents will be married to each other.

In 2013 the Office of National Statistics, which is a government body which takes surveys on all manner of topics to help the government make policy (rules under which we all live), found that there were 18.2 million people living in this type of family.  Many more of us have families which have a different make-up.  For the purpose of the survey, a family is defined as people living in the same household.   

However, as many of you will know, there are other ways in which we describe our family.  There are children who have two parents of the same gender, there are children who have only one parent with whom they live, other children have guardians and live with aunts, uncles or grandparents. 

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Toys and Games

A Fun Rainy Day Activity – A Schnitzeljagd

What on earth is a Schnitzeljagd?’ I hear you say.
A Schnitzel is a German word for a thinly sliced piece of pork, chicken or veal, which is dipped in egg and then coated with breadcrumbs. Similar to chicken nuggets but much tastier! Jagd means hunt.
A Schnitzeljagd means a chicken-nugget-hunt? Not quite! The word Schnitzel is also used in Papierschnitzel – little bits of paper.

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Toys and Games

Make Your Own Interactive Story!

Find out how to make your own interactive story with Jump! Mag and storyteller Justine de Mierre. 

Some people think stories are just for little kids, but stories are all around us. We watch them on television, we read them in books – we even listen to them when someone’s telling us about their great weekend!

Stories aren’t just fairy tales, they can be about businesswomen and athletes just as much as about princesses and trolls.  They can even be about princess-like businesswomen and athletic trolls!

So, if you’re planning a get together with your friends why not give storytelling a go? An interactive story is one you can make up on the spot and gets everyone joining in – and it can be about whatever you and your friends are interested in!

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