CONNECTING WITH YOUR KIDS MEANS FINDING A HOBBY YOU ALL ENJOY

Connecting with your kids is important, and it’s more important than ever in the age of social media that we maintain that strong relationship. It might feel difficult sometimes, but be assured that if you put in the effort, you are going to be able to see success. Here are some of the hobbies that you can try to create bonding opportunities with your kids:

Look Into Sports

If you and your children enjoy being athletic then you should look into doing some sports as a family. There are many things you can do from martial arts to adventure sports. Finding something you all enjoy doing will be the hardest part of engaging in a sport together. One of you might want to do swimming while another wants to play basketball. An easy way to resolve this is to do both or all of the sports that has been recommended. If there is a clash in days then you could alternate different weeks to keep everyone happy. Family sports keeps everyone engaged and is a great bonding experience for you all. 

Get Creative 

If you are wanting to find a hobby that involves getting dirty while having a fun time then how about putting your creative hat on. Children love creating things with stickers, glue, paint and glitter. Parents aren’t usually too keen but there are always other alternatives when it comes to creative hobbies. You could even join a pottery class so you can all attend and make something to be proud of. Whatever you make can be displayed in your home for all to see. This will create lasting memories for all of you and you can look back on it over time. But creativity doesn’t always mean getting dirty, and you can still create something too. Think of music, for instance, it’s honestly the perfect example of this. All they need is a musical instrument they love (and you too), a reliable sheet music site for good tunes, and just some time to learn to play music together!

On The Geekier Side 

The final idea is that you can try looking into the geekier side of things. As a geek daddy, I think it’s important to consider some of the geekier side of things, and that includes things like collecting funko pops. You can also sell funko pops if you have ones that you no longer like or want in the home. Then there are things like comic books, movies based on comic books, action figures, books and so much more. The point is that these are the kinds of things that a lot of kids enjoy, so this might be something worth taking a look into. 

It’s important that you are doing everything in your power to keep your connection with your kids as strong as it possibly can be. Participating in a hobby together is a great way to spend quality time with kids. Good luck in finding that special activity that is the best fit for your family.  Now have at least a few ideas to get started.

NBA MATH HOOPS APP

It is amazing how kids can be so in tune to the analytics of sports yet think math is boring and uninteresting. With math skills and scores on the decline and showing historic lows in schools across the country, Learn Fresh, a national education nonprofit dedicated to enhancing students interest in STEM  and developing social-emotional achievement with children, has created a learning tool that utilizes the excitement of basketball to make practicing math problems fun. Partnering with NBA Cares, Hasbro, and NBA/WNBA teams to create basketball themed apps that are both educational and entertaining. NBA Math Hoops apps have kids enjoying engaging in math through competitive basketball themed games.

Available for FREE to be used by students in Grades 3 - 8, there are two apps to choose from both of which are available for Apple and Android devices. These learning apps star NBA and WNBA players and and utilize real statistics. Both apps reinforce fundamental math skills in a fun, data-rich environment as well as assist kids with building fluency through engaging gameplay. Suddenly fractions, decimals, percentages, and exponents are just a part of the game, and students are freed from the anxiety that often comes with traditional math learning. 

Students start off with NBA MATH HOOPS and can continue expand upon that experience with Learn Fresh's follow-up app NBA MATH HOOPS SKILLS & DRILLS. The NBA Math Hoops App features a digital board game with real-time NBA and WNBA player stats. Kids can spend as little as a few minutes at a time or a whole weekend with this fun and educational app, and they can play independently or as part of a class assignment. NBA Math Hoops Skills + Drills App is a complementary app that similarly hones elementary and middle school math skills through basketball mini-games. Boths apps are available to download for FREE on the App Store and Google Play.

NBA Math Hoops App • Free • Grades 3 to 8

Download the NBA Math Hoops Mobile App for free in the App Store and Google Play. The playful program helps build fluency with fundamental math skills through a fun, basketball-themed game with authentic NBA and WNBA player statistics that update in real-time! Compete in Quick Play or League Play modes and enter a classroom code to play in a league format with your peers. Great for use in the classroom, after school, or in-home learning environments.

NBA Math Hoops Skills & Drills App • Free • Grades 3 to 8

Ready for some drills? NBA Math Hoops Skills + Drills App helps young learners build fluency with fundamental math skills through a fun, fast-paced game that simulates the NBA All-Star Skills competition. The app complements the core NBA Math Hoops App and is designed for students looking to take their mental math and NBA Math Hoops play to the next level. Available for free in the App Store and Google Play.

While the game may use stats to make math less intimidating to students, NBA Math Hoops has some scored some impressive stats of its own: Students completing the full program demonstrate 35% improvement in math fluency and 18% improvement in data analysis skills, and a whopping 92% of educators report that students find math more accessible, relevant, and engaging through the program. As a parent, I've always been a fan of making learning both entertaining and educational so that kids consider schooling an enjoyable challenge rather than an uninteresting chore. So I'm geeked about the efforts of Learn Fresh in developing learning tools that embrace people's sports fandom to get them excited about math. 

If you know a child in third through eighth grade, encourage him or her to check out NBA MATH HOOPS! It is FREE, FUN and helps develop a fundamental skill needed to get ahead in today's society. Time to play some hoops!

Actress Alyssa Milano Teams Up With NFLPA Players To Help Them Be Pros On & Off The Football Field

We all have favorite players we cheer for on NFL game days, but how well do you know these players when they're not playing on the gridiron?  NFLPA, the union for professional football players in the National Football League, is upping its game when it comes to creating professional opportunities for its membership to market themselves off the field within the entertainment industry through the creation of its own multimedia development and production company called Athlete Content & Entertainment (ACE) Media.  Owned by the NFL Players Association and select strategic partners, ACE Media strives to provide unparalleled access to the athletes that are known for entertaining sports fans on fall Sunday afternoons so they are more prominently featured beyond  game days within a wider variety of educational, lifestyle and entertainment outlets.  ACE Media already has several successful projects to its credit including Catching Kelce on E!, Trading Playlists on Spotify, Take It To The House on Bleacher Report and Branding U on Above Average.

To help ACE Media in its efforts to win over Hollywood, it recently appointed Alyssa Milano to its board of directors.  While many of us know her from her roles on the television shows "Who's The Boss?" and "Charmed", Milano is also an avid sports fan whose TOUCH clothing, jewelry and eyewear line was the first women's only sports-licensed fashion brand and is currently the only one licensed by all the major sports leagues within the United States.  As a comic book aficionado, I also appreciate that she is the creator of a great graphic novel series called "Hacktivist."  Milano will bring more than 30 years of experience as an actress, author, designer, and entrepreneur to help NFLPA members gain exposure and maximize professional opportunities beyond their efforts on the football field.

“Alyssa joining the ACE Media board comes at a critical time in our growth. With hundreds of unique projects featuring almost 400 athletes last year, we're focused on expanding even further,” Ahmad Nassar, President, NFLPA, and ACE Media Chairman of the Board told A Geek Daddy. “Alyssa is the very best board member out there, with a unique track record bridging sports and entertainment. She's going to help us develop even more great opportunities for athletes, programmers, publishers, brands and leagues to create content across all sports and media."

“This is really an incredible opportunity for every player,” said Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl Tight End Travis Kelce, who has worked with ACE on several projects, including the new E! series Catching Kelce. “To have someone with experience navigating Hollywood, and leveraging its crossover appeal with sports and business, is a tremendous asset for the NFLPA and ACE Media. What Alyssa Milano will bring to the table will help each and every one of us in showcasing our personalities beyond the field – and across different kinds of media.”

How big of a football fan are you? Can you spot and identify players when they don't have their helmets on? Keep an eye out as you are bound to be having a lot more opportunities to test yourself in spotting players off the game field as ACE Media continues to expand its members profiles within the entertainment industry and beyond.

Aspiring Athletic Wear Designer Creates Stellar Star Wars Themed Soccer Uniforms

The indoor soccer team I play on thought we were sporting some great jerseys when we selected the stormtrooper themed shirt pictured above to wear during games for our most recent season.  We were put to shame though by an aspiring clothing designer named Nerea Palacios who has showcased a line of Star Wars themed soccer kits (what serious players and fans call uniforms) on her website that are pretty fantastic.  Hoping to garner the attention of Nike or another sporting attire brand to hire her to professionally design soccer kits, Palacios created a number of outfits tied to specific Star Wars characters to demonstrate her talents and gain some attention.

The soccer kit themes include Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi-wan Kenobi, R2-D2, C-3P0, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Stormtrooper.  All of them are impressive, most impressive ... though my favorites out of the bunch are the the droids R2-D2 and C-3P0.

To check out the full gallery of her Star Wars soccer kits visit www.behance.net/nereapalcacios.  Good luck with your job hunt and fashion designing career Nerea - May the Force be with You!