Zoom playdate for 3-4 year olds?!?

[Anonymous]

DD is in a mixed age classroom of mostly 3 year olds and some 4 year olds. One of the parents suggested a playdate via Zoom and it looks like enough parents are interested to make it happen. I'm wondering what is the point? I've never done this before and am assuming the kids are just going to do their own thing or act silly for the camera, i.e., no meaningful interaction. I could see this maybe working if it were just FaceTime between two kids and even then, I think it would last for just a few minutes, but this Zoom playdate sounds like just more screen time of which DD is already getting more since this crisis started. The preschool teachers send out a weekly email with photos/videos of all of the kids that get sent in by the parents so the kids all get to see each other. Anyway, I'm willing to have an open mind about this Zoom play date, someone please convince me that it's a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Most 3-4 year olds have no interest with chatting.

[Anonymous]

Just try it. If it doesn't work (and I'd frankly be surprised if it did for more than 10 minutes), what did you lose?

[Anonymous]

I would give it a shot. Do you really have anything else to do? My 5 year old has had FaceTime conversations with various friends and I think it’s been helpful to keep the connection. Oddly enough, the friends he’s has the best calls with are not necessarily the one I would have predicted (like the young 4 year old girl in his class vs one of the other 5 year old boys).

[Anonymous]

I was skeptical, but my 3 year old was THRILLED to do a zoom play date with her 2 friends today. It lasted 35 minutes and they ran around and showed one another their toys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just try it. If it doesn't work (and I'd frankly be surprised if it did for more than 10 minutes), what did you lose?

OP here. Well DD will throw a fit when I try to turn Zoom off after 10 minutes. And I'll probably let her stay on because all of the other kids are still on and having such a great time together

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would give it a shot. Do you really have anything else to do? My 5 year old has had FaceTime conversations with various friends and I think it’s been helpful to keep the connection. Oddly enough, the friends he’s has the best calls with are not necessarily the one I would have predicted (like the young 4 year old girl in his class vs one of the other 5 year old boys).

FaceTime is different. I would be okay with her doing FaceTime with friends because it's one on one. From what I know of Zoom, you see everyone's image on one screen so for 10-15 kids, everyone's image will be really small. So... 10-15 tiny images of little kids running around or acting crazy. Mm sounds exactly like the kind of screentime I try to avoid for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was skeptical, but my 3 year old was THRILLED to do a zoom play date with her 2 friends today. It lasted 35 minutes and they ran around and showed one another their toys.

OP again. Zoom sounds like it's not a bad idea for small groups. The thought of 15 kids zooming (or whatever it's called) together just sounds awful. I'm going to ask the parents of her two besties if they want to do a 3-way zoom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was skeptical, but my 3 year old was THRILLED to do a zoom play date with her 2 friends today. It lasted 35 minutes and they ran around and showed one another their toys.

I was going to suggest something like this. My 3 year old hasn't had a playdate with friends yet, but she did a virtual show and tell with her aunt last week, and a Zoom story time with some of her cousins this week, and had a great time. Having an activity helps.