Preschool Market: Empowering Families in the Digital Age

Digital moments are woven into nearly every part of family life. In today’s world, adults in the family may be checking emails while their child is watching a video. These small moments accumulate, shaping how young children think, learn, and behave online, and how they perceive and interact with technology.

With how accessible digital devices are, there are increasing concerns around overuse. Parents often wonder how much screen time is too much, and many of them also struggle to guide their children through an online world filled with misinformation, inappropriate content, and constant digital distractions.

Preschool Market wants to make an impact by supporting parents in guiding young children through their digital journey. Through their project, “TechTogether: Empowering Families in the Digital Age”, they aim to help families discover that technology can be used for creative, hands-on and collaborative activities, and that healthy digital habits can be inculcated early in simple ways.

Making Discoveries Together Through Play

During a workshop at New Life Preschool, parents and children worked hand-in-hand to navigate their BeeBots to specific tiles on the map using simple programming.

Many families still associate technology primarily with screens, where fast-paced videos are easily accessible and their children become passive consumers of content. In response to this, Preschool Market encourages young families to enjoy technology, including screen devices and other tech-enabled toys, meaningfully and safely.

Families were introduced to play-making activities through interactive tech tools that are not commonly known, such as 3D pens and small programmable robots. During the workshop, parents and children worked together to complete simple coding challenges with their robots and create imaginative designs with their 3D pens. These activities naturally encouraged children to think critically and channel their creativity into play.

Cheong Su Fen, the founder of Preschool Market, shared that their goal was simple: “We want to bring parents and children together to explore fun and age-appropriate technologies and tools so that they can build things, problem-solve, and learn computational thinking.”

All around the classroom, parents beamed with pride as they watched their children guide their BeeBots to specific tiles on the map through simple programming. Many of the children also encouraged their friends with smiles and cheers during the process! The activities encouraged the children to move, build and problem-solve with tech-enabled toys and tools, and the children put their sequencing, pattern recognition, and logical reasoning skills into action.

“This workshop was very engaging for me,” Karin Chen, a parent participant shared after the workshop. “In the past, I saw my daughter using this 3D pen by herself, but it was actually very enjoyable to make something together. Both of us really enjoyed this session.”

Supporting Families in Developing Healthy Digital Habits

Families learnt about fostering healthy digital habits at home, such as ways to manage screen time and how to curate age-appropriate content for children.

Alongside computational thinking, the workshop places a strong emphasis on online safety awareness and digital wellness, sharing practical tips for families to build healthy digital habits.

Many parents want to guide their children’s digital habits. But often, parents feel unsure about where to begin, especially when technology seems complex, fast-moving, or synonymous with screens. Preschool Market helps bridge this gap by introducing simple, safe and screen-light tools and toys that families can confidently use at home. Through hands-on demonstrations and guided play, participants saw how technology can deepen their children’s creative, tactile, and exploratory thinking, rather than hinder their natural curiosity.

Apart from learning together, participants get to spend time together as a family. This is key to a fulfilling experience.

“When parents join in and play, they can better understand how these tools support learning. Their children feel more confident and, together, families discover new ways to bond without relying on screens,” Su Fen shares.

Building Confidence and Connection Through Tech

Parents found that doing simple tech activities together can be a way to strengthen family bonds.

After attending the workshop, parents walked away with renewed confidence in themselves as guides for their children’s digital journeys. They discovered that technology could open doors to fun and meaningful learning experiences, especially when tools that spark curiosity and hands-on play, rather than encourage passive consumption, are used. At the end of the session, each family also received a kit containing a 3D pen and a booklet containing actionable tips on fostering healthier digital habits. This kit enables them to continue their learning beyond the workshop and built a stepping stone for them to try out new and healthy digital routines at home.

“Through this workshop, we hope that the parents and caregivers will know how to guide their children in using these technologies,” Su Fen shared. “We want caregivers to know that we do not need to only rely on screens to engage with our children. Through other forms of technology, we hope that parents and children can come together to have time for meaningful bonding.”

By replacing passive screen time with purposeful tech play time, Preschool Market hopes that technology can be used for good – to strengthen children’s imagination and deepen family ties. Most of all, these will translate into healthy digital habits, laying a foundation for children who will grow up to understand the importance of online safety and digital wellness.