Our Techy Family Fun & Some Cool Activities For You To Try!

Lately, my kiddos are really into discovering new things (eh hemm, all the techy new things) including the little Olivia, that keeps surprising us every single day. Even though we try to limit Tablet and TV time for both of them, parenthood becomes more and more challenging with all this technology thing around, right? ( I sound like a grandma, I know, don’t judge ok?) 
Right after we started using our new futuristic mini metal donut AKA our Google Home Mini, our lives completely changed with the help of my Google Assistant next to us. Seriously, this device is one of those things you don’t know you need them, but when you get them, you can’t survive without it. We are super excited about this tech phase and we started reading how we could integrate and bond our new Google Home in a way that can fit it as a learning tool for our kiddos, encouraging them to boost their curiosity, play games, ask questions and create new conversations with us. 
Our Google Home Mini does a lot (and I mean lots) of fun features and activities you can do with kids. 
You’ll find 4 ideas over here how you can use it in your daily routine, no matter what age your kiddos are, it’ll be perfectly fun for all! 
1. Learn animal soundsDid you know there are more than 100 animal sounds in this little device? Olivia just discovered our neighbor’s cats and dogs and ever since she’s been obsessed with their sounds. Every night, we have our girly date of discovering at least 5 new animal sounds with our Google Home. It’s so much fun to bring our books and ask, Hey Google, what does a cat sound like? and bam! you’ll get the cutest sound immediately. Both my kiddos are very visual and kind of artistic, and complementing our books with the actual sound of each animal has been pure magic to them. Do me a favor and just ask about a chipmunk, a squirrel, and a flamingo – beyond!

2. Tell a StoryNico has a big imagination and reading stories at bedtime is his number one yay moment. Funny enough, our Google Home Mini has some short and sweet stories that he’s been loving. We start with our book, followed by a short story on the home, and a good night kiss.How cool is this?

3. Control your smart lights before bedtime Ok Duuudle, (how Nico calls Google) Turn on the lights! and voila, our portable smart light will turn on, change colors and even turn off, all set up from our Google Home Mini. We use our portable light for everything, bedtime reads, midnight bottle service, omg I have to go to the bathroom at night kinda situation and more. What’s fun about this, is that you can ask Google to change colors and set the “mood”, adjust dimming, set timers and even asking if you left the lights on.Moms and Dads, this is the ultimate hands-free experience we’ve been dreaming about (and more!).
4. Play TV shows, movies, and NetflixWhen I heard our Google Home Mini could turn on any TV without even lifting a finger I was like, wait, what? I had to see this to believe in it, right? We bought a Chromecast, a tiny accessory you’ll plug in your TV and will connect remotely to your home and ladies and gents, it works like heaven! you just need to say the magic words “Okay Google, Turn on my TV”(just imagine Nico’s reaction to this moment) and done! Once your TV is on, you can basically control, play, pause and rewind what’s on with your voice. We play movies and TV shows, drop and turn on the volume and even power off as soon as we’re done. This feature has helped us so much especially when we have our hands full with both Nico and Oli, every day, most of the time. 
I can’t wait for you to try the new Google Home Mini and learn all about the new family-friendly features.Game changer, fam!Sponsored content: This post is sponsored by Google Canada but opinions and content expressed here are my own.
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7 Comments

  1. Jenna Urben
    November 13, 2017 / 3:31 pm

    This is really cool and great for families!!

    • maca atencio
      November 14, 2017 / 4:10 pm

      It's so cool for kids, mine are addicted, lol!

  2. MonicaLeeBlog
    November 13, 2017 / 3:41 pm

    We've got a baby boy on the way and I love finding different fun things that our family will use in the future! Loving these photos, great post!

  3. Melissa
    November 14, 2017 / 3:52 am

    This is pretty cool. I hadn't heard about the google home mini. May need to check it out!!!

    • maca atencio
      November 14, 2017 / 4:11 pm

      yay!

  4. Jen Smith
    November 15, 2017 / 1:33 am

    So cute!

  5. Jordyn galan
    November 15, 2017 / 2:03 pm

    I would have never known it was so family friendly