Our Kent Family blog: GEEK at Dreamland, Margate

Technology and children. Tricky beast isn't it?

Screen time, the internet, online safety, inappropriate games and content, addiction, unhealthy relationships with tablets and games consoles etc etc...

For parents the list is endless, at times very intimidating and often difficult to know if you're ever striking the right balance.

And despite Phoebe, Amber, Oscar and even Liv owning their own tablets together with access every day to games consoles, I was a little sceptical of Kent's GEEK festival - which celebrates all things gaming - being entirely suited to young families and children as little as them.

How wrong I was.

Because GEEK really does celebrate all aspects of game and play.

And yes while there was some gaming, we also found a very long list of other activities to take part in.

There was the Star Wars Jedi Academy - complete with REAL lightsabers - run by actor and Liam Neeson's body double in the Phantom Menace Andrew Lawdon.

We met tiny robotic dinosaurs, dancing robots, saw 3D printers in action, learnt more about virtual reality technology and tried our hand at some board games as well as making our own.

From creative classes, art workshops, talks, as well as an entire area dedicated to playing real-life versions of arcade games - so much of our day was taken up with things that were about far more than what happens on a screen.

Liv, 4, and Amber, 7, both love to draw.

My littlest girly dreams of arty parties for her 5th birthday and being old enough to join her school's art club next year when she moves out of reception.

She uses her tablet to watch endless repeats of Mister Maker and Art Ninja or videos of people creating giant art installations, while you rarely see Amber without a pad and pencil in her hand during car journeys, at restaurant tables, in the park or while watching TV.

And yet it was this pair perhaps most in their element at a festival dedicated to computer games.

They were able to do everything from make and decorate space helmets, cut out and build models, invent and design their own games, construct a giant cardboard arcade game as well as create and try on costumes and play real-life versions of virtual favourites out of kit other crafty enthusiasts had built.

Whilst Oscar was more focused on Minecraft and Mario Bros or satisfying his appetite with a few retro rounds of Pac Man, the girls thought long and hard about every creative aspect that goes into building those games the boy was playing.

They all, for very different reasons, had the most fun, productive and creative day.

And none of them spent endless hours stuck in front of a screen.

GEEK's mantra is 'meet, make, play' and make and play we definitely did in equal measure.

And if Kent is fortunate enough to host another three-days of GEEK next year, we'll definitely be meeting there again.

For the latest events happening at Dreamland Margate click here.