Article: A Palestinian woman makes interactive books for children in an attempt to keep them away from mobile phones

Ramallah, January 17, 2022 (Xinhua) Palestinian Ghalia Ahmed, from the city of Tulkarem in the West Bank, spends long hours every day preparing interactive books for children using cardboard and clothes, in an attempt to keep them away from mobile phones.

Ghalia (38 years old), a mother of three children, aims behind her step, which is the first of its kind in the Palestinian territories, to keep young children away from using mobile phones for long hours a day, which negatively affects their behavior.

The Palestinian woman, who works as a pharmacist, told Xinhua that the idea came to her two years ago when her daughter asked her to buy an interactive book like the one she saw on TV.

Ghalia added, while she was making some books in her quiet home in order to focus, "I searched for an interactive book in most libraries in the West Bank, but I didn't find any, so I decided to make it myself."

First, Ghalia used multi-colored fabric and cardboard to make a ten-page interactive book with pet characters and some of the little girl's favorite cartoons.

The housewife confirms that she was very happy to be able to fulfill her daughter's dream of obtaining the book, which changed her personality, made her more interactive with other children, and prevented her from using a mobile phone.

However, this success was not limited to her daughter only, and soon the news spread among relatives and colleagues who asked her to produce such books for them as well. Ghalia accepted the challenge, but it was not easy for her, especially since children differ among themselves in personal characteristics and traits.

The thirty-year-old woman explains, "Children's personalities must first be understood and their tendencies studied before writing their own books," noting that she needed to prove the idea to society and spread its importance to children in order to keep them away from electronic devices that harm them physically and psychologically.

In order to create unique interactive books for each child, Ghalia used to chat with mothers to learn about the positive and negative aspects of each one of them.

In addition, she says that the quality and content of the books varies according to the ages of the children, starting from books that are more easy to read to interactive books that have an impact on the child's personality.

And she continues, "I make books for children starting at the age of 11 months, as these books are characterized by containing only three colors, which are white, black and red, because a child at this age is usually unable to distinguish colors."

As for the age of one year and above, she begins to include colors in books in proportion to the development of the child's nervous system, and later she prepares books based on sight, touch and interaction to teach children basic skills.

It seems that the positive impact of the interactive book on children encouraged Ghalia to turn her initiative into an investment project, as she manufactures interactive books and markets them through her social networking sites.

Ghalia's interactive bookmaking is not limited to ordinary children, as it makes books for children with special needs such as Down syndrome or speech, hearing and vision problems.

She says, "The books are based on scientific, methodological and psychological studies, after consultation with specialists, because they contain activities commensurate with the psychological state of these children."

Ghalia aspires to establish her own workshop and employ many women to produce as many books as possible and export them to Arab countries.

The interactive books that she makes are very expensive and each one costs from 45 to 100 USD. However, she managed to sell and export a number of them to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, the United States and the Gaza Strip.