In our constantly expanding digital world, staying away from screens has become almost impossible. A major chunk of our modern lives is now intertwined with the virtual world, such that it is bound to have an impact on the home front too. Kids these days are getting exposed to screens at a very early age. But, how much screen time is good for the child? And how can we, as busy parents, keep the child engaged throughout the day without the use of screens?
This post is sponsored by Firstcry.com but all opinions expressed are my own.
Busy modern lives, nuclear family setups and a fewer number of safe open spaces for children have led to many parents resorting to screen time for their bored kids at home. Are you wondering if your child is being exposed to screens a little too much or if this screen exposure is causing your child harm?
Find out how I manage my child’s screen time in this post I wrote for Firstcry.com
And don’t forget to leave me a comment below on how you handle screen time for your kids?
Every parent today is concerned about screen time for kids. Moms regularly ask, how to reduce screen time, and what kind of indoor activities to introduce instead of screens.
Before we get into the specific strategies to reduce screen time, let us first look at what the AAP recommends;
Screen Time Limits By Age
For children younger than 18 months, avoid the use of screen media other than video-chatting. Parents of children 18 to 24 months of age who want to introduce digital media should choose high-quality programming, and watch it with their children to help them understand what they’re seeing.
For children ages, 2 to 5 years, limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programs. Parents should co-view media with children to help them understand what they are seeing and apply it to the world around them.
For children ages 6 and older, place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviors essential to health.
As you can see, the guidelines don’t say you need to ban screens instead they suggest judicious use of screens laying emphasis on quality of programming with appropriate parental controls.
Why Excessive Screen Time Is Bad For Children?
A study found that children age 2 and under in the United States averaged 3 hours, 3 minutes a day of screen time.
Another recent market research survey found that an average American child (ages 5- 16) spends about 5 to 8 hours a day in front of screens.
Research shows us that more time spent on screens (age 2-3) is linked to behavioral, cognitive and social development difficulties. (JAMA Pediatrics, Vol. 173, No. 3, 2019)
Other than this, excessive screen time can leave a child with less time for free play, one-on-one interaction with family members, time outdoors, and even affect sleep.
So how to reduce screen time and give our children an opportunity to live life unplugged?
how to reduce screen time for kids and teenagers
Tips To Reduce Screen Time For Kids
1. Be a role model
Are you constantly glued to your phone, iPad or laptop? It’s not rocket science to know that in order for you to reduce screen time for your kids, you need to get off screens too.
Some job roles require parents to be constantly on the phone or in front of the laptop. Explain to your child that this is part of work. Have a designated work time and screen free one on one time with the child.
Allocating media free times of the day for the family works wonderfully in driving home the point.
No screens at the dinner table, in bedrooms, or during family time. Engage in hobbies other than mindless scrolling through social media. Remember your child is observing you live your life and learning from you. I am not saying you need to put up a show, but this helps us as parents to look at what type of lifestyle we are promoting to our kids. Our need to parent better in this aspect has a beneficial effect on the entire family.
Read books, go for a run, pursue your own hobbies so your child can see what life is all about.
The child sees you exercise the balance between real life and virtual life and understands limits better when you set them.
2. Screen-free activities
Have a set of go-to screen-free activities that you know your child will enjoy. I work from home and each night I keep a small activity ready for our son the next day. Adding something a new every other day keeps things exciting, and boredom at bay.
A very important reminder for moms is that children are naturally curious learners and don’t require much assistance in keeping themselves busy. But they do need a safe environment to explore and be themselves. Work at safety proofing the home and creating a play area for your child to safely navigate.
I find sensory activities the most engaging for toddlers. Here is a list of simple indoor activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Some of these require minimal supervision and can give you the much-needed coffee break you deserve, mama.
In our home, we use a mix of toys, pretend play, water play, sensory bins, music, dance and reading as alternatives to T.V.
3. Encourage new hobbies
By age 3 and up, most kids start to have likes of their own. Figure out what your child is enjoying and try and find them an enjoyable class or get together as a family and encourage activities based on the child’s current interests.
4. Spend time outdoors
Time outside in the early morning sun and fresh air is important for growth and development. Time spent outdoors in the sun is not only important for Vit D but also builds stronger eyesight. Kids sleep better and are able to focus on studies much better.
Yes, too much sun exposure (avoid the sun during peak UV rays time between 11 am -3 pm ) can cause sunburn and skin damage, but it is hard to dismiss the many benefits of sun exposure. Our bodies work best with a little bit of daily sunshine.
Many experts recommend that children should get at least 3 hours a day outdoors and no, this does not include organized sport. Movement through active play like climbing, skipping, rolling improves gross motor skills, helps with emotional regulation and even improves creativity, and academic success.
These days one of the biggest hurdles for many families is finding safe play spaces for their children. With cities getting crowded there is a burden on infrastructure. While these are challenges we need to resolve as a society, at the family level we need to ask ourselves how we can adopt an active lifestyle and increase time outdoors.
5. Encourage reading
Back home, after toys and educational activities, one habit that can turn into a hobby for the child later in life is reading.
Parenting is all about being an assertive and reasonable voice in the child’s life. You are the anchor in your child’s life. Help your child navigate the world of screens with confidence, instead of shaming and blaming.
With younger children, it’s easier to switch off and monitor content on your terms. But it can get trickier as the children grow older.
Start by assessing your current screen usage, have an honest talk with your kids about why too much is not good and set some house rules on how much is okay.
Include screen-free zones in the home (e.g. bedroom, dinner table) and screen-free times of the day (e.g. mornings are for creative play and quiet time in the afternoon, etc.)
Select the content carefully taking into consideration developmental readiness for topics chosen.
Allow the child to select between two to three options at a time. And have a strict cap off times.
For older kids, the family can discuss together and arrive at a suitable list of programming for the child to view. Taking their choices into consideration is also important but within a reasonable limit.
One way around using the T.V or Youtube for content is to download movies, programs to your laptop or iPad and prepare a curated list for your child.
Having a designated day of the week for younger kids and designated time of the day for older kids helps curb excessive screen usage.
Figure out what works for your family. The solutions may not look the same, but the idea is that if the child is involved in the decision-making, most probably he will follow through.
reduce screen time for kids
Frequently Asked Questions About Screen Time
What content is considered as high-quality content for children?
Shows, movies and program that promote or showcase positive message about relationships, family and life.
Shows and programs that showcase real life situations or places, where the child can also learn about the same. For example a school setting or hospital setting.
Shows that feature characters displaying kindness, respectful language and behavior. Avoid shows that showcase bad attitudes as cool behaviors.
Educational programs like wildlife documentaries or science based shows that explain concepts and create awareness about topics.
Many TV shows and apps these days are also used as a tool to sell promotional toys, gear and junk food to children. Be aware of running themes in programming for children and avoid such content.
Look for age appropriate story lines that you know your child will follow, can ask about and leave out shows and movies that are too complex for young children to grasp.
Young children should also be viewing content that is slower paced. – each scene unfolds slowly, giving the child enough time to process the contents of the scene. Avoid fast action programs with loud over stimulating sound effects.
Programs that encourages the child to join in by answering questions, or doing what the character is doing on screen like singing and dancing are also great.
How to set screentime rules in families with multiple kids?
One way to reduce screen time for younger children in the family is to schedule screen use for the older kids when the younger one’s nap.
As mentioned above having an honest conversation with kids, and exposure to a wide variety of activities in the day is the most effective way to reduce addictive screen use.
I hope these tips and suggestions help your family navigate the world of screens confidently.
In a way, healthy screen use and a healthy diet have the same key to success. A balanced approach to screens helps in the long run rather than absolute bans or excessive addictive use.
How do you help your children reduce screen time and what benefits of reducing screen time have you experienced? Leave us with your most successful family screen time rules in the comment section below.
Keeping toddlers engaged for long periods of time is a challenge for most parents. Before you hand out the iPad, here are some easy low prep indoor activities for toddlers.
I work from home and our 3-year-old doesn’t go to playschool. So, if you are wondering how I keep him busy, read on.
We have our own little system of work and play that suits his interests. I believe in child-led learning and exploration. Most times I am only providing him with the tools and he uses and learns with them in a child led way. There is no forcefulness, no pressure to learn concepts or to complete an activity if he doesn’t like it, and no strict rules on how to play.
All play in our home is explorative and imaginative.
For a 2-3-year-old my focus is on sensory activities, imaginative play, development of fine motor skills, art and craft and introduction of educational concepts through some educational activities.
As I mentioned earlier, I create a safe space for my son to play his games in, introduce these activities and tools, give minimal instructions where needed and then just let him use his hands and imagination to play.
All play is learning. This method has benefitted our son immensely. He enjoys his play environment and has learned key life skills through play.
In a previous post on screen-free activities, I already covered some of these activities and how I keep screentime to a minimum in our home. The following list includes activities from the old list and some new activities that a 2-3-year-old can easily do at this learning stage.
All of these indoor activities for toddlers are low prep and don’t require you to posses DIY skills or be a Pinterest mom.
Let’s get started.
LOW PREP INDOOR ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS
Sensory Play For Toddlers
Sensory Bins
Our son loves sensory bins. I usually use materials from our pantry, some cups, spoons in different sizes and voila a 20-minute coffee break for mama is set up.
Do not leave the toddler alone with such sensory bins. Vigilance is needed. So if you are a work from home mom, you can make a small set up close to your laptop and monitor the play.
Sensory bins provide much-needed exposure to different textures and sensory feedback. Add in a few cups and create a pouring activity on the side that helps with hand-eye coordination and motor skills.
Here are some of our favorite sensory bin activities:
Sensory bin made using rice
Sensory bin with a nature scene made using wheat flour
Sensory bin made using beans- Rescue the pom poms activity
Water play
What kid doesn’t like playing with water. This is a simple activity that requires a jug of water and a few cups. The toddler can practice pouring water in different cups.
Sometimes we change it up and build a Car wash station. All you need is baby friendly soap, a big box, and some water. Create a soapy foam. Then give the child a scrubber and his cars to wash. I also add cups and spoons so that he can practice pouring after the car washing activity.
Toddlers love these water games and each of these sensory activities can keep them busy for a good 20-30 mins.
Play with dough
Can’t say enough about play-doh. Play-doh gives children the opportunity to use their hands, improves fine motor skills and encourages creativity.
We make use of fine motor skill-based toys and activities to help develop this key skill. Fine motor skills are the first step towards developing writing skills.
Draw lines on a piece of paper for the child to practice cutting. Once the child is good at cutting, you can draw zig-zag lines or different shapes for them to further develop fine motor skills. Here is a great scissor skills practice book for kids.
8. Sorting Pom Poms
We love this Learning resources set for fine motor activities. The toddler-friendly tweezers can be used to sort pom poms into different color groups. Simple activities like these not only develop fine motor skills but also teach the toddler color recognition.
Collect different types of leaves on your next nature walk and bring them back home for some leaf painting activity.
This activity provides an opportunity to talk about the different types of trees, their leaves, the life cycle of a plant.
11. Vegetable painting
You can make use of vegetables like potatoes and okra for some painting activities too. Let the child use his creativity and come up with different designs using these simple natural materials.
12. Art and craft based on a favorite book
I draw out scenes from his current favorite storybook and ask him to color it. Safe, non-toxic finger paints or toddler friendly chunky crayons are the best. They not only provide a rich sensory experience but also help with fine motor skills development.
Get a 10% discount on all Dabble Play Art non-toxic, eco friendly art supplies. Use code DM09 at checkout. My personal favorites are their finger paints.
Sometimes we look for free printable activities for toddlers based on his favorite books.
Here is an activity we did recently based on one of his favorite books – Polar Bear, Polar Bear
Polar bear, Polar bear book based activity for toddlers
13. Sand tracing
A sand tray allows the child to trace the alphabet and numbers providing a sensorial experience along with fine motor skill development. Here is a video to understand how to set up this learning activity.
Imaginative And Pretend Play For Toddlers
Pretend play is huge in our home. Toddlers love mimicking adults and adult activities. Some pretend play and open-ended toys are a must-buy for this stage of toddler development. You can select toys that match the child’s interest.
18. Child’s interest-based pretend play toys like Doctor set, Teacher set, doll house, or car park
19. Storytelling
Educational Activities For Toddlers
Ages two and up is a great time to get started on educational concept learning. At this stage only focus on exposure not how much is being learned. Learning happens in time with consistent exposure to concepts, correlation, and conversation.
Here are some educational activities for toddlers
20. Sing songs & Dance: Sing Nursery rhymes, different cultural songs, the ABC’s song. Simple song and dance teach little children a lot about language, life around them, rhythm, and movement.
21. Read books on a variety of subjects: Incorporate books on a variety of subjects and in different formats for the toddler. Read here to know more about the benefits of reading daily to your kids. Here are a few age-appropriate book lists for toddlers
A conversation about the child’s topics of interest, pointing out to objects of interest build the child’s knowledge base on different topics. Answer the child’s question in an in-depth manner. When you don’t know about something, research the subject, find books and figure out ways to explain it to the child in a simple way.
23. Subscription boxes
When I am running out of creativity and looking for learning activities I rely on children’s subscription boxes. Some of our favorite ones are:
Cooking teaches children so many concepts. They learn about different fruits, vegetables, measurements, counting, and practice motor skills too.
Here is an article on the importance of cooking with toddlers. It includes tips on how to get started and a few easy recipes to make with your toddler at home.
Everyday Routine Tasks For Toddlers
25. Home chores
When looking for activities for toddlers at home, chores are the first place to get started. Toddlers want to be more independent and in many ways, we rob them of opportunities to be truly independent around the house because of our fear of messes.
Allowing them to be more involved in the day to day activities around the house is not only a great way to keep them engaged but is also teaching them key life skills and making them more self-reliant.
Baby proof the house and make sure that the area is safe for your toddler to navigate.
Then give them simple instructions on each activity, guide them through the steps and let them have a go at it.
Here is a post on simple toddler chores to get started with when planning activities for toddlers at home.
Helping out around the house is the simplest way to build confidence in kids and make them feel like a part of the family unit.
That’s how we keep our son engaged at home. If you try any of these indoor activities for toddlers, do write to me and tell me how it went.
How do you keep your toddler busy when you work? Maybe your tips can help fellow moms. Comment and let us know.
With busy lives these days parents rely more and more on screens to help babysit. While the AAP guidelines recommend no screen time until age 2, how many of us actually practice this. Non screen time activities usually require a little conscious effort on part of the parent but are not that effort intensive as parents think them to be.
It’s more about being in a mindset that you will give your child quality time and unstructured play over an iPad or iPhone. I know its easy to just switch on some nursery rhymes and cartoons but screens don’t provide your child with two-way interaction. One of the negative impacts of overexposure to screens is with regards to language development. You need to switch off those devices and talk and interact with your child to aid language development.
While all this talk sounds great on paper, everyday scenarios are difficult on parents especially those with full-time jobs and raising children in a nuclear setup.
I personally found it increasingly hard to keep up with my son once he hit 14-15 months. And though it was freeing to have him sit quietly for short periods of time in front of a screen it was quite evident how nonresponsive this medium of entertainment is.
Here I would love to add a beautiful quote by Janet Lansbury, from www.janetlansbury.com to ponder on:
Truthfully, we waste our energy “occupying” a baby’s time. And keeping a baby busy undermines her natural desire to be an initiator of her own activities and absorb the world on her terms. Babies are self-learners and what they truly need (and pays enormous developmental benefits) is the time, freedom and trust to just “be.”
This is so true, even though this blog topic is about engaging your child with screen free activities, you will see most of the activities are games children enjoy and come up with themselves. They are natural explorers and activities I list here are ones created by my son on his own. I just use his interests and encourage him with similar activities to ones he loves.
Quick Tips On Use Of Screen Time
Though we are not complete no screens home, I follow some rules with my child and he happily enjoys his screen time without getting addicted to it.
Decide on content he will watch, this includes a nursery rhyme series by Little Baby Bum Youtube Channel or National Geographic videos on wildlife.
Don’t hand him the device, he either watches it on our personal computer (we are a no TV house) or I hold the phone in my hands.
Interact with him during screen time, showing him interesting things on the screen or singing along with him.
Keep screen time to a minimum – We go days without any screen time. Using screens more as a source of entertainment when we are really bored and have exhausted all ideas for non screen playtime for the day or when mommy needs to get some important work done and no-one is around to watch the baby or during car rides when he is getting particularly cranky. To summarize its not a daily feature in our home and I limit the amount of time to about 20 minutes a day at 20 months old.
Screen time in itself is not harmful when the content is educational and the child is not exposed to it for hours at length on a daily basis. Here are some tips to help you manage your child’s screentime.
List of non screen time activities for kids
Coloring/Painting – Get a 10% discount on all Dabble Play Art non-toxic, eco friendly art supplies. Use code DM09 at checkout.
Reading – Build your child’s library with all types of books. Bi-lingual books, board books, picture books, flap books, busy books. A good book rotation keeps them enthused about reading. We created a library corner for our son with a book rack and a storage box that acts as a desk. He loves his reading corner and is always excited about pulling out his next read from the rack.
Stickers – We started using stickers recently. They are a big hit. Not only is it a great fine motor activity, but it also teaches them things like names of fruits, animals etc. I made him his own sticker book and he spends a good 20 minutes engaged in this activity.
Balloons
Helping in the kitchen – Get the kids involved in safe activities around the kitchen like mixing things and peeling fruits and vegetables. I usually hand over a bowl and spoon to my son that he uses to mimic me cooking. Another favorite is peeling garlic pods. He enjoys this and I don’t mind the mess. Read more on how to make cooking with toddlers fun and easy.
Helping with laundry – Let them help you sort, stack and fold. It will be clumsy work but keeps them engaged and involved in chores from the beginning.
Pretend play – Buy toy kitchen sets or any other pretend play toys. We play “going to market”. I give my son a bag, he fills it with his favorite fruits and vegetables as if picking it up from the market. Then goes on to cook us a pretend meal. He loves this game and plays it on repeat throughout the day.
Activity bags – When I am busy, I make him an activity bag fill it with different types of toys and bits and bobs from around the house. Get him to sit next to me while he explores the contents of the bag. You can add anything from small toys, combs, hair scrunchies, stickers, pompom balls. But remember to keep an eye on your child even when they are playing by themselves.
Cardboard boxes and sticks
Play outside
Old gadgets – You can give them old phones, tv remotes, calculators or other gadgets around the house to play with.
Water play – Use a tub of water, a few plastic balls, and mugs. You can even give them plastic cups and a mug of water asking them to pour water in each cup. They love these types of water play activities.
Music and dance
Cardboard box doll house
Wash toys together – Again more water fun, but one that gets some work done too.
Singing songs
Go to the market together
Play hide and seek in the house
Matching objects – At about 18 months of age, toddlers love matching and sorting things. Create activities around these. I ask my son to sort based on the color of toys, or one that he came up with – match his safari animal toys to the animal pictures in the book. There are many matching and sorting flashcards available in the market too.
Find a local library
Play ball
Lego sets – Lego especially Lego Duplo sets are engaging games for toddlers. I carry our duplo lego set in a small cloth pouch in my diaper bag even when we travel. It is not a bulky toy to carry and is open-ended so you can make many games out of one set. Eg. We use the figurines from our Lego Duplo set to play with our cardboard dollhouse.
Trampoline – If you have space indoors or a nice garden area, trampolines are a great choice of toy.
Puzzles – Again this age group love puzzles. You find many floor puzzles these days. My son has not yet got the hang of them but a 2-year-old can easily play with puzzles. For 18 month old I will recommend these wooden shape sorter puzzles and marine puzzles These are perfect for their skill level.
Build a pillow fortress
Tool Box – Toddlers love tinkering around and figuring out what fits where. This is a perfect toy to help with their curiosity.
An empty box with toys – My son used an empty plastic box one day and put in as many tiny toys he could fit in it and then proceeded to try out this game for the next half an hour. I was amazed at how curious he was checking to see which toys fit into this box and trying out different combinations of toys each time. This is an example of child-led games. I now give him different sizes of boxes and ask him to put whatever he wants in it. He loves playing this game.
Dough and cookie cutters – Roll out thick circle shaped dough. Then using blunt cookie cutters let them cut out different shapes.
Storytelling
Hope this list comes in handy for mamas out there, looking for some screen free activities to engage your child. Do write to me what your favorite non screen time activities for kids are?
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