After a screen filled year of homeschooling and at-home entertainment as we were all told to stay at home and protect lives, a week with reduced screen time and going screen-free might actually benefit your whole family.
You can choose to pledge an evening, a day or even more than one day to turn off the TV and put down the IPads for some good old fashioned screen-free time. You don’t even have to make a big deal out of it, just tell your kids that you have other plans.
The screen-free pledge is part of a bigger initiative to unplug our lives to play, explore and rediscover the joys of life beyond screens. Plus, screen-free time might be able to give you some little ideas to help get your kids in bed on time and drift off quickly.
Play a board game
Carve out time to play an old favourite, try a new game, or make your own! Have a dig around your cupboards, head to the local charity shop, borrow an exciting game from a neighbour, and have a couple of hours dedicated to board games. Things might get very competitive quickly as your kids want to win, but this just shows that they’re not missing their screens at all!
Before bed, a board game might be the new evening activity to reduce screen time and help them get to sleep quicker on an evening.
Family dinner cooked together
Getting everyone around the table can be difficult, especially if your kids have a range of different after school clubs to attend. Wherever possible, find 1 evening or even weekend to plan and cook a meal as a family. This might be homemade pizzas where the kids can make their own toppings, one of your favourite teas as a family or the kids might even plan and make tea with your help.
This is a great way to be able to spend time as a family without the TV or screens being a central part. Put on some music that you can all dance around the kitchen together and you won’t even realise that there are no screens!
A screen-free hike
A hike is a great way to get outdoors, explore somewhere new in your local area and might even help to get the kids into bed on time if they’ve spent the day in the great outdoors.
After a busy day exploring and running around your little one will be ready to crawl into their comfy bed and dream the night away.
Make a fort
Blankets, cushions, bunk beds, sticks, even pool noodles make good forts. A fort can be made anywhere and out of anything which is why it’s such a fun activity for kids. Create a fort after bathtime in their beds and they’ll be racing you to get into bed first and enjoy the excitement that a fort can bring. A high sleeper can be turned into a castle turret made for a princess, a mid sleeper into an exciting boat in the middle of the ocean or a single bed into the dream race car. The possibilities are absolutely endless with a child’s imagination and few bits that are lying around your home.