Screen Free Ideas That Actually Work!
Summer is here! And depending on how you plan, it will either be fantastic or a flop. Luckily, Andrea Davis of Better Screen Time tells us how to plan out the ultimate low-screen summer, so that you can keep your cool, and not use screens as a crutch.
Low Screen Strategy: Ask your kids 4 questions
Before you wake up on Day 1 of summer in a cold sweat, these are Andrea’s four questions to ask your kids. Deciding these priorities will give some structure and direction to those long summer days when you just “need a minute” and are sooooo tempted to turn on the Playstation.
1. What are you excited for this summer?
Which memories do you want to make? What will make you say “That was the best part of summer!”
Andrea notes, “it might be things that are so simple, like just eating popsicles on the back porch. This doesn’t have to be a huge trip or anything like that. It can be something really simple.”
2. What’s one thing you want to accomplish this summer?
Learn how to do a wheelie on your bike? Grow your own tomatoes? Solve a Rubik’s cube? Choose your fun summer activities!
Andrea tells our podcast, “Let them make the list. But then pick one thing, because honestly, between trips and whatever, summer goes by really fast and you’ve just got a couple of months. But if they have a goal they want to accomplish, it really helps them.”
3. How could you serve someone?
Pick up trash in the neighborhood? Make cookies for a friend? Send a card to a service member? If you have really little ones, Good Samari-tots is a fun place to start.
Andrea says that service, “helps all of us to get outside of ourselves, to get to know our neighbors or just help our community.”
4. How can you keep your hands busy this summer?
Legos? Drawing? Origami? Piano? Playing catch? Gardening?
Andrea suggests, “Have kids make a big list and then they can kind of zero-in on a couple of things. Do they want to learn how to crochet this summer or do they want to learn how to play an instrument? And then you can come up with some resources, whether that’s from the library, or a friend, or a family member that can help them learn that skill.”
Low Screen advice from Andrea on the SLPM Podcast:
Screen Free Games for the Summer or anytime
What if they have gotten so used to watching fast-paced Youtube stunt shows interlaced with ads for flaming hot Cheetos that everything else on Planet Earth seems BORRRINNGGG?!
Well, try a few of the ideas below.
Sometimes they just need something to spark their interest and get them outside for more than five minutes. Start with one of these games or toys. Eventually, once they realize that the real world is actually better than the cyber one, they will learn to play by themselves.
Tag or Freeze Tag
Toilet tag (kids find this one especially hilarious)
Sword fight using branches
Charades
TV tag (I loved this one in elementary PE class!)
Farmer Sam or Sharks and Minnows
Four Square (If your driveway has four sections you can play there instead of taping-off an area.)
Tennis. Many cities have free local courts.
Soccer – just keep it simple. A few kids, a ball, and a place that you consider the “goal.”
Play catch.
Basketball – Many local parks have free basketball courts. Or you could buy a hoop for your home.
Make a scavenger hunt
Have your kids make a scavenger hunt for YOU.
More about parenting in the digital age at the Screen Less Play More Substack
