Fun Activities & Games
5 Ways on How to Limit Children’s Screen Time and Get Them Out the Door
Since the dawn of television and its successor, the video game, a battle between parents and kids has raged. How to limit children’s screen time. Parents just want to raise well-rounded children who are healthy mentally, physically and socially.
At the same time, wanting to keep up with their own life demands from work, home, relationships and individual sanity. Is that so much to ask? 😉
For the average parent in the 21st century, it’s impossible to avoid digital screens encroaching on our daily lives.
There is a mound of scientifically-proven evidence that shows the adverse effects of screen time on our developing children of all ages. Yet, we at CoordiKids are practical with expectations of parents.
After all, most of us are busy parents too!
Yes, even specialists in childhood development can appreciate the convenience of keeping a bored little one occupied ‘just for a minute’. Just 15 minutes on a game on your mobile phone while you’re shuffling important paperwork at the DMV or Post Office can be a savior.
Actually, there are about a million situations in which parents probably praise the geniuses behind mobile technology. What else would allow them to get through difficult moments? Difficult moments that would otherwise require parents to grow additional arms or hire a personal nanny.
How to limit screen time before it becomes a real issue
There are also, however, a million situations in which we as occupational therapists must intervene for children. Children who have become addicted to video games and parents who have become overly reliant on their convenience.
So, this article is all about the daily routine. A healthy daily routine, and how can we encourage children to enjoy the Great Outdoors again? How can we introduce them to a lasting relationship with Mother Nature that will organically foster a desire to set down the iPad and hop on their bike?
A check on motor skills development…
As an occupational therapist, I first suggest you make sure your child’s motor skills are developed on par with peers. No child (or adult) likes to fail. Therefore, if a child’s skills are poorer than his or her peers’, he or she will avoid games that highlight the child’s difficulties.
If motor skill development isn’t a contributing factor in why your child doesn’t enjoy outdoor activities, let us continue! Here are 5 ways that I’ve come up with to give parents real hope for encouraging their kids to set down the screens and get outside. How to limit screen time has never been so inspiring!
5 Ways to Get Kids Off Screens & Out the Door This Autumn
1. Lead by example
This is, without a doubt, the best and easiest way to motivate your children to get outside and play. You already know how much your children imitate the example you set. (Sure, your kids never seem to want to mimic you when you’re picking up after their messes! But the moment you let a curse word slip, you’ll be hearing it out of the mouth of your babes for weeks to come.)
Find moments to bring your own daily life outdoors. Fall is a great time to move family dinners to the patio. A picnic doesn’t have to be an exhaustive affair, either. Simply ask the kids to set the table on a blanket on the grass rather than the dining table.
Take your laptop to the backyard for your evening e-mail wrap-up, while the kids join you with their homework.
Simply being outside will naturally spark curiosity about something going on around you. A leaf that lands on their homework might offer a rare moment to pause and just look at nature. Feeling the breeze and hearing the birds is often enough to slow the heart rate and offer a sensory decompression.
In seeking ideas to reduce the effects of screen time for kids, we can first consider how to limit screen time for ourselves!
2. Create a daily/weekly routine that has defined time allowances for outdoor play and screen time
Most parents find that life flows more smoothly with a set routine in place. No matter what age your children are, an age-appropriate daily routine can be designed.
You may already have a routine that details the morning hygiene, school prep, afternoon homework, household chores and bedtime preparation. Adding outdoor time and screen time to the schedule is a useful technique for curbing screen time addiction as well as requiring a certain amount of outdoor playtime.
In fact, scheduling digital media time is the most common technique parents implement to maintain a balance.
One strategy is to determine an acceptable length of screen time use during the week and on weekends. Schedule designated times during the week that your child is allowed on the phone/iPad/TV. Schedule other designated times that the kids must get out of the house for play.
Most parents allow more freedom in access to screens on the weekends and during holidays. However, the more time allotted for screens, the more time should be dedicated on the schedule to outdoor activity!
Many parents also suggest that they have a stipulation that says that screen time is only available to children if household chores and homework are also completed for the day.
How to limit screen time doesn’t become an issue if it doesn’t get out of hand in the first place.
3. Initiate a neighbourhood-wide scavenger hunt
A scavenger hunt is a fun way to motivate children to get outside and explore the neighbourhood. Create your child’s list of objects to find according to his or her age and interests. You can even add in a few items that describe observed activities. Also, it should be difficult enough to take more than one walk around the block to complete.
Your scavenger hunt list could include things like:
▢ Easy: A yellow leaf
▢ Easy: A red car
▢ Easy: Pink flowers
▢ Medium: A chain-link fence
▢ Medium: A dog barking
▢ Difficult: A heart-shaped rock
▢ Difficult: A person bouncing a basketball
▢ Difficult: Freshly-mowed grass
The scavenger hunt should have a highly-motivating reward for completion, such as:
- A favourite snack
- Unlocking access to new apps or video games
- Staying up a few minutes late one night
- Choosing dinner one night for the whole family
4. Start or Join a neighborhood Facebook Group to create a calendar of outdoor activities and rotate hosts
The neighborhood of my childhood used to love a good block party. But these days, I rarely hear of them happening. Why not rekindle the fun of getting to know your neighbors and introducing your children to nearby playmates?
A great way to get things started is to utilize the free community group tool on Facebook. You might find that your neighborhood association already has one! Ask the members about starting some neighborhood outdoor communities for everyone to enjoy.
You can set up a calendar of events within the group and ask for different neighbors to volunteer to host one each month.
Establishing relationships with nearby playmates helps your kids look forward to getting off the screen and out of the house. You won’t have to think too hard about how to limit screen time for your children, when everyone else’s children are outside, playing! Here are some family favorite’s that promote fun in the Great Outdoors but don’t require much prep:
a. Capture the Flag
Great for adults and children of many ages to play together. Divide your participants into two teams, each with a designated home base location with a “flag” (a handkerchief, old scarf, or even a rag can suffice.) To win the game, a member from one team must capture the flag of the other team and return it to their own home base.
Players can get ‘tagged’ if touched by a member of the opposing team, and they must then sit in ‘jail’ without playing for a period of time. Jailed team members can only be freed by being tagged again by a member of their own team.
Capture the Flag is a classic favourite that can last anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours long, and it guarantees lots of running and laughter!
b. Hide and Seek
Another simple classic that can be surprisingly fun with a large group. An added twist for older children is to wait until the sun goes down and arm participants with flashlights. This game is easy for one family to host in their backyard, giving the rest of the neighbours a parents’-night-off!
c. Red Light, Green Light
Another classic that is so simple, it’s surprising how much fun kids of all ages can still have playing it.
One player acts as a traffic light, standing at the far side of the yard or driveway. The rest gather in a group or line on the opposite side. The traffic light player faces away from the other players and alternates calling out “Green light!” or “Red light!” To win the game, a player must cross the yard to reach the traffic light. They may only move when there is a “Green light!”
Players must freeze in place when the traffic light calls “Red light!” The traffic light player may turn around to face the players only during a red light, and if he catches anyone moving, they must return to the starting line. The first player to reach the traffic light wins!
5. Organize a neighbourhood-wide tournament that lasts all month
There’s nothing like a tourney to keep competition thriving amongst friends and neighbours!
Use a bracket system to divide all the participants into one-on-one games, with winners advancing to the next round. The single matches can be played anytime throughout the month. For example, if Susan Smith is set to play Martin Nichols, they can coordinate a time to get together after school one day to play. The winner of that match goes on to play the winner of another match being held between two other neighbours.
This keeps kids looking forward to playing outside week after week – even practicing at home between matches. How to limit screen time for your children won’t be an issue when there’s a challenge to be had!
The “Finals” can be an event scheduled for everyone in the neighbourhood to turn up together to cheer the final four players on to a single-winner victory. Afterwards, everyone can enjoy a picnic and prizes.
A fantastic game for one-on-one games within a tournament is cornhole (also called baggo or bean bag toss). All you need are a few bean bags and a board with a hole cut into it, propped up at a slight angle.
The object is simply to toss your bean bags into the hole. Though there are many regional variations, the winner can simply be the one with the most ‘scores’ after 20 tosses.
What are your family’s favourite outdoor activities? Let us know in the Comments or over on our Facebook page so that we can add to our list!