Summer days are wonderful because you don’t have such a strict schedule. But all my daughter wants to do most days is watch TV. The moment she gets up, she starts telling me what she wants to watch. I was getting a little tired of her days being filled with TV and also a little tired of it being on all the time, so I decided to create a list of activities preschoolers can do to earn screen time.
Things Your Preschooler Can Play Before Screen Time
- Get ready for the day.
Preschoolers can help get out food for their breakfast, eat, put on their clothes, wash their faces, brush their hair, brush their teeth and straighten up their rooms. (My daughter does get overwhelmed at making up her bed and thinks it’s too hard. I let her slide on this one, and pull up the sheets and blankets myself when I get a chance.) - Make something.
Preschoolers are so creative. They love to draw, paint, color, build with legos, and craft. My daughter will do just about anything if it involves stickers. Play-doh is also an option if you can deal with the mess. - Play outside.
Even adults don’t spend enough time outside. But just 15-20 minutes lets preschoolers get a little vitamin D and use some of their energy. Without even leaving your yard, preschoolers can water plants, jump on the trampoline, play ball or play in a water table. This is also a great opportunity to teach them games you used to play as a kid like “Red Light, Green Light,” dodgeball, or kickball. - Help someone else.
Preschool age is about the time that kids can stop being freeloaders. They are perfectly capable of doing many chores, even if it’s done badly. Or they can help you with a chore like making the beds, doing the laundry, putting away the dishes, or cooking. Letting them help definitely makes any task take longer, but it is really good for their characters to learn about responsibility and contributing to the family. This may also be a time to teach them about money and let them earn a couple of dollars for doing certain chores themselves. - Learn something.
Because we don’t want them to completely forget everything they learned in preschool, we can do easy things like giving our kids letter-tracing sheets, practice their counting, or if you’re really feeling ambitious doing a craft or experiment with them. Preschoolers generally work on things like letters, numbers, shapes, matching, and sorting. We can reinforce all those things at home during the summer with easy games and worksheets. - Pretend play.
Preschoolers seem to be naturals at pretend play and using their imaginations. They can play with action figures, Barbies, play restaurant, baby dolls, swords, etc. This may be a time to suggest they pretend to be their favorite TV characters. - Free time.
Everyone needs a little free time to choose what they want to do. (All the moms who would like some free time to do something other than chores or work, raise your hands. 🙋🏼♀️) It is good for our kids to be bored every so often, and whiners can always be given extra chores.
Obviously, these screen time-earning activities can be customized for your child.
- You choose what activities would hold your child’s attention.
- You choose how long each activity should last.
- You choose how many activities your child has to complete before getting a screen time treat.
- You choose how much screen time you want your child to have. Whether it’s none or hours, your child is your child, so you make the rules without shame or judgment from anyone else.
Keep in mind, your preschooler is probably not going to be happy about these changes at first. They really like to veg out in front of a screen. (Don’t we all.) But they are very resilient, and they will come around in a few days if you stick to your guns.
I would love to hear how you handle screen time with your kids, during the summer or any time of year. I will never claim to be an expert on children, so I enjoy learning from other moms. Just email me or leave a comment on the Defeating Busy Facebook page to share your experiences.
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