12 Screen Time Alternatives

As a toddler parent, I am always trying to find alternatives to screen time. As parents, we try to limit screen time to a couple hours max throughout the day. Of course, there are exceptions – like if my toddler is sick or we are all having a rough day. If I’m feeling able to come up with a fun activity or it’s nice outside, I will pop out some of these activities to reduce screen time.

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1. Coloring boxes

There are always coloring books that are fun for toddlers to do. I have found that changing the medium of coloring increases engagement and duration. Whenever we get a package in the mail, I’ll hold onto the box or packaging to let my daughter color on them other than just coloring pages that she seems to get bored with really quickly.

I always try to have some different coloring supplies and stickers for her to use, so she can be as creative as she wants!

2. Homemade moon sand

Another fun activity is making homemade moon sand to play with! It’s the sand that holds its form and is super moldable. I made some birthday cake moon sand for my daughter’s birthday party and it was a huge hit!

3. Bubbles

As the weather gets better, we go outside for bubbles ALL THE TIME. It was to the point that we splurged on a bubble machine to keep blowing all the bubbles for my daughter.

4. Water table

Another great outdoor activity is getting a water table. I love that this one comes with toys, has removable legs, and is a good price too!

5. Tonies

We absolutely love our Tonie box. My daughter loves being able to put her favorite characters on it – right now, it’s the Lion King! It’s also awesome for bedtime, where we listen to the Bedtime Story of the Sleepy Bear. Highly recommend as a “big” gift for a birthday, Christmas, or big life change 🙂

6. Music/dance party

You will hear “Alexa, play dance music” often in our house. To make them extra special, we’ll turn the lights off and get some glow sticks out too!

7. “Clean”

As my daughter gets older, I’m always trying to find ways to get her more involved in cleaning the house. Anitra, the author of Chronicles of a Momtessorian has a great article about age appropriate chores to work towards! 

So whenever I’m cleaning the house, I ask my daughter to help out! She has her own broom set that she will break out when she sees me cleaning the floor. I also give her wipes to clean up the table tops as well – which she absolutely loves doing. Or even just simply picking up her toys or the animal toys around the house. All the help!

8. Cook

Whenever we’re getting dinner ready, we try to involve the kiddo as much as we can. Maybe it’s helping dump things into a bowl, stirring something up, or working on our knife skills with the child-safe knives we got. Either way, H absolutely loves cooking! We have this learning tower to help her reach the counter, and she loves it. We love that it also transitions to a table as well – probably the best purchase we ever got for her!

9. Read books

This may seem like a given, but offering to read books instead is a great alternative to screen time. Most of the time, once we start reading one book, my daughter wants to read another and another. Or the same book over and over! Start with one book and see where it goes from there!

10. Play-doh

The classic play-doh! It is so fun to squish. Even just getting one color out and rolling it out is fun! I like to keep it contained in a bin, so that it doesn’t get stuck to the table or chairs or anything else that it finds!

11. Scavenger hunt – house or nature

A fun activity to reduce screen time is a scavenger hunt. I bought this fun scavenger hunt card game to use within the house for H. She has tons of fun trying to find the items and running around the house. 

Another option is to go for a nature walk and try to find different pieces of nature. One of my favorites that I’ve seen is getting different paint chip colors and finding things that match the color! Maya from MayaPeds shares a great post about all the benefits from outdoor play. If I can, I always opt for the outdoor scavenger hunt to reduce screen time AND get great outdoor time too!

12. Obstacle course

As a Christmas gift, we got my daughter an obstacle course set that she sets up in the playroom. This is a great option, especially if it’s a gross day outside. Plus you can also change it up every time and even use things you already have in the house, with adding pillows, chairs, stairs (if you have them), and so on!

Again, as stated above, it is hard to manage screen time in our screen heavy society. Sometimes, screen time is the only thing that works to calm down your toddler or that’s all you can manage. Life happens. You’re doing great <3

Did you try any of these activities? Or do you have another great activity to reduce screen time? Share in the comments and help out other parents too!