Got A Favorite Media Free Activity? Here are 20

The holidays are a time when my son wants to have extra “screen time”—watch movies or play a video game. Our son has set limits on the amount of time he spends in front of a screen.

We have found that he is the most engaged with life when his brain and body undertake activities that stimulate him on many levels. Here are twenty of our favorites:

  1. Build a fort.
  2. Create a page for the photo album.
  3. Write a story.
  4. Make a miniature boat and float it in the bathtub.
  5. Call up a relative who lives far away.
  6. Sing or make music.
  7. Climb a tree.
  8. Dance in the living room.
  9. Learn chess.
  10. Play Frisbee.
  11. Make a thank you card. (even if it’s not a birthday or Christmas there is always someone to thank for something.)
  12. Go for a bike ride.
  13. Bake cookies.
  14. Plant something.
  15. Tell jokes.
  16. Make a collage from old magazine pictures.
  17. Learn ten sign-language signs.
  18. Play charades.
  19. Watch the night sky. (Many phones have constellation apps.)
  20. Start a journal.

Probably the one we fall back on the most is number one. We are often building a fort or special playhouse—outside or in depending on the weather. He still loves making a big indoor tent out of sheets, but lately, it’s been about collecting sticks in the yard and making a deep, dark area behind a bush.

Whenever he says he is bored and wants to watch TV, I ask him to list five things he remembers doing that he likes. After a few moments, he runs off to do one of them, or any hundred other activities that were inspired by the list-making. What are your media free activities? Share tips below.

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