Screen-free play at home

Play · 4 min read · Evidence: Official guidance, based on limited evidence

For children under five, the World Health Organization recommends little or no sedentary screen time and plenty of active play. For parents, the practical question is not how to ban screens but what to do instead, especially in the tired hour before dinner.

What the guidance says

In 2019 the World Health Organization published guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under five. They advise that screen time is not recommended for babies under one or for one-year-olds. For children aged two to four, sedentary screen time should be no more than one hour a day, and "less is better" (WHO, 2019). The guidelines also ask that children spend plenty of time in active play.

The WHO itself describes much of the evidence behind these recommendations as limited in quality, so they are best read as sensible guidance rather than proof that every minute of screen time causes harm. Content and context matter too: a video call with a grandparent is not the same as an hour of automatic video play.

For older children, there is no single agreed limit. What families tend to find useful is a small set of routines that make screen-free time easy to choose.

Making screen-free play easy

• Keep a play box within reach. Paper, pencils, a ball, cups, a few dice. Children use what they can see.

• Replace, don't just remove. "Screens off" works better when it comes with "let's play The Missing Thing".

• Use in-between moments. Waiting for dinner, a car journey, a queue: short games fit here.

• Play along for the first five minutes. Many children will carry on alone once a game is started.

• Let boredom happen. A little boredom often comes before children invent their own games.

Try this tonight. Put six small objects on the table and play The Missing Thing. Take turns being the one who hides an object. It takes ten minutes and needs nothing you don't already have.

Related resource: our free Play Starter Guide has ten screen-free games for ages 4-12, each with a "what it builds" note for parents. A family games pack is coming soon to EduStore.

Sources / Further reading

• World Health Organization (2019). Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age. Link · Recommendations: NCBI Bookshelf

• Yogman, M., et al. (2018). The power of play: A pediatric role in enhancing development in young children. Pediatrics, 142(3), e20182058. Link