We were struggling a lot with screen time for our toddler.
At one point, it became the default — meals, work calls, even when we just needed 15–20 minutes of quiet time.
We tried a bunch of things:
– Toys (got boring quickly)
– Books (attention span wasn’t there yet)
– Random activities (needed constant supervision)
What surprisingly worked was switching to more “hands-on” activities.
Recently tried something like a busy book / activity binder — basically a set of small matching, sorting, and problem-solving tasks.
What I noticed:
– Keeps him engaged longer than most toys
– Doesn’t need constant help
– Actually builds focus (which I didn’t expect)
It’s not perfect, but it’s one of the few things that consistently gives us 30-45 mins of screen-free time.
Curious — what has worked for you guys?
Always looking for more ideas that don’t involve screens 🙏