100 Ways to Avoid TV
Written by Kristin on October 11th, 2010
Arts and Crafts, Balance, Consistent Care, Natural Learning, Routines and Schedules
This week, we are having a little break from the television.
I have absolutely no problems with TV in general, and I usually let my kids watch daily (though I do try to limit it to 30-60 minutes a day, and we keep it to shows & DVDs without commercials). I think it is quite useful as a break for us all – me in particular! For us, it works to help everyone chill out for a bit when we are having a rough or fussy time, or to keep the kids entertained and safe while I try to get some work done, shower, or take a mama break and zone out for awhile to work on the blog or other stuff online (I really really need this for my own sanity).
I’ve found that in order to curb the requests for TV, I have to schedule it into our day very carefully – not just toss it in willy nilly – because the kids then think any time might be a good time to watch (and will ask ALL THE TIME). Up until Elsie and Delia eliminated their morning nap (around 20 months or so?) my oldest, Emma, would watch something while I nursed them to sleep. Now, the little ones get to watch too, and its usually after playtime in the morning (breakfast, playtime/get dressed, TV, then outings or other projects) and sometimes also in the afternoon right before dinner, while I cook. Any time I slip up and let Emma watch at a different time (while Elsie & Delia are still napping in the afternoon, for instance, or directly after breakfast), it comes back to haunt me for weeks – she will remember and try to badger me into letting it happen then again. Stick with the schedule, though, and all generally goes well.
However. There has lately been a bit more whining and angst over who decides what we watch, and a bit too much talk (from my oldest) about all the TV she wants to watch, so I’ve declared a TV free week. It’s going pretty well, though boy do I miss it sometimes! It’s a good exercise for us all, though. I am tempted to stretch it to two, actually.
Here is a list the girls and I have come up with of things to do instead of TV. We certainly have not tried them all this week, but it’s nice to have a list to refer to!
- draw pictures/color
- flubber!
- swing on the swings
- build a tower
- run around outside
- run around inside
- jump outside
- glue magazine pictures (magazine collages)
- play with the dollhouse
- play a board game
- do math
- do button math (counting buttons into cups, or using them to add & subtract)
- bead necklaces
- sort pasta (and pasta beading)
- cook something
- play with (fisher price) “little people”
- line up all the little people in a parade
- line up all the plastic animals in a parade
- play with animals in the bathtub
- felt some soaps
- dress up
- make a fort
- play in the sandbox
- take a walk
- throw the frisbee
- ride bikes
- read books
- dance party!
- go to the park
- go to the zoo
- work on paper dolls
- play with “Suzie” doll (Elsie)
- play with dominos
- make a checker game (Emma wants to learn checkers)
- type on typewriter or computer
- scavenger hunt
- set up the (indoor) tent
- play with instruments
- pots and pans
- learn to write words (Emma)
- write on chalkboard wall
- clean chalkboard wall
- play with marbles on a tray (with muffin tins,egg cartons & ice cube trays)
- marble game
- paint with marbles
- play with dolls
- dress our dolls in new clothes
- bristle blocks
- fingerpaint
- paint with water
- play with trains
- play with cars
- make a racetrack
- paint with cars
- play with toy kitchen
- plant some seeds (indoors in windowsill)
- take a bubble bath
- play with Noah’s Ark
- wash the sink (Emma enjoys this job a lot)
- play with water in the big sink
- wash toy dishes in big sink
- make a card
- glitter art
- make a book
- do sticker books
- make a pillow stepping stone track (no touching the floor)
- pretend we are going to school
- have a tea party
- have a birthday party for Bunny Bun Bun
- make bubbles
- pretend it’s Halloween
- ice cube surprises (freezing toys/fun objects in ice for bath, sink or swimming pool)
- play in Mama’s bed (Elsie and Delia’s favorite, ha)
- Legos/duplos
- make a “magic” bottle with oil/water/glitter
- play/sort shells
- play with “gems” (glass gems) or rocks
- collect nature treasures for a nature display
- hopscotch (inside with tape, or outside with chalk)
- move the furniture and do tumbling
- make an obstacle course
- (homemade) reading games
- look at pictures on the computer
- listen to music or books on CD
- sew on buttons
- make sock puppets
- tissue paper collage
- work on & play with shower curtain playmat
- make felt board pictures
- crayon rubbings
- stencil pictures
- letter stamps (or any stamps)
- play “school bus” or “driving in the car” (an E & D favorite)
- play with beans (sensory table/bucket/pool)
- hammer nails into a stump
- play with magnets
- roll balls in the hallway
- do puzzles
- go to the library
- invite friends over to play
What do you do around the house instead of TV? Please share your ideas in the comments.
___________________________
You can find Kristin over at Intrepid Murmurings, where she writes and photographs her attempts to embrace motherhood, nurture creativity, and maintain sanity while raising twin toddlers and a preschooler.
About The Author: Kristin
You can find Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings, where she blogs about embracing creativity, urban homesteading, dairy-free cooking, twin-parenthood, and three amazing girls every day.
We loved making a house for barbie out of lego’s. Lincoln logs. The cleaning game!
I have 2 girls (2&5) we make menus, set up a little table with dolls and stuffed animals and play restaurant, make homemade playdough, trace shapes with cookie cutters, bake, decorate with window markers & crayons then use the squegee to clean the Windows, have an indoor picnic, take a walk in the forest preserve, draw the week’s grocery list, make our own bubbles and hop in the tub, and one of their favorites: record the girls singing and playing music and then listening and giggling to the playback. My older daughter just started using an old tape recorder to sing songs and make up commercials like we hear on the radio. 🙂
crochet, cook, garden and read…unless I’m playing cards or games with family members, of course:)
When my twin sons were small (from the age of about 18 months until they were about 3), I used to set up a painting area outside on our back deck. I usually did this when it was warm so I could strip them down to their undies (they loved this!) and not worry about the mess. We used water-based paints and I just hosed the area down afterwards. Sometimes I hosed the boys down too! They had a ball, painting each other as much as they painted on the paper!
We do Rock Thoughts(www.rockthoughts.com)! A great way to not only entertain little (and big) ones but it also helps stimulate their creativity and encourages reading and writing. It’s been a lot of fun.
Wow, I love those Rock Thoughts, what a neat idea! We enjoy painting and decorating rocks but I love the added collaboration and storytelling component! My older daughter would love this!
We have the TV on a lot in our house, but its my husband and I who its on for. We just grew up with it that way I guess, but my little girl spends a lot of time playing and ignoring the TV. She has a couple shows she will stop and watch but other than that she loves playing with playdough, containers, pipe cleaner activities, coloring, painting, legos, and her favourite game is tucking her “babies” in for naps all over the house lol
Playing hide and seek inside the house is one of our favorite things to do. Another favorite games is playing catch!
My son n I spend all this time building a crazy mini city, we use all of his Lego duplos (sky scrapers), wooden blocks as town houses- Lincoln logs for the country side n we add a farm n animals, we make a zoo out of his dinosaurs we using the lids of the Lego n block containers for “cages” we use hot wheel trackes as roads or make our own….n I can go on n on, but once were finished I yell out oh no the monster man is coming then he roars n stomps and starts tearing through the town like Godzilla, I get to play all the little people n cars n animals running for there lives no one gets hurys Cuz he is a nice monster he always tells me, I just eat buildings Cuz thats what big monsters eat, they eat big things, only lil monsters eat little things and people. Anyway we have a blast n then we can do it all over again! But the town never looks the same.
simple. get rid of the television. We never had one as children, they were unheard of. My children did not have one, I refused to have one in the house. We did all of these things in the list and many more with lots of time out in the garden and the fields around us. Playing with friends is a vital past time.
sometimes people ask me how we get by without a TV.
we have netflix on my laptop – and once in a while my kids get a show to watch – but that’s about it. and it’s a special treat for them.
without the option of on demand TV, my kids have become very creative and active at 3 & 5.
it’s been good for all of us.
thanks for your post. i will use some of these excellent ideas 🙂
I like these ideas but the times I’m using the TV as an activity are like the times you listed at the beginning of this article – making breakfast, showering, doing something on the computer. All of these activities seem to require my attention since I have a 17 month old and she has no siblings. The TV is a distraction while I do things she can’t do with me. I was hoping, after the first two paragraphs, these were ideas that would entertain just my child. I know how to play with her when I’m able to.
Hmm, Maggie, I suppose this list is more geared to older kids and those with siblings, which is what my experience was when I wrote it. Though my oldest did do some of these things on her own for periods of time when she was a young toddler — I was on bedrest with twins (and later nursing them around the clock, gah!) so she did not have me to play with her much of the time. I also made a lot of toddler activity bags and did toy rotations, so toys and activities were novel and not something she saw everyday — that seemed to grab her attention more.
I like the idea of letting kids learn to be with themselves (not literally, but in terms of not being entertained and played with by a parent all the time), but I know it can be a challenge with an only child. It was a necessity for us, so my eldest learned, with plenty of fussing at times, but not TOO much sadness (though yes, I did also do quite a bit of TV at that time, too, and that was okay too!). I am an only child and know I learned pretty well how to entertain myself eventually, but I admit I have no idea how I was when I was a toddler!