What do you do instead of screen time with LO?

[Qwertyguerty]

I'm thinking of cutting back screen time for my 20 month old and I'm a little bit at a loss as to what to do instead

Obviously we go out and play, read books, play with toys, draw and the usual but I find that she eventually runs out of steam or gets bored and I will usually put something she likes on tv for half hr the morning, another half hr around lunch and another half hr before her bedtime routine. These are the times where I can just relax a bit and wind down. Otherwise it really feels like go go go all day. I'm guessing as she becomes a little better at playing by herself she might not need me around all the time meaning screen time will diminish by itself eventually?

She's currently loving books but I can't possibly read all day long to her, can I?

I'm just a bit stuck for what else to do and want to know what other parents do to minimise/not have any screen time?

Does she like stickers? I have a little chair and table set up with a notebook or colouring book and some stickers. He doesn't yet understand properly so just puts one sticker on top of another but it seems to be quite a relaxing activity for him. We've also bought him some of the CBeebies magazines that come with stickers like the Hey Duggee one and he sits for a while just looking at them all and then uses the stickers. He probably won't play with them for more than 30 minutes at a time but it might give you a quick break?

You need to leave them to play alone too, age appropriate toys in a safe space you can keep an eye on, we were open plan so I got on with dinner or whatever

We used to watch in the night garden before bed and that was it. iPads didn’t exist yet! I was and still and really strict about screen time.

We did-
Fuzzy felts
Play doh
They would “help me” clean or cook
do the food shop
Go on a bus
Take a train
Toddler group
Nap
Singing group
Baby gym
Baby yoga
National Trust
Puddle splashing
The park
Treasure hunts and collecting things- so give them an empty egg box and they are to fill it with one pebble, one feather. Print out a picture of each thing.
We would phone grannies

These are great ideas so far. I guess I need to buy some more games and toys she can do on her own and to be honest I never thought of putting her on her high chair to do activities, doh!

I grew up watching a LOT of telly so I still out it on as background noise and feels weird to have a quiet household, so this is a huge learning curve for me too🙈

Put the radio on. I love 6 music and radio 4 for specific things.

Does she not play by herself? My DD has some of those happy valley toys, dolls and a kitchen that she plays with quite independently. Although I wouldn’t say you’re doing loads of screen time.

I made our living room as child safe as I could and encourage DD (now 26m) to play independently there. She has access to all her toys and plays very differently when she's completely on her own compared to when she is interacting with someone. She's done this from the point where she could sit reliably on her own, so 9m ish.

The main activity that gives me some time is drawing. She will sit in her highchair for 20-30 minutes and draw with her crayons.

It has required a bit of investment from me to teach her how to entertain herself, how to sit and draw etc.

She has dropped her nap but if we're at home I still park her in her cot for 'quiet time' with a couple of teddies and a few books. On a good day she will be content for an hour like this!

She didn't watch any TV really in the first year then I tried to introduce it at around 12m when she dropped her afternoon nap as I felt she needed the quiet time but she just doesn't have the attention span for the screen and gets up and starts playing. I've actually been disappointed not to have the TV as a tool when I've wanted to plonk her in front of it so I could get on with things. I'd happily let her watch 30 minutes a day but she's really not interested at the moment.

Treasure baskets.

A baking sheet sprinkled quite liberally with flour and some cars to wheel through it will keep my dts busy for ages.

Look on Pinterest for toddler ideas, there are lots to try there. Def get out of the house and doing things, even if it’s just free things.

We go out twice a day...

In the house he has access to a range of toys (today's task is to sort them out and make it better for him) but I also sort out things to play with so I don't have to play with those noisy cars every day!
Musical instruments - put some tunes on and play along
Puzzles - I set these up on his little IKEA table so he can come back to them during the day
Filing and Pouring is a bit hit - pompoms and lentils in the house, sand and water in the garden
Treasure baskets
Story sacks/boxes are good if she likes books - you just find a few toys or household things that links into the story and use them to help extend the book.

I love Play Hooray and Becky's Treasure Baskets on Instagram for ideas

It doesn’t sound like you’re watching a huge amount, although less is better!

Get outside as much as possible. At this age my DD could spend aaaaaages watching an ant nest, or digging for worms. She was just starting to get better at independent play, and some absolute godsends for me were:

A whiteboard/chalkboard easel - it’s so versatile. She loved being able to draw while standing up, as she was too fidgety to want to sit for long. Standing up shed draw for sometimes up to an hour! She particularly loved “water painting” on the chalkboard (literally just dipping the brush in water), and we also taped paper onto it so she could do real painting (we put it onto an old bedsheet in the kitchen, but the tray that easels come with catch virtually all of it anyway)

Sand/water pit with a few cups/buckets etc. Obviously needs to be supervised, but I got a cheap table (maybe £25) and Id sit and have a cup of tea while she played.

Stickers. DD could easily peel off a sheet, but most supermarkets have tubs of foam letters/shapes/animals, or you can order big pots online. They are a great place to start with sticking fun! I’d tape a blank piece of paper down with masking tape to make it easier. Make sure you have a bin right next to the table to drop the backings in.

Toys that can be arranged/posed. We got DD a wooden train set, and she wasn’t interested at all, expect that it came with wooden trees. Got her some farm animals and voila! She loved arranging them on the coffee table.

Play dough was a winner a bit later on, but at this age DD didn’t have the coordinatation to do anything interesting, so it only held her interest for 5 minutes.

Reading all day is a good resort if you can stand it! But vary where you do it. We have a little pop up tent, so we take some toys out into the garden, have a picnic lunch on a blanket and then read in the tent afterwards

Well, basically: Think of waht your child does all day long, except for when she's watching TV - that's what kids who don't watch TV do as well, only for a bit longer every day ;)

"I'm guessing as she becomes a little better at playing by herself she might not need me around all the time meaning screen time will diminish by itself eventually?"
The problem with that is, that the TV makes it harder for her to entertain herself. If a child should be able to entertain itself, you have to cut the entertainment. If you or someone/something else keep entertaining your child, while she is like a passive bystander, that's what she'll need.
This also includes toys where the kid has to press buttons and the toy makes sounds - the toy is active and entertaines the child, while the child is the passice recipient. Get toys that require your child being the active part!

Toddlers usually also love everyday stuff - helping you around the house. If you don't have one, get a stepladder so that your daughter can "help" you in the kitchen, let her load and unload the washing machine, water plants, wipe things, clean up, ....