Has cutting down TV helped your preschooler play more independently?

[Glow25]

I want to reduce the screen time my child has, for reference they are preschool age.
I solo parent a lot of the time, husband works away so I’ve resorted to the TV to help me get things done around the house/ cook dinner but actually in the long run I feel it’s maybe the cause of my child being ‘bored’ constantly needing attention, me to play with them, can’t concentrate on anything for longer than 5 minutes.
So my question is has anyone cut out tv and did it make a big difference to independent play and also is there a better way I could set up her toys to make it more interesting?
I love drawing with them, building things, jigsaws etc but want them to do these things independently too.

How much tv does she watch? I think it’s pretty normal for pre schoolers not to play independently for very long with no other kids around

@ToKittyornottoKitty we are out a lot of the day, swimming, dancing, library, shopping etc but at home it’s on in the background.

Like all the time?

How old exactly are they? Are they at the point they can do imaginative play yet?

Mine could get lost in their own games (usually a big rail set or lots of little animals, cars etc) by about three.

Before that they had about a five minute attention span.

I let them watch tv, it doesn’t impact their ability to do this - although, I don’t just let them when they ask… I do find the more tv they watch the more interested they become in it so it’s good to be strict about it.

@MidnightPatrol they are 3.5. I do set up little activities and they can engage with then for short bursts but always need almost reassurance from me, need to show me something, make something for me, me to help with something so isn’t very independent and I love paying with her but thought by now there’d be a bit more independence.
@ToKittyornottoKitty not all the time but probably 80% of the time we are at home the tv is on.

DS isn’t allowed to watch any TV or have screen time at the moment because he’s addicted. We take it in turns to take him out when the girls watch.

Independent play became a thing more and more from the age of 3 for my child. He’s nearly 5 now and plays very well independently. He has no choice though as I make a point of saying I’ve got things to do or that I’m going to sit and read for a half hour on my own because I’m tired. He does the same and takes himself off to look at his books or listen to his Yoto player.

Setting things up does help. I don’t do it anymore but when he was younger I used to set something up in the evening that he’d wake up to. Play-doh set up invitingly, a little house of magnet tiles with his figurines nearby, part of a train track, or just a little table of interesting odds and ends to investigate. Nowadays we have an arts and crafts/activity book box always out on the kitchen table and that’s the go-to thing at breakfast time. It also helps massively if you can give them a good chunk of your time, get them going with something, and then move on to doing your own things once they’re engrossed.

Independent play can’t be achieved if the telly is on as a default, and it can’t be achieved if they’re not out enough. When he’s not in nursery we’re out for hours. He plays best with his toys if we come home thoroughly knackered after a lot of walking/biking/scooting and fresh air. That’s when he really settles down with his Lego or trains or whatever.

No, I've had 3 and I'm from a big family - it's genetic/personality dependent to some extent
Some of mine used to just play and ignore the tv, others were glued, some played a lot with small world play or trains. But my eldest refused all independent play. It drove me mad 😭

At 3.5 you can try things like the leapreader pen or learning pad thing, you can get them from vinted. Or the leappad Mr pencil or vtech abc laptop type things again from vinted for pennies.
Or a lot of arts and crafts, set them up and then keep trying to walk away. Set a visual timer for quiet time while mummy reads or has coffee and gradually increase the time
But the key to those children is lots of playdates and social time!!

And being wise about what tv shows to watch, putting the radio or cbebbies radio/yoto stories on instead. Yoto and cbeebies get arty do draw alongs which mine quite liked

We don't actually have a TV since we moved. My kids definitely have more sense of independent play than most kids. But it's definitely not easier parenting. If I could slap them in front of a TV for an hour while I cook that would be alot easier than monitoring their independent play and they pester us a lot more and get themselves hurt and stuff. But I don't like kids being glued to a screen so the easiest thing is to just not have them. We have a laptop that we watch a film on sometimes.

If it helps I'd say age 3.5 was the peak of our screen time usage due to starting school nursery full time and her being absolutely wiped when she got home so the only way I could make dinner was a bit of screentime so no judgment here!

However, I do think curbing the amount of time had a positive impact on her ability to play independently over the long term. I found having quick activity baskets set up easily accessible helped, I had things like playdoh, Magnetic tiles, train set or craft sets easy to hand to direct her to with a challenge (build the highest tower, make me a playdoh pizza, kinda thing). To start I just reduced screen time slightly "you can have it while i cook and then it goes off". If she complained about being bored after I would (and still do on the rare occasion she says it) say "that's great, I have so many jobs to do you can help", sometimes she would help but other times she would vanish pretty quickly to find something else to do 🤣

DD is 6 now and genuinely barely watches tv, we have a movie night at the weekend (watching 1 film) and that is it, if she asks for it during the week I will generally let her watch an episode or 2 of something but she never asks, while I cook now she either sits at the dining table and draws, writes or colours.