Screen free childcare

I have wanted to write about being a screen-free setting for sometime, but it hasn't flowed. Perhaps because being screen-free is an overall feeling, of nourishment, mindfulness and fulfilment. Perhaps because I have an aversion to sitting at a computer to write about this topic.

However, having recently been quizzed on how we ensure that children are accessing technology, as required by the Early Years Foundation Stage, I have looked into this. Thus, here are a few thoughts on why we remain screen free.

1. Children generally have ready access to screens in daily life, at home or at school. We provide opportunity for children to explore real experiences, in real time, without screens.

2. The World Health Organisation and NHS recommend zero screen time for children under two years and no more one hour per day of high-quality content for 2-5 years, co-watched with an adult. They further note that less than an hour is preferable, especially if screen time displaces sleep, physical activity, play or conversation.

   
   

3. Screen time is acknowledged as being hard to regulate, due to its addictive design and is not recommended as a reward or pacifier. There are also recommendations on avoiding passive, violent, fast-paced or over-stimulating content. By being screen free, we eliminate these options and any potential back-and-forth with children. The children have not asked for it yet!

   
   

4. Excessive screen time has been linked to: language delays, reduced vocabulary, poorer conversation skills, impaired attention spans, reduced working memory and impulse control, executive functioning, creativity, problem-solving and resilience, interfered melatonin production (and therefore sleep cycles, even from daytime use), leading to mood swings, affecting immunity, causing eye strain and contributing to obesity.

   
   

5. Screen free is not the same as tech free. Technology is about understanding programming and sequence, which can include sequences (in routine or in an activity) and sustainable solutions. For example, we recently made windmills, inspired by William Kamkwamba's wind powered turbine, using a numbered sequence on long rolls of paper.

I am reminded of a radio programme I heard many years ago, about silicon valley parents who worked for high tech companies, opting to send their children to screen-free Steiner schools. As the makers of user-friendly technology, these parents believed that their children could learn to use the technology at any age, but creativity and the imagination (as desired by tech companies), could not be taught later in life.

Increasingly, we hear of practitioners noticing a drop in children's creativity and imaginations. This could be for many reasons, but since there are infinite sensory-rich options before screens, we choose to focus on these at our setting. Call me nostalgic, but here is just one example: a hand powered sewing machine, with inviting colours and textures, in our emerging sewing area, looking out at the garden.

Update Autumn 2025: We have decided to integrate a few iPad applications into the routine with the children. In response to their interests, we use the iPad to: support music choices for our dance and yoga sessions, look at the weather forecast and identify unknown plants, butterflies or moths.