The more we look around and learn about the harm that screens and screen addiction can cause in children, especially those under 3 years, the more we want to commit to a screen-free lifestyle for our toddler.

What made us pretty passionate about this was seeing the kids of family members and friends glued to iPads and screens at meal time, in restaurants and with us visiting. It was shocking, actually. We want our daughter to grow up knowing exactly how to behave around people of all ages, with excellent social skills.

We lucked out that we were living a relatively “low media” lifestyle already, since we moved in together and got married. For example, we don’t own a TV—just an iPad, where we consume our Netflix from time to time.

With the following ways, you can also raise a toddler with minimum screen time, and enjoy a child who is happy, social, good-natured and creative.

Ways to raise a toddler with no screen time

We’re lucky that we both agree on going screen-free as long as possible with our child. It was one of the questions we asked ourselves before our baby arrived.

We were delighted to have met neighbors across the street who have two young kids, and coincidentally, they lead a relatively screen-free family life as well! It made us feel like we chose the right way of life. Here are the ways to raise a child with no screen time!

Start when your child is a newborn

This is what we did: from day one, we did not have a big TV on the wall playing ambiently in the background. It probably helped us to keep things dim and get some sleep while having a newborn.

As our baby grew up, she never crawled around rooms that had TVs playing sports events or sitcoms. The only time she really saw TVs were at grandparents’ houses, and even then, if no one was watching, we’d just shut the TV for good.

What was important for us was that we had a screen-free commitment from the beginning, when our baby came home from the hospital. This meant that we knew there was no “certain age” when we’d introduce baby or toddler videos, and we certainly had no plans, ever, to reward her with screen-time or use it in the car or during trips.

Hide the TV

I know this sounds scary. For us, it actually means “Don’t have a TV at all.” We just have an iPad on a stand, and we watch Netflix on weeknights, a few nights a week. We put it away when our daughter is around, so that she doesn’t break it. Our house is essentially TV-free.

While I know this is not for everyone’s lifestyles, hear me out: our neighbors across the street only have one TV, and they have it in the basement, which is their media space. The kids rarely hang out down there, because it’s really the parents’ place to watch TV when the kids are asleep.

With both of these ideas, you can achieve a screen-free household and lifestyle for the family.

Use phones for anything but videos

Our daughter thinks our phones are photo albums, where she can see pictures of her cousin (our niece), and tools for using FaceTime to see her grandparents. She barely knows that phones have video capabilities, because we don’t play videos on our phones (well, only videos of our niece, who is a little bit older than she is).

We don’t set up our phone on a stand in a restaurant with a video playing to hush her up while we eat. We don’t have a “just for play” iPhone for her so that she can play on a screen while we’re away from her.

We keep the meaning of phones to be devices on which you say, “Hello?” and talk to someone. So far, it works.

Answer questions about TVs when your child asks

If your child sees a TV in a restaurant, friend’s house or a store and asks why your family doesn’t have one, answer with replies like, “Every family has different things in their house. We have a lot of toys instead of a TV.”

Work toward being screen-free, gradually

If you’re working toward decreasing screen time and media consumption and you want to start slowly, begin with replacing screen time with new activities. It could be a new toy, a new place to go, a new visitor coming over, or something with music.

Use music instead of screens

If your child thrives off of sound and visuals, why not start by nixing the visuals and keeping the sounds? Our daughter knows that she likes Sesame Street, and she’s perfectly happy with listening to “Elmo” on Spotify, while looking at Elmo books and playing pretend with Elmo.

What to do with a toddler instead of screen time

You might be thinking: what do you DO, given that you don’t have a TV in the house? What do you do instead of sit and watch TV?

It’s a shame that screens have become so common, and so addictive, that the internet is full of articles sharing ways to limit your child’s screen time, like this one from Mayo Clinic. I can tell you, in the list that follows, how we stay occupied on weekends, mornings before we leave for school, and evenings between coming home, and bedtime.

It’s a lot of fun to be screen-free with a toddler.

Go places

We go places. We take our toddler shopping, and teach her about stores and the food in the supermarkets. We take her to Home Depot, where we look at “lights” and paint colors. There are so many places we take her, and often, if she’s antsy, we take her out of the house instead of putting a screen in front of her face.

Make use of all those toys

We have toys everywhere, and if there are toys we haven’t played with in a while, we’ll take those out on weekends. We love dumping out all the toy food for the toy kitchen, and stacking cups and building with blocks.

We have noisy corn poppers, rocking horses, baby doll carriages and puzzles. All of these things, while not all at once, can keep our toddler’s attention until we take a break for a snack.

Play creatively

We’ve let our toddler play by herself, and the results are fantastic. She can play with the silverware in her toy kitchen, and happily sit while she organizes and counts the spoons and forks.

Sometimes she likes playing with laminated photos of herself that were given to us from daycare, and she certainly likes empty cereal and cracker boxes, and walking around the house in circles.

Do art projects

Our world changed when I realized that our toddler could handle crayons. Instead of pushing for a TV show to watch, I instead got out newspaper and some crayons, and we drew all over the newspaper on the floor.

As your child gets older, try finger paint, and craft kits, and paint-by-number sets and markers. Try building things with cardboard, or learning how to draw, from books. There are coloring books, craft books and puzzle books that kids will always enjoy instead of TV.

Spend time with friends and family

On weekends, we make PLANS. We hang out with friends and their toddlers in their backyards, we make play dates, or we go to cafes and sit down for coffee while we chase our toddlers. It keeps everyone off screens, and it’s always fun.

Hang out at the library

When we run out of things to do, or if it’s muggy, too hot, too cold, too snowy or too rainy, we head to the library in town. The kids room is great. There are books for every age, puzzles, a Lego wall and a blocks wall. It’s interactive. Our toddler can run around (quietly) and wave to other children. It’s an excellent way to avoid screen time.

Read books

Some children don’t want to sit for books, but we’re lucky that at a young age, our daughter really liked reading. Starting at 12 months, we put a few “tiny books” in her car seat so that she could leaf through them (she did) during car rides. Nowadays, I sit her in the car seat and open one of her tiny books in front of her so that she can look at pictures of food, or dogs, or farm animals.

At home, she has bookshelves with books, and her favorites are the ones that have touch-and-feel, or lift-the-flap styles. That’s right: books don’t have to be boring!

Play outside with neighbors

We’re SO fortunate that we have fun neighbors only a few years older across the street, and we’re luckier still that they don’t come home from school and watch TV. They play in the yard, with balls and toys, and they dig for worms and they help their dad with his gardening. It’s brilliant.

Our daughter loves them. They’ll yell to each other from across the street to say hi, and they all get excited if they get home from school at the same time. It keeps them all off screens.

Go for walks

Does anyone ever really get too old for neighborhood walks? There’s always something new to see, and if there isn’t, drive for a few minutes to a new neighborhood or a park with paths so that you can enjoy some good old-fashioned walking.

We like taking walks at the local reservoir, where there are turtles, ducks and lots of folks walking dogs (very exciting). We’ve done this in all sorts of weather until it’s too hot or too cold, and it’s great for fresh air and of course, staying off screens.

Go to the zoo

Lastly, take advantage of all the great activities for kids in your area, as alternatives to screen time. Of course, it’s easier said than done, if you have things to do around the house and you just need to sit your kid down inside with something to occupy them.

But if you do have the time, or if you or your partner can go out with the kid(s), try a local zoo. When we became parents, it was eye-opening to see how popular the local zoo was, with families and kids.

With all the action from the animals, you can almost harness the fast-moving action from TV shows and make games of finding the bear or the lion in their habitats.

Our daughter likes watching the monkeys, the groundhogs and the fish. It’s usually a big outing, and does away with the need for screens to keep her occupied.