I love to play with my son and I’m such a huge fan of doing screen-free activities with him all day! No matter the life obligations, I get into the roles when we play together with all my heart and soul.

And if you’d like to hear it from a mom who woke up and went to bed with ‘I love you’ and a kiss two times in a row, from a four-year-old, then hear me out on this!

Related: Winter Routine for Kids

It’s of great importance to create that special bond between the kid and you. Many humans, things and situations will try to break it, but it’s up to you to give your best NOW so you can help later.

Creating the special bond…

They will face traumas later in life, they will fall and they will experience unfamiliar feelings. It will be hard for them and you probably won’t be around to hold their hand. And it’s life.

And you’ve done an amazing job if you’re not around to hold their hand when they grow-up. You let them face life, create memories on their own, you encouraged them to be brave to step further each day, on their own.

BUT. Parents should be a haven to their children, whenever they need a crying shoulder, advice and any other sort of support. To be that person, you have to support them at early ages.

Get down on the floor and play with their favourite toys, read a book in front of the crowd, make silly faces, run around the playground and get on the swing, go to singing lessons together…

Hey, you wanna see how I plan activities for my kid and organise his life? Then, download my planner!
Here’s the link to download it.
I use that one every year.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am aware of the importance of technology in this modern world. Technology should be a part of our kids’ lives since it’s reality. It’s just that it won’t help you build trust if you do it all day long.

Yes, it’s great to sit down with the kid once in a while and watch his favourite cartoon together. This makes kids happy and lets them know that you care for their interests. Ah, but doing it all day long makes you a lazy parent who doesn’t care for their other interests and only do what feels good for him.

Having a set of fun screen-free activities to do together daily makes you a reliable, fun and caring grown-up who they know they can trust with anything. For the sake of your kid’s future, build trust, create the bond NOW.

Fun screen-free activities to create the special bond…

If your little one spends too much time in front of the telly, phone, or any other technology, wake up human! Wake up, now! You are responsible for that little soul. You’re the one to shape it and nurture it, you’re the one who stays behind any choices the kid makes as a grown-up later.

So, once again. WAKE UP.

I understand it’s a busy world, but I’m also sure all of us have at least an hour to sit down and play and it usually is enough. So don’t beat yourself too much about anything, simply do it.

Play like kids play. Here are our favourite screen-free activities both us (parents) and the kid enjoy!

1 At the playground.

Well, of course, this one’s obvious! Playgrounds are the best fun, plus such a helper for their social life and better sleep. We’re lucky that nowadays almost every bigger city has at least one Montessori-inspired playground!

These are basically a gym for children helping them improve gross motor skills, socialise and let any bad energy out. Obstacles to run through, hiding places, slides and swings with the perfect company – best fun ever!

2 At the library

You know, I wouldn’t ever trust that my 3-year-old would behave so well with another obligation I brought to his life at that time. Although reading has been a part of his life ever since he was a newborn baby, he really surprised me!

The idea I had was to teach him several things. 1 Responsibility of taking care of things which aren’t his. 2 Weekdays since we always go on Mondays (and Monday comes after Sunday, a relaxing day when we’re home as a family). 3 Reading is fun and we can also do it with friends in a kid-friendly environment.

We always take two books each Monday and he really looks forward to going to the library! Also, he chooses the book on his own and adores the idea of being in control. That way, we balance trough the days and he’s less likely to get mad when I have to set rules.

3 Music.

Both of us, my husband (who plays the guitar) and I (started recently too), think that we made a great decision when decided to bring music to our son’s life when he was 1-year-old. We bought him drums and he’s been playing ever since.

I’d recommend this set from Amazon if your kid is just starting (good for adults too)!

Of course, there’s been quite a bit of up and downs when we finally established the routine. Nowadays, he thinks music all day long and truly enjoys making it.

Here you can read more on how I helped my son establish music hours.

It’s under the afternoon hours section.

Anyways, you might not be a musician, BUT exposing children to music is soooo good for them. It helps them emotionally grow and express feelings. It might be dancing and singing, or it might be you buying an instrument and hiring the perfect teacher for them.

4 At the soft play centre.

Soft play is perfect when it’s cold outside and you have a bored kid but too little energy to play with. It does it all, just like the playground, though it’s not free and on fresh air. But my kid enjoys playing there!

5 Yoga.

I separated my kid’s activities for this year by months. We do the Montessori method (read the full set of activities and learn how to do it here) of learning with cards and I put yoga for June.

However, if you would’ve said that introducing yoga to kids isn’t hard earlier in life, I wouldn’t have trusted you.

Nope, not me. Not before I had a kid. I mean, how could I possibly make my kid do yoga? But hey, it sounds too good to be true to them: standing upside down and all those funny poses imitating animals.

Three nights earlier, I needed a cup of yoga so I started my flow while the two of them were playing. In the middle of nowhere, my little one came to sit by me and immediately started doing what I was doing.

Since we usually practise yoga together in the mornings, on our bed and alone, dad was in shock of how good he was at it. Even I had to stop for a while to cherish the moment of those little hands and legs moving through the full flow. Heart-melting.

6 Books with stickers.

We might just have little too much of these stickers books. And I don’t spear a dime on them since he’s so focused finishing (usually finishes a book in a day or two). Not to mention the great impact on fine motor skills, right!

One of the best screen-free activities, since it does not only gets him focused but he doesn’t need technology after too. Usually, what he asks is playing the drums of drawing.

7 Art.

Art has to be that one thing almost every kiddo gets through with a lot of dedication at least once. Finger paint, making art with scissors and glue, kinetic sand, play foam or play dough. Let them get imaginative!

Usually, whenever we go out for playground fun or a cup of tea and hot chocolate, I bring books and art supplies so he can relax with doing anything that he likes at that time.

Our favorite art supplies from Amazon that are safe for kids: play-doh, Crayola set, Giotto super washable crayons (his personal facorites), kinetic sand.

8 Baking.

Bake some healthy bread, fruit and cereal cookies. Surely, cooking with kids got to be hard, but in my opinion, a crucial practical life skill they should learn as soon as possible. That one skill they need to know to survive in life.

And a couple of more things too. You can teach them not only the process of how to bake, make and squeeze food but the importance of vitamins too. Orange vegetables usually contain vitamin A which is important for eye health, for instance. Count the ingredients, experiment with textures and tastes and enjoy.

PRO TIP: Do it in spare time, you know, that time when you have to come up with yet another fresh set of screen-free activities. Not when making the main dish and are in a hurry.

9 Pretend play.

Recently, our son’s dream has come true! He got his first Ikea kitchen playset from my parents. He makes us coffee first thing in the morning, washes dishes (I usually fill the sink with water and bubbles) and cook broccoli for himself.

There’s a great game he’s come up with lately, he pretends it’s the shop and sells things. Usually with his dad. We also pretend to be monsters or ghosts and chase each others, we have concerts most of days, and so many more fun activities!

10 Experiments.

Since there’s a certain list of activities and goals I planned on doing with him (each month, a new goal and a new set of activities), we do lots of experiments. January I reserved for learning colours and materials, season changes and months.

As a part of learning activities about materials, I also squeezed in a fun experiment to test how certain materials act in water. Do they float, do they get wet, are they heavy, sharp and smooth. When we did colours, we learned the different shades. Next is: colour combinations.

Just like that!

We don’t do each of the activities mentioned all day and sometimes we do a completely fresh thing. Like, going for a swim or a trip to a mountain for a weekend. But it’s what bond us as a family and builds trust in each other.

Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below YOUR favourite screen-free activities and please share this blog post so we can inspire others!