Healthy Screen Time Activities for Kids: 25 Better Ways to Use a Screen
When parents think about improving screen time, the obvious answer is often to reduce it. Sometimes that helps. But it is only part of the picture.
Children can also use technology to make things, learn new skills, talk to people they care about, solve problems, explore interests and discover things they want to try in the real world.
That is what we mean by healthy screen time activities for kids: digital experiences that add something to childhood rather than simply filling time.
The best ones might spark a new interest, start a conversation, help a child create something or give the family an idea for what to do next.
Healthy Screen Time Activities for Kids: What Makes Screen Use Better?
There is no single formula for healthy screen time.
For younger children, current English guidance recommends avoiding most screen use under the age of two except shared interactive activities, and aiming for around one hour a day for children aged two to five where possible. Shared use and age-appropriate content are also encouraged in the Best Start in Life screen-time guidance for under-5s.
For children aged five to sixteen, the UK Government's developing guidance on screen use for children aged 5–16 looks beyond duration alone, considering factors such as age, type of activity, timing, context and patterns of use.
That is a helpful way to think about screen time at home too.
Rather than asking only how long a child has been on a device, consider:
what they are actually doing
whether they are making meaningful choices
whether there is a natural stopping point
whether the content suits their age
whether it encourages curiosity or creativity
who they are interacting with
whether it leads to something beyond the screen
what the screen use is replacing
Healthy screen time does not need to turn childhood into a lesson plan. It simply means choosing digital experiences that have a worthwhile place within the bigger picture.
1. Draw Something Digitally
A tablet can be a sketchbook as easily as it can be a video player.
Children can experiment with colours, brushes, shapes, characters and scenery, with the freedom to undo, start again and try something new.
You can even carry the idea into the real world afterwards by asking them to recreate their favourite drawing on paper.
2. Make a Short Animation
Simple animation tools can turn drawings, toys, Lego or clay characters into a story. It is a lovely way to combine imagination with planning: deciding what happens, arranging each scene and seeing the final idea come to life.
3. Make Music
Technology can be an instrument too.
Children can play with rhythm, beats, melodies, loops and recorded sounds without needing any formal musical experience.
The point is not to produce something perfect. It is to experiment.
4. Go on a Photography Challenge
Give the child a simple theme and let the screen encourage them to look more closely at the world around them.
Try:
five interesting textures
things that are blue
signs of autumn
tiny things
reflections
something beautiful in the garden
The device becomes part of the activity, not the whole activity.
5. Create a Digital Story
Photos, drawings and simple slides can become the ingredients for a story.
It could be about a family day out, a pet, an imaginary planet or something completely made up.
Children are using the screen to tell the story rather than waiting for the screen to tell one to them.
6. Video Call Someone They Love
A video call is still screen time, but it can also be meaningful time with someone important.
Grandparents, cousins and relatives who live further away can become part of everyday family life in a way that would have been much harder a generation ago.
For younger children, this kind of shared interactive use is specifically recognised in the current under-5 screen-time guidance as different from passive viewing.
7. Message a Known Friend or Family Member
As children grow, digital communication becomes part of learning how relationships work online.
In the right environment, messaging can help them practise kindness, turn-taking, tone and knowing when a conversation is finished.
The important distinction is that they are communicating with people they know, in a space designed appropriately for their age.
Our guide to social media alternatives for kids looks at this transition in more detail.
8. Make a Family Quiz
Let the child choose the subject and research the questions.
Animals, music, football, geography, films, dinosaurs or family trivia all work well.
The screen helps them prepare the activity, but the fun happens when everyone joins in.
9. Learn More About Something They Already Love
Some of the best learning begins with curiosity rather than a curriculum.
If a child loves sharks, trains, football, space or music, technology gives them an extraordinary way to go deeper.
Starting with something they already care about often makes digital learning feel much less like homework.
10. Try a Digital Learning Journey
Structured digital learning can be especially useful when it breaks a subject into manageable pieces.
Look for experiences that combine things like short explanations, questions, choices, challenges and clear endings.
That gives the child something to work through rather than simply another stream of content to watch.
11. Learn a Few Words in Another Language
Technology is brilliant for hearing pronunciation and practising simple vocabulary.
Then try bringing the words into the rest of the day — at dinner, in the car or on a walk.
A few minutes on a screen can become a family game that lasts much longer.
12. Follow a Drawing Tutorial
Watching a tutorial is technically fairly passive.
What makes it valuable is what happens next.
If the child pauses the video, reaches for a pencil and starts experimenting, the screen has become a prompt for creativity rather than the destination.
That is one of the ideas we explore in Active vs Passive Screen Time: What Parents Should Know.
13. Try a Science Experiment
Use the screen to find the idea and understand the instructions, then move away from it.
Simple experiments involving water, magnets, plants, shadows or building structures can turn a few minutes of digital research into much longer periods of hands-on discovery.
14. Solve a Puzzle
Digital puzzles can encourage reasoning, memory, planning and persistence.
The better ones give children space to think, rather than overwhelming them with constant rewards, interruptions or pressure to keep going.
15. Play a Game With a Clear Ending
Games are much easier to manage when everyone knows what “finished” looks like.
That might mean completing a level, finishing a mission, solving a puzzle or reaching a goal.
Natural stopping points make it easier for children to move on without the experience feeling abruptly taken away from them.
16. Build Something in a Digital World
Creative building games can encourage imagination and spatial thinking.
Children might design a house, island, town or obstacle course.
And if the idea really catches on, ask whether part of it could be rebuilt with Lego, cardboard or whatever else is nearby.
17. Play a Game Together
Screens do not need to be solitary.
Take turns, solve puzzles together, make decisions as a team or let your child teach you how their favourite game works.
Sometimes changing who is involved changes the whole quality of the experience.
18. Practise Mindfulness or Breathing
Screens are often associated with stimulation, but they can help children slow down too.
A short breathing or mindfulness activity can be useful after school, before bed or simply when a child needs a quieter few minutes.
The screen does not need to be the focus for long. It can simply guide the transition into something calmer.
19. Use a Screen to Plan Something Outdoors
Technology can help answer one of the oldest family questions:
What shall we do today?
Children can help choose a walk, find somewhere to visit, check opening times or plan a picnic.
Once the plan is made, the screen has done its job.
20. Identify Something From Nature
A child spots a bird, flower, insect or tree and wants to know what it is.
That is a lovely use of technology because the curiosity began outside the screen.
The pattern becomes:
notice → wonder → investigate → go back and look again
That is very different from opening an app and simply waiting for content to arrive.
21. Look at the Stars
Apps and websites can help children understand what they are seeing in the night sky.
Find the Moon, a planet or a constellation, then step outside and try to spot it for real.
It is a perfect example of positive screen time: the screen helps a child go somewhere else.
22. Find a Recipe and Cook It
Let the child choose something simple to make.
Use the screen for the recipe, ingredients or technique, then get cooking.
Without making a big thing of it, they are reading, measuring, following instructions, practising patience and spending time with someone else.
23. Learn a Dance or Movement
A screen can introduce a dance, stretch, movement challenge or simple exercise.
But very quickly, the screen should become the least interesting part of the activity.
The movement happens in the room.
24. Plan a Family Challenge
Use technology to help organise something everyone can join in with.
For example:
photograph five things on a walk
try three new foods
visit four new places this month
complete a week of small acts of kindness
The screen helps create the idea. The memories happen elsewhere.
25. Capture a Memory Afterwards
Screens can record childhood as well as compete with it.
After a walk, birthday, family day out or afternoon baking together, children can choose a photo or write a few words about what happened.
There is a simple principle here that we really like:
experience first, screen second.
Turn the Screen Into a Starting Point
A lot of healthier screen use follows the same pattern.
A child discovers something and then does something with it.
They watch and make.
Learn and practise.
Plan and go.
Connect and talk.
Play and imagine.
That is a useful lens for parents because it moves the conversation away from whether screens are simply “good” or “bad”.
Instead, ask:
Where does this experience lead?
Sometimes the best technology is the technology that sends a child somewhere else.
Healthy Screen Time Does Not Need to Feel Like Homework
There is also a danger in taking all of this too far.
Children do not need every digital experience to teach them maths, build a skill or produce something useful.
Watching a favourite programme is fine.
Playing a silly game is fine.
A family film on a rainy afternoon is fine.
Childhood does not need to become a productivity project.
The point is simply to make sure that endless, automatic consumption does not become the default whenever there is a spare moment.
How Much Screen Time Is Healthy?
There is no single UK daily limit that applies to every school-age child.
The UK Government's current work on screen use for children aged 5–16 recognises that screen use depends on more than duration alone, including the child's age, the type of content, the context and what else is happening in their life.
If you want the age-by-age picture, our guide to how much screen time kids should have covers the current guidance in more detail.
A useful check at home is whether screen use is regularly pushing out:
sleep
movement
face-to-face relationships
schoolwork
hobbies
outdoor time
family routines
imaginative play
The number matters, but so does what sits inside it.
Where Liaura Fits
Liaura is built around many of these same ideas.
We want children to enjoy technology without every experience being designed to hold their attention for as long as possible.
Within Liaura, children can:
Connect privately with approved friends and family.
Learn through Journeys exploring different interests and skills.
Play in Worlds built around creativity, problem-solving and fun.
Slow down with calmer spaces and mindfulness activities.
Discover ideas that can lead into real-world exploration.
Capture Moments from things they have actually done together.
There are no public follower counts and no infinite public social feed.
Instead, children get somewhere to practise digital life gradually, with guardians involved.
You can see more about how Liaura works.
We do not think children's technology needs to replace childhood to be interesting.
It can be part of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Healthy Screen Time Activities for Kids?
Healthy screen time activities for kids are digital experiences that support something positive in a child's wider life, such as creativity, learning, communication, problem-solving, play, relaxation or real-world activity.
What Is an Example of Healthy Screen Time?
Examples include drawing digitally, video calling family, solving a puzzle, learning about an interest, following a recipe, practising a skill or using technology to plan something outdoors.
Is Gaming Healthy Screen Time?
It can be.
Games may involve creativity, planning, problem-solving and persistence. The design of the game, the child's age, how easy it is to stop and what the activity is replacing all matter.
Is Watching TV Healthy Screen Time?
It can be part of a healthy balance.
Watching a film together or enjoying a favourite programme is not inherently unhealthy. The concern is more about what happens when passive viewing consistently displaces sleep, movement, relationships or other activities.
Does Educational Screen Time Count as Screen Time?
Yes.
But that does not mean every minute spent on a screen has the same value or effect. What a child is doing, why they are doing it and what happens afterwards all matter.
How Can I Make My Child's Screen Time Healthier?
Try moving some screen use away from automatic consumption and towards activities involving creativity, communication, learning, problem-solving or something that leads into the real world.
Sometimes healthier screen time means less screen time.
Sometimes it simply means using it differently.
Better Screen Time Can Lead Somewhere Else
Children are growing up with technology.
The goal is not to pretend screens will disappear. It is to help children learn what technology is good for — and when it is time to put it down.
A screen can be a tool, a toy, a way to communicate, somewhere to learn, somewhere to create and sometimes simply somewhere to relax.
And it can also be the doorway to something that happens away from the device entirely.
The best healthy screen time activities for kids often have that quality.
They lead to a drawing, a conversation, a game, a recipe, a walk, a new interest or a memory made together.
That is when technology starts to feel less like something competing with childhood and more like something that can add to it.
