From iPad to I Play

Screen media is interfering with children’s playtime. Recent studies show that the increase in screen time during COVID-19 has remained by one extra hour per day even after children returned to in-person schooling.[1] Children are spending more time glued to the screen. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends limiting excessive screen time since it links to childhood obesity and to less time for active, creative play.[2] In addition, the AAP discourages screen media use for children under 2 years.

Children need free play for healthy development. Whether indoors playing dress-up and building with wooden blocks or outdoors constructing forts or jumping in piles of colorful leaves, whole-body play is essential for vigorous growth. Children require play, not on an iPad, but good old-fashioned child-led free play.

Where Curiosity Begins

Play is a child’s work. That’s how they learn to problem-solve, to reason from cause to effect, and to interact socially. Through manipulation of and interaction with the environment, for example, skipping rocks, climbing trees, making mud, watching ants march and birds migrate in V formation, or dropping leaves in a puddle to float, children discover the mysteries of science and the laws of nature.

Play generates curiosity. What makes a rainbow? Why is the sky blue? Do all birds lay eggs? Why do rocks sink in water? Where does the sun go at night? and thousands more questions are often asked by children given the freedom to explore nature.

Play builds brainpower. Studies show that free play fosters connections of neurons in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which enhance problem-solving skills. Researchers at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, also report that countries with more recess have higher academic performance than countries with less recess.[3]

In addition, children at play are children at peace. When left to run and hop, skip, and climb, draw in the dirt and play in the sand at the beach, children are stress-free. Not compelled to conform to an adult’s prescribed games, young brains are more freely activated to think, reason, and discover. Moving at their own pace, whether running fast in a safe place or just lying on their back watching cloud formations, children experience calm and relaxation. Play is a stress reliever.

Setting the Standard

The Creator God set the standard for humanity by placing the first humans in a garden outdoors to roam, explore, work, and interact with nature (Gen. 2:15). Invigorated by the sunshine, soothed by warm breezes, delighted by the calming blues of sky and greens of vegetation, God’s children were free to play. And God declared that His creation was very good (Gen. 1:26-31).

So children need less time sitting indoors peering at a small screen and absorbing blue light that interferes with circadian rhythms, and more time in outdoor active free play. iPad creators and Silicon Valley techs know the addictive effects of screen media and prohibit or limit their own children’s computer and cell phone use.[4] Bill Gates and Steve Jobs restricted their children’s access to technology.

Play benefits children physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively.

Evan Spiegel, CEO and founder of Snap, Inc. (Snapchat’s parent company), allows his children only 90 minutes of screen time every week. Some power couples restrict their children to 10 minutes of screen time per week.

At the Waldorf School in Silicon Valley, nearly 75 percent of the children have parents who work in technology, according to Monica Laurent, a teacher there. “The school favors physical activity and art over technology. Computers are not introduced until eighth grade. Teachers use a hand-clapping game to practice multiplication tables.”[5]

Play benefits children physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. It increases dexterity, communication, imagination, motor skills, empathy, collaboration, coordination, healthy body mass indexes, mental flexibility, relationship building, and critical thinking skills.

Adults need to play, too, and to relish creative quiet time. To reap the benefits of playing, here’s a challenge for the whole family: Turn off the television and all screen media for one day. Color, paint, build, create! Walk, talk, sing, play!

Take a screen media-free holiday with your family. Whether traveling to an exotic location or vacationing at home, plan activities without screens. Ride bicycles together, snorkel, pick strawberries, fly kites, blow bubbles, walk in the park, hula-hoop, collect lightning bugs at dusk, and play badminton or basketball as a family. Or indoors, work on a 200-piece puzzle, design greeting cards for sick friends, plan a garden, make fruit Popsicles, act out Bible stories, learn a new hobby, sing and play instruments, or bake bread together.

More play and less time staring at a screen is the goal. Liberate the brain, unleash the creative juices, free the eye from digital eyestrain, and relax, talk, and interact with real objects and real people.

It’s not too late to turn back the hands of the clock to a simpler time when the happy laughter of children was heard outdoors as they played hopscotch, jumped rope, and searched for friends in hide-and-seek. Let the children play!

[1] Jan Greene, “Children’s Pandemic Screen Time Rose Nearly 2 Hours Per Day,” Feb. 15, 2023, retrieved from https://divisionofresearch.kaiserpermanente.org/childrens-pandemic-screen-time-rose/.

[2] Jill Christensen, “Children and Screen Time: How Much Is Too Much?” May 28, 2021, retrieved from https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/children-and-screen-time#SnippetTab.

[3] Jon Hamilton, “Scientists Say Child’s Play Helps Build a Better Brain,” NPR Ed, Aug. 6, 2014, retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain.

[4] Suren Ramasubbu, “Silicon Valley Execs Restrict Their Kids’ Phone Usage!” July 3, 2025, retrieved from https://www.mobicip.com/blog/silicon-valley-leaders-restrict-their-childrens-phone-usage-so-should-you.

[5] “Why Many Silicon Valley Parents Are Curbing Their Kids’ Tech Time,” May 3, 2018, retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/silicon-valley-parents-are-raising-their-kids-tech-free/.