Six Things That Beat Devices

There is a specific moment in mid-July when summer stops feeling like a serene vacation and starts feeling restless with the kids. You’re cooking all those extra meals or driving nonstop from play dates to camps to outings. So when you’ve all got some free time at home, enjoy that downtime— screen free!

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No, not all screentime should be villainized… but encouraging more connected time, with each other, is the goal. Bring the family something that is just as easy to grab and a little more memorable to hold, than a phone or tablet. Check out our six of picks below— we chose a mix of quiet and loud, cheap and a little splurgy, all of them screen-free.

If you buy one thing on this list, make it the Yoto Player (3rd Generation) ($109.99). It is a small, soft-cornered audio player with no screen, no camera, and no ads, with a card dropped into the top. Stories, music, sleep sounds, a wake-up clock, a nightlight. It looks beautiful on a shelf. Kids who “don’t like quiet time” will happily retreat into an audiobook for an hour.

Some kids need to make in order to settle. For the builders, the Magna-Tiles microMAGS Travel Set ($19.99) is the tiny, tuck-in-a-bag version of the magnetic tiles your family probably already loves. It lives in a glove box or a beach tote and turns a restaurant wait into a bridge-building competition.

For the ones who would rather create something they can wear, the Djeco Bead Bracelet and Loom Set ($21.99) is quietly gorgeous. Friendship bracelets are having a real moment, and Djeco does them with the kind of grown-up color palette that does not look like it exploded out of a plastic bin. A rainy morning of beading is a rainy morning nobody spent scrolling.

There is a version of summer where the table stops being for dinner and becomes the best room in the house. The eeBoo Dinosaur Land Puzzle ($13.00) is a lovely place to start, with the kind of storybook illustration you almost want to frame when it is done. Leave it out. Let everyone add a piece as they wander by.

And when the evening needs a little more noise, the Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza Card Game ($9.99) is ten dollars of pure, ridiculous chaos. It takes ninety seconds to learn, works for a wide range of ages, and reliably ends with somebody shrieking with laughter. That is the whole goal, honestly.

Half of screen-free summer is just getting them through the back door. A water bottle they actually love makes that easier than it should, which is why the Owala 32oz FreeSip ($27.99) keeps its viral reputation. It keeps iwater icy cold for ages, the colors are genuinely pretty, and a kid who is proud of their bottle is a kid who stays out in the yard longer. Small lever, big result.

None of this requires a personality transplant or a color-coded summer schedule taped to the fridge. It just requires a few genuinely good items sitting within arm’s reach, so that when “I’m bored” arrives there are options.

We are not chasing a perfect summer. We are just quietly stocking the house with things that make the long afternoons easier and a little more beautiful, and trading notes on what works.

So tell us. What is the one screen-free thing that has saved your July? Come share it with the rest of us. We are all in this together, and we are always taking recommendations.

– Parenthood Together
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