Play Practitioners

Watch a baby for an afternoon. They reach. They drop. They stack. They test. Nobody teaches it. Play is how children work out the world.

The developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik calls young children the research and development team of our species.

So when a child looks unsure about how to play, the drive has not gone away. It has had little room to grow. Are we giving them that room?

You set up the activity. You found the toy. You gave your whole afternoon. Then a small voice says ""I'm bored,"" and your heart sinks.

Here is what I have learned in over 20 years with young children. That empty moment is not a sign you did too little. It is the space your child steps into right before they start to play.

Hand over a screen too fast, and they never reach the other side, where their own ideas are waiting.

Comment SCREEN for help with this.

Comment Screen for your FREE guide 'Less Screen More Spark'
or
https://lc.playpractitioners.com/less_screen_more_spark-2882

You need twenty minutes to cook, so the screen goes on. It works, until you switch it off and the meal turns into a battle. The screen solved one problem and quietly made another. Try a swap. Set up something near the kitchen your child can do alone. Blocks. Playdough on a mat. A drawer of safe kitchen bits to stack and sort. A bowl of water and cups by the sink. Day one will be bumpy. Stay with it, and the calmer evenings come.
The full set of ideas is on the blog and in my latest video. Link below.
Read the full blog, www.playpractitioners.com/blog/screen-time-meltdowns
Listen to me at https://youtu.be/mXlFYKtHMYk

What does your child reach for when the screen goes off?

Comment Screen for your FREE guide 'Less Screen More Spark'
The UK's Best Start in Life guidance changed in 2026. Under two, skip screens apart from shared moments like a family video call. Two to five, around an hour a day, and less where you can. The part I want you to hear: the kind of content matters as much as the amount. Slow pace, simple stories, time to rest between scenes. Sit and watch along where you can, your calm steadies them.

I have linked the guidance and written the whole thing up.
Read the blog or watch the full video, link below.
Read the full blog, www.playpractitioners.com/blog/screen-time-meltdowns
Listen to me at https://youtu.be/mXlFYKtHMYk

Comment Screen for your FREE guide 'Less Screen More Spark'
or click here
https://lc.playpractitioners.com/less_screen_more_spark-2882

Your child's brain is making a guess every second, then checking if it got it right. That is how they make sense of the world. A fast cartoon moves too quickly for that guessing, so the brain shifts into a high alert state and the body revs up. Calm on the outside. Racing on the inside. Once you see it, the after-screen meltdown makes sense.

The full explanation is on the blog and in my latest video.

Read the full blog, www.playpractitioners.com/blog/screen-time-meltdowns
Listen to me at https://youtu.be/mXlFYKtHMYk

Nine minutes of a fast cartoon was enough to change how a group of four-year-olds behaved straight after. They did worse at tasks that called for focus and self-control. Not because of who they are, but because of what fast content does to a young brain. That meltdown after the screen goes off starts to make sense. I have written up the whole thing, what is happening and what helps.

Read the full blog, www.playpractitioners.com/blog/screen-time-meltdowns
Listen to me at https://youtu.be/mXlFYKtHMYk

Which shows leave your little one calm?