April 2018 | Relay Blog

10 Screen-Free Week Activities for Kids

April 30, 2018/in Play Unplugged

Screen-Free Week is here! From April 30-May 6, children and families around the world will turn off their televisions, tablets, smartphones, and gaming consoles and rediscover the joys of life beyond devices. Whether you’re wanting to break away from an unhealthy relationship with technology or simply power down and reconnect with loved ones, Screen-Free Week empowers communities across the world to turn off screens and turn on life. We’ll cover everything you need to know to join the movement with 10 Screen-Free Week activities for kids to get the entire family involved. Celebrate with us as we embark on a week full of screen-less adventures and imaginative play!

Are you worried your child spends too much time glued to their devices? You’re not alone. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average child ages 8-18 will spend about 7.5 hours per day in front of a screen — that’s over 114 full days of screen time over the course of a year! Power down and spend that extra time getting active, playing, reading, crafting, or spending quality time with family and friends. Inspire your family to dream up their own creative screen-free activities, seek new and exciting adventures together, and reclaim wholesome, unplugged family time.

New to Screen-Free Week?

Check out our Screen-Free Week survival tips to help you get you and your family through the week with ease:

Reflect on your screen time habits. The first step to making a commitment to Screen-Free Week is to understand the meaning behind the cause. It is not an exercise in deprivation, but instead an opportunity to explore new interests and make long-term changes for a healthier, more satisfying lifestyle. Challenge yourself to take a break from technology and rethink the role digital media plays in your household.

Encourage everyone in the family to get on board. The best way to get your child fully dedicated to Screen-Free Week is to lead by example. If parents are fully committed, you’ll not only motivate your child to remain committed to their pledge, but you’ll also have the opportunity to share this experience as a family.

Set realistic goals. Feeling uneasy about spending a week away from technology? There are plenty of fun and simple ways you can ease the family into Screen-Free Week and set yourself up for success! Go screen free at dinner time, tuck the phone away and organize a family game night, or trade Saturday morning cartoons for an afternoon adventure to your favorite local park. By establishing realistic goals for yourself and your family, you’ll find that even the smallest goals are hugely rewarding.

Reconnect at the dinner table. Take time to fully engage at the dinner table and include the entire family in the preparation and presentation of the meal. Get the kids in the kitchen and invent a new recipe, spice up the dining room with a crafty table setting, or throw out a blanket in the backyard for a magical moonlit picnic. Dinner time is powerful way to bring the family together and there are endless ways to revitalize the evening and create unforgettable memories.

Pencil in some awesome screen-free activities to keep the family on track. Prepare a list of activities you’d like to try throughout the week to keep the family active and engaged. Be sure to leave room in the schedule for unstructured playtime to allow your kids to create their own screen free activities. Check out this list of Screen Free events in your area and plan your next adventure!

Looking for more unplugged playtime inspiration for the family?

Check out our favorite Screen-Free Week ideas that will make your kids (and yourself) forget why you’ve been so hung up on screen time in the first place.

Use Screen-Free Week as the starting point to make long-term changes in developing a healthy and productive home. We challenge you to try something new, seek adventure, reconnect with loved ones, and experience the joys of life beyond technology. Join us as we unplug for Screen-Free Week and take this opportunity to explore new interests with the ones you love.

Tell us what you’re doing for Screen-Free Week and share your favorite unplugged family moments in our Screen-Free Week discussion on The Neighborhood!

Learn more about Screen-Free week and how you can get involved at www.screenfree.org.

Two sisters playing in a field. The big sister is speaking into her Relay while the little sister looks up at her

Let’s talk features: The reason behind Relay’s design

April 25, 2018/in Relay in Action

A product, especially at its inception, should focus on specifics—it should be a simple and elegant solution for its users that evolves to meet their needs. This was our approach while creating Relay, and it led us to challenge what communication looks like, what staying connected means, and how a great product should work. This is how our philosophy shaped Relay’s features and design.

Simple beats complex every time.

Relay’s number one job is to keep families connected in a fun and simple way. So we distilled Relay down to the essential elements, designing communication-first from the outer hardware to the tech inside.

Communication should be fast, easy, and natural. We made Relay’s interface as close to real-time as possible by integrating voice streaming and advanced audio compression into Relay’s software. Voice streaming lets your message start transmitting as soon as you start talking, eliminating that delay. Audio compression is what makes your message travel to its destination as fast as possible. We also increased our speed by embracing the push-to-talk communication style rather than sacrificing time to voice commands and other interfaces. When staying connected, you shouldn’t have to wait.

“The sound is clear and messages are relayed quickly. It works just as I thought it would!” –Relay beta tester

Relay is compact—it has three buttons, no screen, and you don’t need a thick manual to use it. We designed the hardware to turn complicated technology into a small and polished package that’s useful without becoming a distraction. You don’t even have to look at your Relay to push the talk button. It’s designed to enable communication for kids while they’re playing, exploring, and learning about the world around them without dominating their attention. We made deliberate, active design decisions to cultivate communication that supports real-world activity without eclipsing it.

Safety, Fun, and Family.

Relay’s push to talk functionality embodies the kind of family communication that we champion. It enables and encourages kids to explore more, play more, to be creative and unplug from the screens in their lives. Even Relay’s voice-changing feature is so much more fun when it’s part of a game, a story, an active adventure. Relay’s number one job is communication, but it isn’t a phone. By providing a line of communication without a screen, it enables kids to go farther without sabotaging the desire to engage in unplugged play in the first place.

“All the neighborhood kids want [Relays]. They’ve said they like it more than the Verizon Gizmo!” –Relay beta tester

We built Relay to be family friendly from the ground up, and that means being fun for the kid and useful to the parent. A big part of giving parents peace of mind is the ability to know and track where their kids are. That’s why we built GPS functionality into every Relay and made it visible in the Relay app. But design isn’t just about the features—it’s also about the things Relay doesn’t do.

We believe in users’ rights to control their experience. That’s why all new features are optional and turned off by default. That’s why we don’t record or store your family’s voices. That’s why we have delayed implementing some third-party features into Relay that don’t meet our standards yet. We believe in your right to privacy and would never ask you to choose between your family’s privacy and staying connected. There will be more updates about our commitment to your family’s safety and privacy in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

You have the power.

Right now, Relay is a lean and specialized communication device, focusing in on providing the best, fastest communication possible. But that’s just its first function. We designed Relay with room to grow. Where it grows, that’s up to you. We believe the best products are shaped by the customers who use them most—that’s the way we built Republic Wireless, and that’s the way we’re building Relay. We have already received tons of feedback from early users that is helping us chart the course Relay should take. If you’re fired up about your Relay, we want to hear from you. You can add your voice to the conversation in our Relay Neighborhood forum.

“The best products are shaped by the customers who use them the most.”

So how will Relay evolve? We’ll add new channels. We use channels to separate Relay’s features. Each feature has its own channel, and as we create new features, you can add their channels to your Relay devices through the app. You can find new channels in the Relay app, decide which ones you want, and choose which devices should have access to each channel. Each Relay channel is a unique and thoroughly developed feature, and each channel you choose for your devices is entirely up to you. We are continually working on creating and perfecting new features, so as time goes on, Relay will get better and better.

Based on the feedback we’ve received so far, we’re already hard at work bringing new features to Relay. Here are some of the use cases we’ve heard and what we’re working on to deliver new ways of communicating, new ways to have fun as a family, as well as useful tools and functions.

Build your own Walkie Talkie channel: This feature would allow you to set up channels to talk to custom groups and individual Relays, even on other accounts. As you know, your family’s security and privacy is our top concern, so we’re taking our time to make sure we can do this safely and securely.
A family message board: This channel will allow you to leave a message for your Relay devices that can be listened to later instead of in real-time. It’s like a message board for important reminders and information.
Google Assistant: This channel would allow you to interact with Google Assistant right from your Relay. While we have working prototypes of this one, it’s not ready for kids yet. Once it is, we’ll make it available to you.
Music: This would allow you to listen to music on the go, right from your Relay. Before this is ready, we want to make sure parents have the content controls they want and that battery performance isn’t impacted.
Fun and games: These channels are designed for having fun—imagine voice effect channels with word games, trivia, or even a joke of the day.
Useful tools: This channel does a few simple (and important) things—like weather, an alarm clock, a calculator, and more.

Relay isn’t just a new way to keep families connected—it’s a fast, reliable communication device that grows with families and respects their needs and choices. Our team has families of their own, and we wouldn’t bring a product to you that we wouldn’t give to our own children. We’re proud to share our design philosophy with you and are so excited to see it in action.

Ready to see for yourself?

Try Relay

About the Author:

Sam works on the Product team for Relay and Republic Wireless. As a new dad, he’s excited about the opportunity to create products his daughter will get to use one day. “So much of the technology developed today is designed to absorb your attention into a virtual world. Relay fires me up because it’s designed to turn your attention outward and make playing and being a kid more fun.”

Image of mint green Relay illustration and pink smartphone illustration meant to show relationship between the Relay app and a Relay device

What’s new with Relay? Spring 2018 Changes

April 24, 2018/16 Comments/in Relay in Action

So far this Spring, our Relay global product team has been busy fine-tuning every detail to our hardware and software standards. We want Relay to be fast, durable, and fun. If you’re wondering, here are some things we’ve been working on:

It’s sturdier.

We love Relay’s clean design, so we created a stylish premium case to stand up to all kinds of play, from dirt and rain to a tumble (or ten.)

It’s brighter.

Since Relay has no screen, we let the LED light ring do most of the “talking.” And it has a lot to say. We added new colors and effects to let it tell us more. Get a preview here.

It’s more colorful.

After hearing feedback from you all, we added a fifth color option: Charcoal. We feel like it’s understated and even a little classy. We also made our Brick color a little redder so it pops more

It’s smarter.

We’ve been working on the Relay companion app to fine-tune GPS tracking and enable faster and better communication between the app and Relay.

But we don’t plan on stopping there. Even after the Relay launch, we will be making it better and better. As we update Relay, we will add more channels with useful new features and fun games that you can choose for your child.

Child's hand holding brick-colored Relay in the air with thumb depressing talk button

What is screen addiction and what is Relay doing to combat it?

April 5, 2018/in Digital Parenting

When we announced Relay a few months ago, we shared our plan for a screen-free cell phone alternative—you might have read a bit about Relay’s story back in December. As we get closer to launching this product, we want to dig deeper into the contemporary dilemma of cell phones, screen addiction, and our kids.

A lot has happened since we started working on Relay over three years ago. So much has been written about screen addiction and its effects on kids. Major players in technology took a stand against the ways some technology is designed to maximize screen time and consume our attention. Some even joined grassroots movements like the Center for Humane Technology. Meanwhile, organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics have changed their recommendations on screen time for kids as new research emerges, and many parents aren’t sure what to do. There are so many voices in this discussion that it’s hard to process everything being said.

To make it a little easier, we’ll recap the major points of this ever-changing narrative so that you can make sense of it for yourself. We’ve talked to a lot of parents since we announced Relay who are very concerned about their child’s current or future smartphone habits. 82% of us agree kids spend too much time in front of screens these days, and 83% of parents are acutely aware of the amount of time their kids spend in front of screens.¹ On top of that, almost half (42%) of kids would rather spend time in front of a screen than with the rest of the family.²

“Almost half (42%) of kids would rather spend time in front of a screen than with the rest of the family.”²

Their most common sentiment was: “Yeah, it’s a problem…but what do I do about it?” First off, we believe every family should decide what is right for them. We aren’t here to preach high and mighty practices and shame those who don’t follow them. We ARE here to talk about a solution.

Though many parents have doubts or regrets about giving smartphones to their kids, it does provide a certain peace of mind. 69% of parents agree that it is difficult for them to balance their children’s safety and their children’s independence and freedom³—which makes sense, as growing up today in the smartphone era is vastly different to the way we were raised.

87% of parents that we surveyed believe that the world is more dangerous for children today than it was when they were growing up⁴, with 64% of parents being very nervous about letting their children play outside on their own⁵. Providing a smartphone might allow some of that freedom, but at the potential cost of distraction, family conflict, and—as it is frequently called—screen addiction.

So what is screen addiction, anyway? Isn’t that a bit dramatic? While the link between smartphone addiction, screen time, and health outcomes is far from clear, some research from the American Academy of Pediatrics has pointed out a connection between extended screen time with childhood obesity⁶ and disruptions in sleep⁷.

We’re not saying that everyone who uses a smartphone is a screen addict. Like any other fun thing, it’s possible to maintain a healthy balance between screens and the rest of your life. It’s just a little harder for kids to do that since their fast-growing and ever-learning brains have not yet developed the kind of impulse control and sense of delayed gratification that adults have.

If you’re curious about whether your child—or someone else in your life—is showing signs of tipping that balance, Dr. Sarah Domoff at the University of Michigan has put together a list of nine behaviors to look for. These are pretty helpful in distinguishing a simple affinity for apps from something more disruptive. Some example behaviors of screen addiction are throwing tantrums when screen time is taken away, finding it difficult to stop using the phone, tablet, video game system, or TV, and needing screen time to relax or cheer up.

Your child may be dependent on screen time if he or she:

Throws a tantrum when screen time is taken away

Finds it difficult to stop using the phone, tablet, video game system, or TV

Needs screen time to relax or cheer up

It’s clear that many others see what we see and believe what we believe about this topic. If you’re just beginning to form your opinion on how smartphones and screen time fit into your family, it’s worth keeping in mind.

Is this a problem? Really? Who are you to tell me how to use my phone? Smartphones aren’t a problem per se. They are incredible tools that help us every day in a variety of ways, but they also bring along some risks with them—risks that we sometimes don’t like to talk about.

Smartphones, as they became more powerful and ubiquitous, are distracting us from our daily lives. We’ve all been there, you hear your phone ding or buzz and you instinctively reach for the screen to satisfy your curiosity. Sometimes that curiosity can distract us from some of life’s most precious moments. I have felt this personally, have found myself tuning out my kids while mindlessly scrolling Instagram. I found myself closing off to deeper discussions with friends and loved ones as I filled every moment of boredom with checking my phone. Talking to my friends and the team, they felt the same way I did.

“I found myself closing off to deeper discussions with friends and loved ones as I filled every moment of boredom with checking my phone.”

Seeing how this was changing the way we spent time with our loved ones, we searched for answers and realized that it wasn’t just us—it was happening everywhere—and even as we caught up with current events, our friends’ vacations and Snapchat stories, we didn’t feel any more connected. In fact, we may feel like we’re missing out. Eric Klinenberg from the New York Times might have put it best:

“A decade ago, companies like Facebook, Apple and Google pledged that their products would help create meaningful relationships and communities. Instead, we’ve used the media system to deepen existing divisions, at both the individual and group levels. We may have thousands of ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ on Facebook and Instagram, but when it comes to human relationships, it turns out there’s no substitute for building them the old-fashioned way, in person⁸.”

If we as adults feel this way, what happens when we expose our kids to this alluring media at such an impressionable age—and with the pervasiveness of this technology, how can we shield them from it until they’re ready?

To forge healthier relationships with technology, the technology itself needs to change⁹. We rose to that challenge, watching the way technology evolved and keeping an eye on voice and voice-first products. Watching our kids talk to Alexa and Google Home was inspirational. They could play their favorite songs and interact with the smart assistant in a way that was fun and natural. So we started designing around that premise.

We began this journey over three years ago, working with talented, hardworking people to research, prototype, and build a new device—one that was rugged and portable for on-the-go play, high-tech and perfectly simple to use with voice. And we left off the screen.

That idea became Relay. Relay helps families stay connected in a safe and fun way. It has all the range, reliability, and technology that you love about your smartphone with 4G LTE and WiFi. You can keep an eye out from an empowering distance with optional GPS tracking via the Relay companion app. And without the screen, it cuts out all of the risks we were talking about earlier—it keeps kids connected without exposing them to apps, internet, or screens.

Though it uses technology similar to a smartphone, Relay works a lot like a walkie-talkie. The push-to-talk button makes getting in touch simple, both with other Relays and smartphones. With Relay, you don’t have to choose between safety and freedom, because that’s not fair to any family.

We’ve talked to a few parents about Relay, and here’s what they had to say:

“I like that there is nothing that can be distracting on this product. I do not want her going outside to play only to be using another screen. I want her to enjoy the outdoors as I did when I was a kid.”
“This is a great way to give your children their independence while ensuring their safety.”
“I would love the courage and protection this would offer my child in attaining independence safely. This device would help me loosen the reins a bit.”

Like we said earlier, we’re not here to tell you what to do. We’re here to offer solutions—first as fellow parents, second as neighbors, third as the tech people who can get the job done. We believe that everyone can stay balanced and connected, and we’re here to help.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out via the Relay Facebook page or within our online forum for Relay called the Neighborhood.

About the author:

Jon heads up the Marketing and Product Teams for Relay and Republic Wireless and is a father of two. He saw how much his sons loved using Relay, and has been working hard ever since to give kids everywhere that same opportunity for fun, independence, and safety. “On Halloween night, they were racing around the neighborhood while checking in with me on their Relay, mostly about the type of candy they’d just picked up… The next morning, they were asking for their candy—and their Relays!”

Sources:

^1-2 Nationally representative online survey of 1,369 U.S. adults conducted by Republic Wireless; February 2018

^3-5 Nationally representative online survey of 1,270 U.S. parents of kids aged 6-11 conducted by Republic Wireless; November 2017

⁶ Screen Media Exposure and Obesity in Children and Adolescents; Thomas N. Robinson, Jorge A. Banda, Lauren Hale, Amy Shirong Lu, Frances Fleming-Milici, Sandra L. Calvert, Ellen Wartella; Pediatrics Nov 2017, 140 (Supplement 2) S97-S101; DOI:10.1542/peds.2016-1758K

⁷ Digital Media and Sleep in Childhood and Adolescence; Monique K. LeBourgeois, Lauren Hale, Anne-Marie Chang, Lameese D. Akacem, Hawley E. Montgomery-Downs, Orfeu M. Buxton; Pediatrics Nov 2017, 140 (Supplement 2) S92-S96; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2016-1758J

⁸ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/opinion/sunday/loneliness-health.html

⁹ https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/02/05/579554273/screen-addiction-among-teens-is-there-such-a-thing

Child sitting at the top of stairs holding an outstretched rainbow-colored Slinkie

10 ideas to reduce screen time and inspire unplugged play

April 3, 2018/in Play Unplugged

“Alright, time to put down the screen for today.” It’s a sentence that strikes fear into the hearts of children around the world. As parents and caregivers, we’ve all seen our children’s eyes roll and heard their sighs when we put the kapush on screen time. We’ve seen their little hands thrown up in exasperation and have maybe even been on the receiving end of a temper tantrum. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can reduce your child’s dependency on screen time and encourage unplugged play by creating areas dedicated to unplugged play throughout your home. Reducing the amount of time your kids spend on screens can be a challenging process—for both parents and kids—but the effort is worth it in the long run. Increased screen time is associated with less family time, lower grades, difficulty in falling asleep, and social-emotional volatility.¹ There is no single silver bullet. Effectively reducing your children’s screen time requires a holistic approach and a host of methods ranging from reorienting our perceptions around screen time to environmental changes. Environmental changes can include turning off “background TV,” limiting screen use at the dinner table, and today’s topic: promoting screenless play through the introduction of unplugged play stations throughout the home.

“Unstructured play can strengthen the brain’s ability to plan, make decisions, shift between tasks, as well as to control thoughts, feelings, and actions.”²

With a few small changes, you can make it easier for your child to find his or her next activity once it’s time to power off the screen. It will build their confidence to know there are other fun things to do besides watching shows, YouTube videos or playing video games. And you can feel secure knowing that once your child can independently find entertainment, they will be better prepared to navigate the world throughout childhood and adulthood. Research shows that unstructured play can strengthen the brain’s ability to plan, make decisions, shift between tasks, as well as to control thoughts, feelings, and actions.² Free play is the mind’s way of preparing for all of the new and unexpected things that happen in life. Exercising that frontal cortex helps kids learn to adapt to life’s changes in a well-adjusted way as well as stay entertained during the day!

Make it easy for your child to “bump” into unstructured play.

Unstructured play is by definition self-directed by the child. It’s supposed to be fun and it’s supposed to be their idea. But what if you have to pry the tablet or phone out of your child’s protesting hands when screen time’s up? What if your child has no interest in battling boredom outside of glowing-screen-land? While no one can make kids engage in unstructured play (that would make it a structured activity!) there are steps you can take to encourage it. To ease the transition from screen time to engaged playtime, you can make it easy for your child to “bump” into activities by setting up stations throughout your house dedicated to unstructured play. It’s hard to be bored when engaging activities are begging to be colored, built, and repurposed everywhere you look. When you make unplugged play easy to encounter around the house, kids can strengthen their independent play muscles and maybe even forget why they were so hung up on screen time in the first place.

“It’s hard to be bored when engaging activities are begging to be colored, built, and repurposed everywhere you look.”

It doesn’t have to cost a fortune either. Similar to the “shopping your closet” mentality, rethink your house as a playground. All of a sudden, seemingly mundane items can become a wonderland for exploration.

10 ideas to reduce screen time and inspire unplugged play:

1) Turn your bathtub into a top-secret lab.

Using everyday household items such as plastic containers, bubbles, and food coloring, your child can stay busy while seriously flexing their imagination muscles. Keeping this activity contained to the bathtub helps with cleanup and prevents stains on carpets and furniture. Remember: don’t drink the concoctions!

2) Give your kids their own dedicated supply drawer.

Make age-appropriate materials readily available to enable hours worth of unstructured play. We suggest a short list of must-haves:

Masking Tape
Colored Felt
Pipe Cleaners
Paper Clips
Large alligator clips
Rulers
Shape Tracers
Child-friendly pencil sharpener
Erasers
Colored Pencils
Crayons
Paper (all sizes, colors, styles)
Washable Glue Sticks
Age-appropriate scissors

With these and other tools, kids can make cardboard forts, temporary racetracks on the floor, and all manner of creative contraptions and artistic endeavors. Their only limit is their imagination.

3) Roll out a big sheet of paper now and then.

Maybe it’s just us, but for some reason, it’s impossible to resist coloring on the table when restaurants provide crayons and a paper tablecloth. Now and then, give your kids the same joy at home, or better yet, screw a large paper roll dispenser to the wall and let them pull off sheets at their whim.

Looking for a bigger canvas for your kid? Get inspired with chalkboard wall ideas!

4) Set up a writing and drawing station.

Find a flat surface in your home that your kids can use at their leisure to compose stories or draw pictures. This can be a desk, a countertop, a deep shelf hung at standing or sitting height, an activity table, or even a hard floor surface. Try stocking it with books showing how to draw figures and how to construct a storyline. Make sure paper, pencils (and a pencil sharpener!), erasers, crayons, and colored pencils are close by. If you don’t have a space you can dedicate full-time, grab a shoe box, bag, or storage tote to create a portable writing and drawing activity kit that your child can easily carry to a flat surface.

5) Re-think what you’re throwing away or recycling each week.

A water bottle can be used to build a tall tower or turned into a tornado maker. Paper plates can become a spiral marble track and cardboard boxes can take on hundreds of different applications, limited only by your kids’ imaginations. Used streamer leftover from parties can become a fantastic grass skirt or a portal to another universe. Set these materials aside in an extra laundry hamper or storage tote so your kids can grab them whenever inspiration strikes. Masking tape is a must-have to enable construction, so make sure to keep a roll or two easily accessible.

6) Help your kids reflect on the world around them.

Enable regular observations of the surrounding world by keeping things like telescopes, binoculars, and sketch pads at-the-ready near windows that have good views of the outside. Whatever the view, woods, a city or neighborhood street, a parking lot, or a backyard, kids can use this as a way to reflect on the world around them and process their environment. It also doesn’t hurt to keep a box full of dramatic play outfits in the closet to make for easy wardrobe changes 😉

7) Create a vertical play center.

If you’ve got empty wall space, get the most out of your square footage by mounting a play center right on the wall. A vertical play area can allow for hours of fun without taking up much space (and helps to keep the toys off the floor!) Save money by scouring thrift stores for second-hand shelving or grab some inexpensive wooden boards and metal brackets from your local hardware store. Pro-tip: Hardware stores will even cut the boards to your specifications. We created a play center focused around Legos*. The top shelves are less deep and are used to display finished builds. The bottom standing-height shelf is deeper, allowing plenty of space to spread out and build. You could use this same setup to play make believe with small dolls or figurines, to display any type of collection, to play with toy cars, or a number of other activities.

8) Carve out a reading nook.

Encourage reading by turning quiet corners into book nooks. A book basket and a soft blanket can be all that it takes to inspire your child to get in a few chapters on a regular basis. Try a floor pouf, beanbag chair, bench, window seat, or kids teepee tent to create a sense of relaxation and focus. Don’t forget a bright reading light!

9) Keep a Slinky nearby.

The Slinky** is an iconic toy that has stood the test of time for good reason: it can perform cool tricks. Kids can experience first-hand various concepts of physics like levitation, gravity, equilibrium, and oscillation. When combined with a structured age-appropriate physics lesson from a parent or caregiver, unstructured play with a Slinky can result in a greater understanding of the world’s physical forces. In general, Slinkies and other spatial learning toys offer fantastic learning opportunities for kids to discover naturally through self-directed play. Make sure to try it on the stairs!

10) Save those cardboard boxes!

Cardboard boxes hold a wealth of possibility in the hands of a child. They can become secret hideout forts, princess castles, a spaceship, a network of underground tunnels, or anything your child can dream up. The details are what matter when transforming plain cardboard to an afternoon filled with adventure, so encourage your child to add the details that will bring it to life for them. That may be a moat for a castle, “danger” signs for a secret fort, or a control panel and windshield for a spaceship. Keeping materials such as markers, crayons, and masking tape around will enable your child to follow their imagination independently.

Get more cardboard box fort ideas!

Fair warning: All of these unplugged play stations can have a “tornado effect,” where you end up with multiple little messes strewn around the house instead of one big one. These little messes are evidence of experiential learning, a testament to your child dutifully following their imagination. We’re not saying that they should have immunity to cleaning duty—your child still needs to be responsible for putting the toys away. But walking into the messy play space doesn’t have to be a mood-killer. With the right mindset, seeing a trail of toys can be a joyful, celebratory moment. Try asking your child to walk you through the journey they took that day. Celebrate their play—and then tell them to clean it up 🙂

“When we take the training wheels off of playtime by turning off the screens, our children can experience the independence and joy of pedaling their imaginations to new and exciting places.”

As Dr. Peter Grey, PhD states in his Psychology Today article, The Decline of Play and Rise in Children’s Mental Disorders, “Free play and exploration are, historically, the means by which children learn to solve their own problems, control their own lives, develop their own interests, and become competent in pursuit of their own interests.” When we take the training wheels off of playtime by turning off the screens, our children can experience the independence and joy of pedaling their imaginations to new and exciting places. And when those places are easy to find, they can spend more time discovering who they are, what they love to do, and just being a kid.

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About the author: MK works on the Marketing team for Relay and Republic Wireless. Her son (featured in the photos) has been testing Relay for close to a year. After a scary experience with not being able to find her son and the neighbors’ children in her neighborhood, MK vowed to find a solution that would provide more peace of mind for her while still allowing her son to play freely with the neighborhood kids. With Relay, she now feels comfortable letting her son go beyond the front yard to play. “The level of freedom and responsibility he feels now is similar to how a sixteen year old feels when getting their first car. It’s made a huge difference in our lives. I’m so proud to help bring Relay, a product my family uses and loves, to market.” Sources: ¹Pressman, R.M., Owens, J.A., Evans, A.S., Nemon, M.L. (2014). Examining the Interface of Family and Personal Traits, Media, and Academic Imperatives Using the Learning Habit Study. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 00:1-17 ^2-3Barker, J.E., Semenov, A. D., Michaelson, L., Provan, L.S., Snyder, H.R., Munakata, Y. (2014). Less-structured time in children’s daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning. Frontiers in Psychology *LEGO is a trademark and/or copyright of the LEGO Group. ©2018 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved. **Slinky is a trademark of POOF-SLINKY, LLC . All rights reserved.