For parents
Screen Time for Young Children: A Sensible Middle
We run a site of games for small children, so we owe parents a straight answer about screens. What the guidance says, and what we would do.
It may seem odd for a website full of games for small children to write about limiting screen time. We think it would be odder not to. If you are letting your child use StarSlate, you are entitled to know what we think about how much is sensible.
The short version: a little, with you beside them, as one small part of a day that is mostly something else.
What the main guidance says
Two sets of recommendations are quoted most often.
The World Health Organization published guidelines in 2019 for children under five. For one-year-olds it recommends no sedentary screen time. For two-year-olds, no more than an hour a day, and less is better. For three and four year olds, the same: no more than an hour, and less is better. The guidelines are mainly about physical activity and sleep, and screens come into it because time sitting still is time not spent moving.
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that for children aged two to five, screen use should be limited to about an hour a day of high-quality programming, and that parents should watch or play alongside and talk about what is on the screen. For older children it suggests consistent limits that leave room for sleep, exercise and time together.
Guidance in other countries differs in the detail. Some bodies prefer not to set a number at all and ask families to judge whether screens are getting in the way of sleep, play and conversation.
What the advice has in common
The exact figures vary. The shape of the advice does not.
- Less for younger children.
- What is on the screen matters. Something calm and well made is not the same as a stream of fast clips.
- An adult alongside makes a large difference.
- Protect sleep. No screens in the run-up to bedtime.
- Protect play and movement. The concern is less the screen than what it replaces.
Why an adult alongside matters so much
Young children learn mostly from people. They learn words by having conversations. They learn numbers by counting things with someone who cares whether they get it right.
A game cannot do that. It can ask, "How many?" It cannot notice that your child counted the same apple twice, or say "You nearly had it, try pointing."
With you there, the same two minutes change completely. You read the question aloud. You ask how they knew. You say "Six stars, well done" and then count six spoons at dinner. The game becomes something to talk about, and that is where the learning is.
How we built the site with this in mind
We made some deliberate choices.
Every game is short. Eight questions, two or three minutes. A game ends, and there is a natural place to stop.
Nothing pulls a child on. There is no autoplay into the next game, no daily reward for coming back, no streak to protect.
It is calm. A plain board, large buttons, no flashing and no sound.
Nothing is collected. There are no accounts. The star chart is kept in the browser on your device.
Every game has notes for you, with ideas for carrying the learning on away from the screen. We would rather you spent two minutes on the game and ten on the idea underneath it.
A way to use it
This is what we would suggest for a child of four or five.
- Choose one game together. One, not five.
- Sit beside them. Read the questions aloud if needed.
- Play one round, perhaps two.
- Close it and do the real version. Count something. Find a shape. Look at the clock.
Ten minutes, at most, and not every day.
Signs that it is too much
Numbers are a guide. Your child is a better one. Screens are probably taking too much room if:
- Stopping regularly causes a row.
- Your child asks for the device as the first answer to boredom.
- It is cutting into sleep, meals or outdoor play.
- You are using it more to keep the peace than because it is useful.
Every parent uses a screen to get through a hard half hour sometimes. That is life, and nobody should feel guilty about it. The thing to watch is the pattern over weeks.
Our honest position
HTML5 games like ours are a small extra. They are good for quick practice of something a child has already begun to understand. They are not a way to teach a child to count or read, and they are no substitute for bricks, books, mud and conversation.
If your child's day is full of those, a few minutes here will do no harm and may do some good. If you ever have to choose between a game and a walk to the shop where you count the lamp posts, choose the walk.