Chronicle Books - 52 Alternatives to Screen Time

52 Alternatives to Screen Time.

Copyright 2021 by Chronicle Books LLC.

Based on 52 Alternatives to TV by Lynn Gordon, originally published in 1996 by Chronicle Books LLC.

Illustrations by Cat Grishaver.

All rights reserved. No part of this deck may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-7972-1235-7 (epub, mobi)
ISBN 978-1-7972-1234-0 (deck)

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

Materials:

• Plastic or unbreakable cups
• Table tennis balls or pieces of balled-up paper
• Large spoons

Clear a space on the floor to set up your miniature golf course. Lay 5 cups on their sides as far away from each other as you can. These will be the holes to aim for. Decide on the order of the holes and what path to take between them. Then everyone takes turns hitting their ball with the golf club spoon. Keep track of how many spoon swings it takes each person to get through the course.

Materials:

• Clay or other sculptable material
• Table/clothing covering

Get a big block of clay or make your own. Cover a table with newspaper or drop cloths, and put on an old shirt in preparation for getting elbow deep in clay. Sculpt an image of your friend or family member, or try building a sculpture together.

Someone names an animal and the next person names an animal that starts with the last letter of that name. So if you said elephant, the next person might say tiger, and the next person rabbit. Take turns saying animals, without repeating any, until someone cant think of another one. The last person left gets to pick the next category (countries, peoples names, etc.).

Materials:

• An airtight container or a box with a tight-fitting lid
• Meaningful family items

Find an old container with a tight- fitting lid to turn into your family time capsule. Collect things to put into it that describe your family. Ask everyone to contribute something (a recent photo, a drawing, a favorite magazine). Include a family fact sheet. If you have pets, list them too. Then put the date on the lid and hide your capsule at the back of the garage, attic, or cupboardor bury it where no one will find it for a long time.

Materials:

• Paper
• Crayons or pencils

Make a house rubbing by placing a piece of paper over hard, textured surfaces (brick, tile, wood floor) and rubbing over the paper with a crayon or the side of the pencil lead. Try to find as many different textures as you can. See if anyone can guess which surfaces are featured in your rubbing. When youre done, save your sheet of house rubbings and use it for wrapping paper.

Materials:

• Paper
• Pens or pencils
• Household items

Make up a scavenger hunt in your own home by exchanging lists of items to search for, uncover, and discover around the house. Things to find can be as simple (a fork, a paper clip) or as complicated (a hidden toy, a 2009 penny) as you like. The fastest hunter gets to choose what to have for dinner.

Materials:

• Flashlights

Pretend theres been a power outage. What can you do that doesnt need electricity? Keep the lights turned off, dont use any appliances, and see how many electric conveniences we take for granted. When the sun goes down, use flashlights. You can pretend you are camping and tell scary stories or just read by flashlight.

Materials:

• Favorite books

With a group of friends or your family, take turns reading a story. Choose books that you are reading now, or books that were your favorites when you were younger. If you have a book with lots of characters in it, each person can read a different character or take turns reading a couple of pages.

Materials:

• Old socks
• Needle and thread
• Buttons
• Glue
• Markers

Turn an old sock into a puppet for your foot. Sew, glue, or draw a face at the toe end of the sock. You can use buttons for eyes and ears. Put your sock on your foot and make the puppet talk by wiggling your toes. If you have 2 socks, you can make a different puppet character for each foot, and put on a foot-y puppet show.

Materials:

• Old photos or magazine pictures
• Glue or tape
• Paper
• Pens or pencils

Find some old photos of people that you can cut up or pictures from magazines. Then carefully cut around a persons head and glue or tape it onto a piece of paper. Now draw a wacky body below the head to give the person a new look. You can also cut out the bodies of famous people from old magazines and mix and match them with the heads from the photos.

Materials:

• Paper
• Pens or pencils

Draw 25 dots in a 5-by-5 grid on a piece of paper. Grab a friend and take turns drawing a line between 2 dots anywhere in the grid. The object of the game is to complete as many boxes as possible while preventing the other person from completing boxes. If you draw a line that joins up the last side of a square to form a box, write your initials inside, then have another turn. When the whole grid has been turned into boxes, count up how many boxes you each have.