15/10/2025
Love this 💜
In some families, it works to have no particular rules about screen time.
In other families, it works better to have a specific set time of day, or day of week, or amount of time that screen time is allowed.
But what if your child is passionately interested in something that is easiest accessed through a screen? A video game character, a story in a movie, or a series of shows?
I always want to lean in to the things that my kids love passionately. This post is not about me judging whether you do or do not limit screens, access to a show, or particular game.
This post is about creative ways to engage an interest other than the main, “obvious” way (i.e., playing the game or watching the show). I’m not here to tell you why you should or shouldn’t do that. Maybe you have a screen time limit, maybe the thing your kid loves was picked up through cultural consciousness but isn’t age-appropriate, maybe the thing your kid loves is really annoying to you and sometimes you want a short break from it.
Or, maybe you have no problem with your kid engaging with the screen interest as much as they want! But just because of sheer delight, you want to expand their access to play that incorporates the thing they love, for them to pick up on if they want to.
So here are some additional ideas of ways that a special interest can be brought out into the physical world, or also, accessed through screens in a different way. Not all of them will apply to all cases, but hopefully they give you some launching-off places for ideas!
-Play with stuffies or action figures that are of the character in the special interest. (Can even act out scenes!)
-Collect or make clothes about the special interest. You could draw a T-shirt with fabric markers or paint on white shoes, for example. Clothes are a great way to connect with other fans of the interest or to spark conversation about something you’re knowledgeable or proud of.
-Color coloring sheets about the interest, or draw pictures of it. You could also draw comics or cartoons, perhaps retelling the story of a part of it that you really like, or imagining and creating a new story. You can even combine two things you love (like what if Sonic met Pikachu or what if Elsa went to space?)
-Get stickers of the special interest and wear them, or put them on paper, or in a special notebook.
-Check to see whether the special interest has books, graphic novels, novelizations, etc. There are a lot of them out there.
-You could also create your own book. Writing by hand on paper is one way to do it. Typing is another way to do it. Using a slideshow app like Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Keynote lets you easily make different pages that you can use to tell a sentence on each page about the story, add pictures, and then easily print out into a book.
-Look up whether there is a board game about the special interest. (Like all board games, it doesn’t matter if you play it by the rules or not! Sometimes it’s fun to just play with the components of a board game. Other times it’s fun to follow the whole rules.)
-Make a board game about it. For the simplest option, lay out a big piece of cardboard, draw a path from start to finish, and create characters who roll dice and have to get to the end. To get more complex, the characters could have special powers related to what they do in the show/game/etc, or cards or tokens that can be traded for different things.
-Tell someone all about it! Find a willing friend, family member, or peer who’s interested in the same thing or just willing to happily listen to you share enthusiastically, even if they don’t understand. Grandparents can sometimes be good for this. Tell them everything you can think of about the thing you love.
-Record a video of yourself talking about the thing you love, or acting it out. If you have friends who love the same thing, you could record a movie of you all acting it out together.
-Text someone you love about it, or email them. This gives you the chance to infodump but more slowly and intentionally, so you have time to think about what you want to say. This also gives the other person a chance to respond more slowly and intentionally. This also spreads out the excitement over time.
-Make a list of things about it. This could be anything! A list of scenes you like in the show, a list of characters’ names in the game, a list of statistics about the game, a ranked list of which character would beat which in a fight, a list of accomplishments you want to achieve in the game, a list of what you would change if you made the movie…
-Use it as a vehicle for another activity. For example, unscrambling words that spell out characters’ names in the game, or doing an obstacle course while pretending to be a character from the show. (This should always be with the enthusiasm of the child; some children balk at having the thing they love forcibly inserted into academic tasks or things they hate, like, “don’t blend the two!”)
-Join a fan group about it, or start one. You might be surprised how many friends you can make who love the same thing as you. This is obviously back on a screen, but there may be online groups who meet by Zoom or chat by text, too.
-Go to a convention about it, or a general nerd or gaming convention and represent the thing you love.
-Make a costume of a character you love or that represents some part of what you love about the thing.
-Research information about the thing: perhaps there is something historically related about the thing, or scientific concepts in it to explore. Maybe the thing takes place in a real location in the world and you could learn about that location. Maybe some aspect of the thing exists and you could visit or take a trip to it. Maybe you could watch a “how it’s made” video about the thing or read an encyclopedia and learn more about it.
-Listen to the soundtrack from the interest, or make a playlist that reminds you of the interest or incorporates music that comes from or is like the interest. (As an example with one from my kid -- Lilo & Stitch -- there is music in the background of the movies and show; there's the obvious theme song and movies from the soundtrack itself; then there's also branching out to explore Hawaiian music at large, music by Elvis [who Lilo likes to listen to in the movie], etc.)
These are some that I can think of! Are there any that you can think of that I didn’t say, or that you’ve tried in your family or for yourself?
[Image description:
Four toilet paper tubes with the family from Bluey drawn on them by my child. Two blue dogs, two orange dogs. They are very cute childish drawings -- big bubble bodies, giant smiles, and an inconsistent amount of limbs. In the background are lots of markers lying on the floor. End description.]
