In today’s world, electronic screens are everywhere — from TVs and smartphones to tablets and games consoles. Even our youngest children are growing up in increasingly digital environments. While technology brings many conveniences, intentionally unplugging can offer profound benefits for little ones and their families. Whether it’s for a day, a weekend, a holiday, or even longer, the value gained from a ‘digital detox’ may surprise even the most dubious amongst us. Today’s post investigates.
What Science Tells Us
Research consistently shows the positive effects of stepping away from our screens. Studies report that a digital detox can lead to decreased stress and anxiety, improved mood and well-being, and even better physical health through healthier, less sedentary, lifestyles. Pausing the use of electronic screens can even help reset our perception of time, making days feel longer, fuller, and more engaged.
For children, excessive screen use, especially before bedtime, can disrupt sleep. This is caused by electronic screens interfering with natural melatonin production, leading to delayed sleep onset and poor quality rest. It can also slow language development and impair attention, particularly for children under five, whose brains are undergoing rapid early development. In one study, toddlers watching three hours of TV a day were three times more likely to experience language delays and weaker school readiness skills.
The results from combined studies indicate that children who reduce screen time show fewer emotional difficulties, improved social behaviour, and greater prosocial tendencies including kindness and cooperation. In another real-world experiment, teens who took a 48-hour smartphone break noticed better sleep, more outdoor activity and stronger family interactions.
Learn more about the science of ‘green time vs. screen time’ here.
Why It Matters for Families
When families go screen-free, the benefits extend well beyond the individual. Removing screens often rekindles face-to-face interactions and facilitates more laughter and unfiltered conversations within the family. Parents who’ve tried it report a renewed sense of connection and deeper engagement with their children. Even short periods of unplugging can turn into lasting changes—more shared stories, more creative play, and more real presence.
Outdoor time plays a huge role too. Whether it’s a neighbourhood walk, a garden adventure, or imaginative forest-based play, nature helps cultivate curiosity, resilience and emotional regulation. Studies suggest that just 20 minutes spent in nature can make children significantly happier and help them learn to cooperate and handle challenges — all skills rarely honed by flicking through a screen. Similarly, nature-rich breaks support mental health and reduce the pull of addictive screen use. Studies found that even a view of a natural green space can enhance academic focus and grades — incredible! Learn more about how spending time closer to nature benefits children here.
Children’s emotional intelligence also deepens with the absence of screens as it encourages them to observe and interpret others’ feelings. For example, in a five-day unplugged camp, participants improved significantly in their ability to recognise emotional expressions, unlike peers who continued using devices.
Benefits Families Are Likely to Notice
After just one screen-free day, many families may notice:
Better sleep for everyone with children tending to drop off more easily and adults feeling more rested.- Evenings that are likely to feel longer and more relaxed.
- Greater spontaneity and creativity as children talk, play, read, draw, and excitedly ask “What shall we do next?”
- Enhanced awareness of each other’s company, with siblings rediscovering play together and children becoming more attentive to parents.
- A pleasant atmosphere overall and a likely boost to everyone’s mood.
Better sleep for everyone with children tending to drop off more easily and adults feeling more rested.Possible Challenges & Their Solutions
Of course, removing electronic screens may not always be easy, especially at first. Families trying a digital detox may face some potential challenges. If so, there are gentle ways to manage them.
If children are resistant to the idea or complain that it’s going to be boring without electronic screens, try re-framing the break as an adventure rather than a restriction. Invite children to suggest activities — let them decide during the detox. Try presenting it as a shared family challenge rather than a rule.
Adults may worry about missing their devices too. However, parents modelling the detox by putting their own phones away will help children accept it too.
There is also the potential fear of missing out (FOMO) without access to electronic devices and social connections — particularly for older children. However, explaining that it’s just for a short time will help achieve acceptance of the idea. Acknowledge the temporary interference and encourage children to choose family connection and creativity first — it will help families stay on track.
There is the potential of failure if preparations have not been made before starting. So, in readiness, it’s advisable to prepare a list of screen-free ideas so the family can hit the ground running when they begin their digital detox (see suggestion #3 below).
How to Introduce a Detox Gently & Keep It Fun
Here are some tips to help ease families into a digital detox and set them up for success:
- Begin by designating screen-free boundaries, such as bedrooms or mealtimes, and/or set a daily screen-free hour in the evening.
- Get children to buy into the idea by inviting them to help set the rules. Ask them “When are screens off?” and “What happens then?” They can be nudged in the right direction through discussion and helpful suggestions if they’re unsure.
- Plan those entertaining and engrossing alternatives together. Screen-free ideas could include reading together, making simple crafts, telling stories, going outdoors, cooking, playing music, dancing and fitness sessions, baking together, garden safaris, yoga sessions, board games — and so on.
- Celebrate small wins! For example, point out how much deeper and more restful sleep is, or how much more chatter there is at the breakfast table.
- Once screen-free moments become familiar, try graduating your family to a screen-free weekend or even a full holiday. Many families describe these as revelatory with any initial frustrations soon giving way to something deeper and more rewarding.
Begin by designating screen-free boundaries, such as bedrooms or mealtimes, and/or set a daily screen-free hour in the evening.Final Thoughts
The evidence clearly shows: families who have periods free of electronic screens will benefit. A digital detox enriches and elongates days. It enhances sleep quality for children and adults by facilitating their natural rhythms. Days feel more spacious and calm without digital distractions and imaginative play soon steps in and thrives. In the absence of screens, children are also likely to get outdoors more often — and benefit from everything nature and outdoor play have to offer. Mental health and even academic grades are also likely to improve when this happens.
A digital detox isn’t about rejecting technology, though, as it has its place; it’s more about creating balance and discovering what’s been hidden. For example, deeper conversations, creative play, richer bonds, and nourishing rest. Whether it’s a screen-free Sunday, a tech-free teatime, or a weekend getaway without devices, these breaks can evolve into high-quality, cherished family time. Although at its heart a digital detox is the most simple of concepts, it’s likely to enhance family life in profound ways, whether for an afternoon or longer term.
With all that in mind, why not invite your child(ren) to get started by trying a screen-free afternoon this weekend? It could be the first step towards more fun, enhanced well-being, greater fulfilment and more genuine togetherness.
A Nursery Place for Your Child in Streatham
Today’s post was brought to you by Little Cedars Nursery, a highly-popular childcare provider in Streatham, close to Streatham Hill and Streatham Common. Catering for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers under five, it offers high-quality weekday childcare virtually all year round and has a great Ofsted rating. We also support funded childcare places for eligible children as young as just 9 months of age. Families living in Tooting, Furzedown, Balham, Norbury and Colliers Wood may also find Little Cedars Nursery convenient.
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Summer is in full swing from late June until late September*. It’s a wonderful season that brings with it many amazing things for children and families to look out for in nature. Indeed, that’s what today’s suggested activity is all about. We’ve created a free-to-download poster that highlights 20 things from nature that children, including under-fives, can look out for when they’re outdoors†. Whether it’s in gardens, on walks with family members, at the park, or out in the countryside, summer’s natural wonders are incredibly abundant when you take time to look.
With warmer weather and plants and trees flourishing wherever we look, it got us thinking about some creative children’s activities, inspired by nature. One simple starting point is the humble leaf, which can lend itself to a surprisingly wide range of creative activities for children to enjoy. Such activities will not only draw children’s attention to 
The first thing children will need is, of course, a selection of suitable leaves. To give them enough scope for a wide range of creative activities, we suggest families forage a variety of different sizes and shapes. We suggest focusing primarily on tree leaves as these are likely to be fairly robust, come in lots of different forms, and often have well-defined ‘vein’ structures. Oak leaves, sycamore, beech, hawthorn, horse chestnut, lime, sweet chestnut and silver birch would represent a nicely varied selection, for example. Download our 
One of the most straightforward activities using leaves is for children to simply paint them. The youngest will love painting one side of each leaf in a different colour — or even adorn them with patterns like spots, zigzags, hearts, and stripes. Once the paint is dry, the leaves can be used in a variety of different ways. For example, they could be glued into an attractive design on a sheet of paper/card and displayed in a frame, made into a garland for the wall, bunched together to form an attractive hand-held fan, glued to a circle of paper or card to form an attractive crown, or glued to an upturned stick or tree sprig to represent a colourful tree. These are just a few ways they can be used once painted and, indeed, coming up with ideas is all part of the fun and creativity for children!
Collages made from leaves can also be very easy for children to accomplish; they just need a base card or paper, child-safe glue, some leaves and perhaps some flowers too. Ideally, leaves should be flat and, even better, dried. This can be achieved through pressing, which is explained later. For added beauty, add fresh or pressed flowers of different colours too — perhaps even other items like stars and glitter. Children can then gradually build up an attractive design (rather like organic wallpaper) or a simple picture like our example. It will result in a fascinating piece of leaf and flower art that can be displayed in the home — something for children to be proud of!
A freshly painted leaf can also be used to make leaf prints. When the paint is still very wet, children should simply turn their leaves over and press all areas of them against a sheet of paper or card. Doing this by hand is OK but if you have a roller, even better! In this way, the paint is transferred to the sheet and will typically show the leaf shape and all the structural veins of the donor leaf. And, by repeating the process with one or more leaves and colours, a design or picture can be gradually built up on the sheet. This might be as simple as a repeat pattern or as complex as a pictorial scene. By adding other media like painted or drawn lines, leaf prints could, for example, represent a forest on a hillside. Add little figures of people and perhaps little dogs underneath each ‘tree’ and it’ll start to come to life!
A leaf-rubbing activity is also fun and intriguing for little ones. Find a flat surface like a table or rigid sketch pad and place a thin sheet of paper over one or more leaves. By rubbing a thick wax crayon, charcoal stick, or soft-leaded pencil repeatedly over the sheet where there is an underlying leaf, the leaf’s form will gradually reveal itself. Children will be able to see the structural veins that form the leaf, along with leaf edges as they scribble. Children can experiment with different media, colours, and types of leaves to get different creative results.
eaves and small, non-bulky flowers can be dried and flattened through the process of pressing. All that’s needed is the leaves and flowers and a thick book of paper sheets — a large sketch pad is perfect or, alternatively, sheets of unprinted newsprint or blotting paper. Manually place single flowers and leaves between the leaves of the paper and then place something large, flat, and heavy over the entire thing and leave it for anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. How long will depend on the type of leaves and flowers involved (and how dry and flat they were to begin with). Once ready, the flowers and leaves will be thin and dry, ready to use. They could, for example, be used individually as mementoes or bookmarks, or assembled with glue into ‘pictures’ via a collage, as explained earlier.
Another creative activity involving leaves is simply to represent them in pencil, paint, or other media of a child’s choice. Encourage them to look carefully at the leaf’s shape and detail, so they can try to mimic them in drawn or painted form. Drawing and painting are highly useful skills for children to develop and mastering such skills will prove useful throughout their educational years. If you, as a parent, are good at drawing or painting, perhaps join in the activity too. By doing so, you can show your child what is possible with some close attention to detail and carefully placed lines and strokes. As you build up your own picture, perhaps explain how you are achieving the results, so they can learn from your approach. And — who knows — perhaps you’ll discover that you have a budding artist in the family!
Whether dried, painted, or simply picked as they are, leaves can also be made into other objects, characters, and so on. Some leaves can look like other items, for example, a particular type of tree (the Tulip Tree a.k.a. Yellow-Poplar) has individual leaves shaped rather like t-shirts! Children could look out for these and perhaps paint them in their favourite football team’s colours, draw in legs, arms and a head to make people and — hey presto — they’ve created a person! Similarly, there are several leaves shaped like hearts which, once painted in a suitable colour, can be useful when making greetings cards for birthdays or Valentine’s Day.
Another example of how leaves can represent other things can be illustrated by simple leaves like beech leaves. Each of these looks rather like the shape of a classic flower petal. So, perhaps a child can be encouraged to fan several around in a circle, almost tip to tip, to look like a big flower head. Children can paint the circle in the middle or glue a circle of coloured paper or wool there to represent the centre of the flower. And, if they start with a paper large enough, they could create several of these and make a picture of multiple flowers made of leaves. Use thin twigs, wool, or drawn crayon lines for stems and perhaps longer, thinner leaves to make the flowers’ leaves.
The activity ideas above are just a starting point and there are plenty more that are possible with leaves. Whether it’s dried leaves painted, glued and varnished onto pebbles to form paperweights, dried leaves gently sprayed with perfume to form pot-pourri, or suspended leaves that form a mobile, the possibilities for leaf art are almost endless! We hope our ideas today inspire children to use their imaginations and make some beautiful creations — all with simple, humble leaves.
In addition to being fun and creative, these activities all support the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum for under-fives. EYFS areas supported by the activities include:
Families: get ready for World Wildlife Day! On 3rd March each year, we celebrate UN World Wildlife Day, an important event that is all about protecting nature’s flora and fauna. At nursery age, little ones are naturally curious and eager to learn more about the world around them. World Wildlife Day is therefore the perfect opportunity to inspire a greater love for nature and wildlife in our young. Exploring the wonders of plants, trees, and the animal kingdom teaches them more about the world and also helps children develop key skills like language, creativity, and empathy. Whether through outdoor play or wildlife-themed activities, engaging with nature’s wildlife can therefore create valuable early learning experiences. With that in mind, today’s post outlines some simple activities that children, including those under five*, can take part in to celebrate World Wildlife Day. We also highlight some of the benefits of nature to children towards the end of the post.
Getting outdoors is the best way to see wildlife, especially if your family lives near a park or the countryside. Rambles, picnics, and simple walks are all obvious options and, of course, wildlife sanctuaries are a good choice if you have one nearby. That said, while such outdoor options are amongst the best ways for children to connect with nature, sometimes they’re simply not possible. However, when that’s the case, there are plenty of other possibilities including bringing the wonders of wildlife into your nursery, home, or garden. Here are some engaging, age-appropriate activities that will allow children to take part in World Wildlife Day whatever their circumstances:
Most children naturally take to drawing, so encouraging them to draw wild animals, plants and birds will be a popular suggestion, especially around the time of World Wildlife Day. For example, they could try drawing British mammals like rabbits and squirrels, jungle animals like elephants and tigers, or sea creatures like dolphins and whales. To make it easier, perhaps give them some visual reference to inspire them. They could choose from a variety of media, be it pencils, crayons, paints, or collages — or something entirely different. Playdough or salt dough models are also an option. Children naturally love to create and, once complete, perhaps display their pieces to encourage future progress.
Reading books about wildlife will introduce children to new animals and habitats. Great options for younger under-fives include ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell and ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’ by Bill Martin Jr. (author) and Eric Carle (illustrator). Also, of course, children and families have the option to tell each other made-up stories. They’re a great way to encourage creative thinking and can be approached in a number of different ways. For example, a parent could tell a story first to give the child an idea of 
Try making some simple bird feeders with your children. There are lots of easy ways to make them as outlined in our dedicated guide, 
Create a simple scavenger hunt using pictures, words, or our free nature hunt sheets to encourage children to find different natural objects like leaves, feathers, and pine cones. This activity builds children’s observation skills, gives them deep insights into nature, and instils in them a better appreciation for the environment. Currently, free reference sheets are available for 
Engage children with easy science experiments, like 
Spending time in nature or learning about wildlife isn’t just fun—it has incredible benefits for early childhood development. To harness such benefits, families can incorporate nature-based learning into children’s routines in a variety of ways. Examples include organising outdoor exploration sessions, setting up small wildlife observation areas, and using nature-themed storytelling to engage the young learners. Connecting children with nature:
Incorporating wildlife into children’s activities doesn’t have to be limited to one day. Encouraging youngsters to notice the birds in the garden, look for insects on nature walks, or watch the changing seasons can gift them a lifelong love of nature. Parents and families can make wildlife observation a regular habit, perhaps by keeping a simple nature sketchbook where children can draw or glue in pictures of what they see, or by creating a wildlife corner at home with books, nature finds, and small child-safe plants. Even setting up a bird-watching station near a window can turn everyday moments into exciting learning opportunities. By celebrating World Wildlife Day, we can inspire the next generation of nature lovers—one little explorer at a time!
As promised in our last post we now extend our 
One of the key things that pollinators like bees need is something to drink, particularly when the weather is hot. They expend a lot of energy buzzing about and can easily become exhausted without a source of water. So, a simple thing that children and families can do is to put out some small, shallow dishes of water among any flowers (whether in flowerbeds or flowerpots). The little drip trays that you put under flowerpots are perfect but any small, shallow dish will do. A critically important detail is that a ‘landing stone’ should be placed into the water so that the bees have somewhere safe to land above the level of the water’s surface. 
Bees, hoverflies, butterflies and all pollinators also need nectar as a food source. For our children, that means that flowers — and their pollen — are the key to attracting them. So, with adult supervision, children can sow pollinator-attracting flowers from things like poppy seeds and wildflower seed mixes. These are readily available commercially, are usually marked on the packets as pollinator-friendly, and are usually very inexpensive. They’re also easy to grow (see our 
As we mentioned above, butterflies will be attracted to flowers like poppies and wildflowers. However, they absolutely love flowering Buddleia (right) and Hylotelephium (a.k.a. ‘Ice Plant’ – see main image at top), especially if they’re located in a sunny position. On a good day, children may find such plants absolutely covered with visiting butterflies and other pollinators — and these creatures are a delight for little ones and adults alike. Note, though, that parents will need to hard prune most Buddleia varieties in early Spring, otherwise, they can grow quite large. If space is limited, therefore, stick with poppies, wildflowers, and ice plants rather than buddleia.
As well as enjoying the nectar from the flowers that children have planted (see above), butterflies can also be lured to children’s gardens through a kind of drink that’s also food for them. For butterflies, children simply mix up to four parts of warmed water with one part of sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Children can then drizzle the sweet solution over small slices of ripe fruit or even small cut-up pieces of a clean sponge. As with the water for the bees, these can then be placed in shallow dishes and left among flowerbeds or alongside flowerpots on a balcony or windowsill. Once they’ve discovered them, butterflies will soon begin to land to sip at this sweet food supply. Children will then be able to see their incredible beauty up close. 
Putting out food suitable for birds is the most simple way to attract birds to a child’s garden or outdoor space. Once the birds recognise and trust it, the new food source will provide a regular stream of pretty, feathered visitors. Children will love knowing they helped to attract these wonderful creatures and have been responsible for giving them a much-needed meal. They can also use 
Commercially available ‘Robin peanut cakes’ and ‘sunflower hearts’ are also a big hit with many birds, and can usually be found in supermarkets or online. Whole bird-friendly peanuts are also popular with birds like bluetits and great tits, however, can be a choking hazard for baby birds during the breeding season if not crushed into tiny pieces. More information about suitable food types for birds can be found using the link in the paragraph above.
Birds need to drink and bathe themselves, so putting out water in shallow vessels like flowerpot saucers will be welcomed by them. These are best located somewhere a little secluded, e.g. in amongst flowers in a flowerbed or below overhanging shrubs or trees, rather than right out in the open. Otherwise, birds may avoid them as they’ll feel unsafe from birds of prey that sometimes view from high up in the air. If bird baths supplied are on the larger side, birds may bathe in them as well as drink from them. That’s a delight for children to see, so encourage your little one to make one or more bird baths available but also make sure of several things:
Children will also love seeing birds moving into birdhouses, which families can either make or buy, often inexpensively, and put up around gardens or properties. There are lots of different kinds, for example, blue tit boxes have a hole as an entrance whereas robins require a larger opening. Some research online may be wise and families can decide which type to go for based on what species of birds they wish to attract.
By far the best way to attract minibeasts, apart from ensuring harmful weedkillers and other nasty chemicals aren’t used around the garden, is to give them a compost heap to live in. Such places will attract minibeasts like centipedes, woodlice, millipedes, worms and many other types — perhaps even slow worms. Building a compost heap is a wonderfully worthwhile, fun, and educational activity for children to take part in and our 
Aside from that, minibeasts and many other types of garden visitors love a wild area of the garden or outdoor space to live in, ideally with ramshackle things like flower pots, rocks, piles of rotting leaves, and rotting logs/branches for bugs, slow worms and other minibeasts to live under. Lizards, frogs, and toads may also be attracted to such areas, particularly if the area is kept damp.
Make or buy a ‘bug hotel’ and place this in the wilderness area too, as it’ll provide a home for all sorts of bugs and insects, including some pollinators like solitary bees, bumblebees, and other minibeasts like ladybirds, woodlice, snails, spiders — even some types of butterfly potentially. Indeed, bug hotels are excellent in autumn as they will provide somewhere safe for the creatures to over-winter and hibernate. The RSPB has 
With the right preparation and if children are really lucky, they may even find that adorable little hedgehogs pay a visit. Better still, they may even move in under and raise families of adorable baby hedgehogs if the circumstances are right. Piles of leaves in wild areas, compost heaps in garden corners, unlit bonfire wood stacks, beneath sheds and where there are leaves collecting under undergrowth are all great areas for hedgehogs to stay, particularly if they’re secluded and peaceful areas away from noise, activity, and garden pets like dogs and cats. Ensuring there is a suitable gap under garden fences will also allow hedgehogs to come and go as they please, to forage for food. Ensure they’re not too big, though, if you have a pet.
Getting children interested in nature, and spending time around it, is extremely good for them as we’ve reported before — 
Parents and children, don’t miss this year’s incredibly important birdwatching activity for the RSPB — and the planet — which occurs from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th January. The Big Garden Birdwatch only takes one hour, is free, and is an extremely worthwhile activity for children and families to take part in. It’s a great way to introduce children to the concept of conservation as well as getting them interested in spending time in and around nature. And, as we’ve reported before, nature is extremely good for children! In today’s post, we explain how easy it is to get your little ones involved and why taking part is a win-win-win for families, birds and nature.
Monitoring populations of bird species every year allows the RSPB and other conservation organisations to see how the various types of garden birds are faring. Whether or not they’re doing well will be a barometer of the state of nature itself as well as that of the individual bird populations. If the RSPB and other conservation organisations can see a problem, they can then mobilise to try to do something about it. Likewise, if they see a particular bird species doing well, they can learn from that and better understand what measures are helping that particular bird population to thrive.
In 2023, the bird species spotted the most was the House Sparrow, followed by the Blue Tit in second place, Starling in third, Wood Pigeon in fourth and Blackbird in fifth.
By registering you’ll also get a free guide to taking part in the event, which includes visual reference to the birds to look out for, as well as other perks like a discount on bird food and other bird feeding supplies available from the RSPB’s online shop.
If you’re keen to attract as many birds as possible to your Garden Birdwatch count, the RSPB has you covered. As well as providing useful 