Screen Time Education

Staff should be trained on screen time reduction for program quality. Parents of preschoolers should be made aware of screen time reduction and/or media literature education. Below are some resources that can help you educate your staff and parents about screen time and their child.

Best Practices

The resources in this category are the same for all of the following best practices.

"Offer parents screen-time reduction and/or media literacy information (such as, special programs, newsletters, or information sheets) 2 or more times per year."
"Offer training opportunities to providers on screen-time reduction and/or media literacy 2 or more times per year."

5 Healthy Goals: Reduce Screen Time

Summary: This website includes facts about and tips for reducing screen time.
Source: The Nemours Foundation
Access: https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/5-healthy-goals/reduce-screen-time/

Action Guide: For Child Care Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies

Summary: A guide for creating policies including rationale, steps for creating policies, and policy recommendations.
Source: Connecticut State Department of Education
Access: https://healthymeals.fns.usda.gov/hsmrs/Connecticut/CCAG_ActionGuide.pdf

Get Active Be Healthy

Summary: A series of fact sheets and handouts for parents, kids, and teachers. Contains information for teachers on page 10.
Source: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest
Access: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpcd/chp/cdrr/obesity/pdfdocs/screentimetoolkit.pdf

Media and Children

Summary: This website includes information about media time and how it impacts children.
Source: The American Academy of Pediatrics
Access: https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/pages/media-and-children.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token

Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) Manual

Summary: This manual provides the best practice recommendations for each question on the self-assessment. The manuals also include the rationale behind each recommendation, challenges to implementing recommendations, and tips for changing current practice.
Source: Michigan Healthy Child Care
Access: http://mihealthtools.org/childcare/resources.asp

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children

Summary: Collection of tip sheets for nutrition and physical activity. Each tip sheet focuses on a specific topic and includes a practical application section to help apply the tips to a child care program for children ages 2 through 5 years old. See pages 63-71.
Source: United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service
Access: http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/nutrition-and-wellness-tips-young-children-provider-handbook-child-and-adult-care-food-program

Policy Brief on Early Learning and Use of Technology

Summary: This is a policy brief about the early learning and use of technology with specific reasons and policies around the use of different types of technology and the use of them in early learning.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Access: https://d3knp61p33sjvn.cloudfront.net/2016/11/Early-Learning-Tech-Policy-Brief.pdf

Screen Time Reduction Toolkit for Child Care Providers

Summary: Includes tips to reduce screen time, letter to parents, tips to reduce screen time, games to reduce screen time. Policy Examples are provided on page 8.
Source: Michigan Department of Community Health
Access: https://d3knp61p33sjvn.cloudfront.net/2015/04/Screen-TimeReductionToolkit.pdf