Screen time

Creative screen time: from watching to making

Screen time rules usually count minutes. It can help to ask a second question too: is my kid watching something, or making something?

Watching

Someone else decides what happens next
Ends when the video or level ends
Hard to stop: the next one starts by itself
“What did you do?” “Nothing.”

Making

Your kid decides what happens next
Ends with something that's theirs
Natural stopping points: “it works now”
“What did you do?” “Come and see!”

A screen time menu

Put this on the fridge. When your kid asks for screen time, they pick from the menu.

Activity	What they do	Tools to try
Make a game	Describe it, play it, change it.	Vibe Kids^™, Scratch
Animate	Stop-motion with toys and a phone camera.	Any stop-motion app
Compose	Beats and melodies on a step grid.	Sound Studio, GarageBand
Draw	Characters, comics, pixel art.	Any drawing app, or paper first
Build	Worlds out of blocks, together.	Block-building games in creative modes
Write	A story with pictures, then read it aloud.	A shared doc or a notebook

A family agreement you can copy

On weekdays, screen time is for making something.

We stop when the thing we're making works, or when the timer rings, whichever comes first.

At the end, we show someone what we made.

Watching is for weekends, and we watch together sometimes.

Signed: ____________ and ____________

Change the rules to fit your family. The point is the habit of ending with something to show.

How Vibe Kids^™ fits

We designed Vibe Kids^™ to be easy to put down. There are no streaks, countdowns or leaderboards, and the helper's energy refills over hours, so long sessions naturally pause. Sessions end with a game your kid can show you. See what a good first session looks like.