For parents
Screen time or build time? How we think about it
Not all screen time is the same. A simple way to tell the difference between watching and making.
Many parents feel uneasy about sending their child to a class that uses screens. We understand. Most of us have seen how quickly an afternoon can disappear into videos. So here is how we think about screens at CircuitKids.
Watching and making are different
A child watching a video is receiving. A child writing code, designing a part or testing a robot is making. The screen is the same; what the child is doing is not.
A simple test: after an hour, can your child show you something that didn't exist before? If yes, it was build time.
How much screen time is in our classes?
Ages 7–9: almost none for the first three weeks. After that, about a third of each class.
Ages 10–12: about half of each class, always next to a physical build.
Ages 13+: more, because projects get bigger. But every term ends with something you can hold.
If a class could happen entirely on a screen, we ask ourselves why it's happening in a room.
Three questions to ask at home
Is my child choosing what to do, or is the app choosing for them?
Will this end with something they made?
Can they explain what they did to someone else?
If the answer to two of these is yes, it's probably good screen time. If it's no to all three, it may be time for some cardboard, tape and a question to solve.
What we don't do
We don't use apps that reward children with points for time spent. We don't send homework that needs a screen for younger groups. And every class starts and ends away from the computer.
Thanks for reading
