Dual-Winged Intervention for Screen Time Regulation in Early Childhood

This project focuses on developing and implementing a series of story-based and game-based activities to help preschool children gain social media awareness and reduce their screen time. Our student age group is between 4-6 years old. Unfortunately, children now only play their games with their fingertips. And the people they feel most comfortable and free to communicate with are not their real-life friends, but their virtual or social media characters. Today, a child spends hours in front of a screen instead of running outside. They learn colors from pixels, not nature. And we, as preschool educators who intervene in children's education at the earliest, must recognize this danger from the outset and take action to return those little hands to soil, paint, rhythm and imagination.One of the original aspects of this project is the use of a fairy tale–based activity package supported by family involvement to combat screen addiction. Children’s literature, especially fairy tales, plays a significant role in developing children’s imagination, raising emotional awareness, and strengthening family communication.The activities included in the activity package further reinforce this theoretical approach. Examples of activities that children can implement at home with their families include shared playtime, joint reading activities, garden or park activities, creative art activities, and family conversation sessions.These activities naturally reduce the time spent in front of screens by directing children’s attention to screen-free experiences. They also strengthen family communication channels. For example, the “screen-free evening conversation” activity encourages children to share their daily experiences with their parents, thereby strengthening emotional bonds and providing a healthy alternative to screen dependency.This approach can be considered not only a pedagogical tool but also a model that contributes to the strengthening of social bonds.