Our children now spend more time looking at screens than ever before, even more than they spend talking with other family members or playing.
Pre-lockdown research shows that UK children below the ages of 14 spent an average 3 hours and 18 minutes on smartphones and other devices, that’s a total of almost 23 hours per week.*1
Since lockdown has hit, that figure has almost doubled with children averaging 6.3 hours of screen time per day broken down to 2-3 hours watching television, 1-3 hours on the internet, 1-2 hour playing video games and over an hour on mobile phones.**2
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recommends that families should negotiate screen time limits with their children based upon the needs of an individual child.***3 But how, faced with the necessary screen time required to home school and the general lack of things to do during a pandemic, can you prise your children away from the screen?
Screen-free play
The World Health Organisation advises that for children to grow up healthy, they need to sit less and play more.****4 Now that spring and warmer weather is on its way, it’s a great time to encourage children to get out into the garden and play more.
BillyOh offers an array of garden playhouses for children that suit a variety of budgets and could help encourage them to spend less of their free time looking at a screen and more time outdoors playing.
Each playhouse is designed and built in the UK by a family-run team who have complete in-house control over the construction process, ensuring quality at every step.
Below are just some of the playhouses available to purchase. Please visit www.billyoh.com to view the entire collection. We have a full library of photography for editorial use.
BillyOh Peardrop Junior Playhouse, £569
Let your children’s imagination run wild in the Peardrop Junior Playhouse, with traditional fixed windows and optional picket fencing, they can play all day long
BillyOh Bunny Max Tower Playhouse, from £455
With a ladder and optional slide, the Bunny Max Tower Playhouse is a must for children who like to climb. They’ll feel like the King or Queen of the Castle.
BillyOh Annex Log Cabin Wooden Playhouse, £2,009
With two floors, a large open play space and then snug upstairs, the Annex Log Cabin Playhouse creates the perfect space for your children to make their own.
About BillyOh
Established in 2000, BillyOh is a family-run, high-quality manufacturer of premium garden buildings and furniture. Based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Charles Walton and his team produce a huge range of log cabins, garden sheds, summerhouses and playhouses for a variety of uses. For more information visit billyoh.com.
*1 According to research carried out by CensusWide for ROXI: https://bit.ly/3u6j9ni
**2 Research by Unicef: https://bit.ly/3rRDafo
***3 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health advice: https://bit.ly/3qrMnL6