Watch TV or YouTube
One video ends and the next begins before anyone has decided anything, and the minutes slip past unmarked. The pictures below give screen time a visible start and a visible finish, so switching off stops landing as a sudden no.
♀Girl watching videos on TV
A girl in an armchair starts a video on the TV with her remote.
♀Person watching TV on the floor
A smiling person sits on the floor with their chin in their hand watching a wall-mounted television showing play symbols on the screen.
About this visual support
An episode ends and the next one is already playing before anyone has made a decision. Screen time rarely runs long because a child is being difficult; it runs long because the stream has no natural stopping point. With nothing showing how much is left, being switched off lands as a loss in the middle of something.
Visual support puts back the edges that autoplay removed. Lay out three cards: choose the show, watch, turn off. Agree on the number of episodes before the screen comes on, and let one card stand for each episode so your child can turn it over when it finishes. The amount becomes something they count themselves instead of a number you keep repeating. Decide what follows straight afterwards too, and place that picture at the end of the row, because moving on to a snack or the garden is far easier than moving on to nothing.
In the Routined app you can build the whole screen session as a routine with pictures, a timer and check-off, and try it for fourteen days at no cost.
Use this image in a schedule
Build your own visual schedule with this image and download it as a print-ready PDF. Completely free.
More similar visual supports
Kids TV
A boy raises his arms in front of a television showing toys.
Movie time
An illustration showing a movie projector, a film clapboard with a clock, a scre...
Movie Together
Two people sit on a couch watching a tv showing a film reel and popcorn.
Relax with movie
A boy sits comfortably in a blue armchair, watching a movie on a television scre...
Tablet or Read
A girl with braids holds a tablet showing an open book on the screen.
Watch Film and Snuggle
Two people sit close together on the couch under a blanket watching a film with ...
Watch movie
A simple outline drawing of a girl holding a tablet with a film reel and play bu...
Activities
A child surrounded by icons for a book, paint palette, ball and building block.
Take the visual supports with you
In Routined you build schedules from these pictures, add timers and voice instructions, and your child follows the day on their own.
* 14-day free trial included for new users.