Printable Screen Time Tickets

It has been such a great Summer for our family so far. We’ve been able to travel, spend time with cousins, go to Parades, stay up late and enjoy being outside. When we’re not busy doing all these things is when we seem to run into problems. And the biggest battle we seem to have on a daily basis (especially in the summer) is over screen time. Today I’m sharing something that has changed the way our family uses our free time. It has almost completely eliminated the battles!

The key for us has been having specific rules and limits on the amount of time our kids are allowed to use screens – TV shows, phones and iPads, and computer. I made some little tickets for each child that are worth minutes of screen time and we decided to Minc them! My kids love helping me use my Heidi Swapp Minc machine, picking out their favorite colors of foil and lifting the foil for the big reveal! (Never heard of the Minc? Here’s a post introducing this amazing tool!)

Here’s how to make your own custom Screen Time tickets:

1. Print (or take to your local copy store) the PDF of tickets found HERE– must be laser printer or copier)

2. Cover the tickets with pieces of Minc heat-reactive foil in your chosen colors. (We used Blue and Hot Pink)

3. Place paper and foil in a Minc transfer folder (foil side up) and run through the machine at heat setting 3.

4. Watch in awe as you peel back the foil to reveal your shimmery foiled tickets!

5. Cut apart and laminate, if desired.

Now that you’ve made your tickets, I’ll tell you how we use them. The beauty of these not having a number already on them is that you YOU can decide how much time each ticket is worth. There are many factors to consider including age, season (are they in school or home for the summer?), behavior, etc.

I decided for the summer each ticket would be worth 20 minutes and the kids would have 4 tickets each day. When school starts I can easily cut back on the number of tickets or minutes.

Our kids have a little chart of responsibilities for every morning and night that have to be done to earn their 4 tickets. My little guy that’s 4 is seriously motivated by these tickets! He’s been getting up and finishing his chart first thing in the morning to surprise me. They keep their tickets in these little Command holders on the fridge with a dry-erase marker for their charts.

Here are some tips for limiting screen time in your family:

• Set a timer – either on the device or otherwise – and stick to it!
• Let everyone know the expectations – and decide whether tickets will be taken away/ or extras given
• Set other rules about screen time such as appropriate games, stopping when someone is speaking, etc

The first set of tickets I made had a TV icon on them (then I changed to the tablet version) and this really cool Holographic Minc foil. This color is so awesome! It would be great for making printables and projects for boys!

Get the printable tickets HERE

I hope you found some ideas to help end the battle of the screens in your family! If you have any suggestions or tips for what works for your family, leave them in the comments!

This post is sponsored by American Crafts, and all opinions are 100% mine.
Post contains affiliate links.