Why You Won't Find Tablets in Our Classrooms

You know the moment. You’re at the pediatrician’s office, or in line at Wegmans, and the toddler ahead of you is calmly watching a phone while their parent finishes paperwork. Nobody’s screaming. The line is moving. And honestly, on a hard day, the temptation is real.

We get it. We’re parents too.

But step into one of our classrooms on a Tuesday morning and you won’t find a tablet on the table. No TV in the corner. No screens propped up to keep things quiet during transitions. That’s a deliberate choice, and parents ask about it almost every time we tour. Here’s the honest answer.

Screens aren’t the enemy — they just aren’t how this age learns best

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screens before 18 months (other than video chats with grandparents) and capping screen time around an hour a day of high-quality content for ages 2 to 5. The 2026 update softened the strict time-limit framing and focused more on the quality of what kids watch and the conversations parents have around it.

We agree with the spirit of that. Screens at home, in moderation, used alongside a parent? Totally fine. We’re not here to lecture anyone.

But our curriculum is designed for the part of the day kids spend with us. During those eight to ten hours, the research is consistent: children under five learn best through real, three-dimensional, hands-on experience with caring adults beside them.

What the research actually says

A few findings shape our approach:

• Language develops through conversation, not consumption. More screen time during infancy correlates with lower language and vocabulary scores at ages 3 and 4. Kids this age learn words from real back-and-forth conversation — not from being talked at by a screen.
• Executive function takes a hit. Children with higher screen exposure at age 2 score lower on executive-function measures (focus, self-regulation, working memory) a year later.
• Social skills need faces. Reading expressions, picking up on tone, taking turns, negotiating over a block, recovering from a small disappointment — that doesn’t happen on a screen. Ages 0 to 5 are the prime window for those skills.
• Attention is a muscle. Kids who spend less classroom time on screens tend to stay with real tasks longer — puzzles, storytime, building.

None of this means screens ruin children. It means they don’t replace what early childhood actually requires.

What our day looks like instead

If you peek into a classroom on a typical morning, here’s what’s happening:

• A toddler is dumping rice through a funnel into a bowl, again and again. (That’s pre-math.)
• A preschooler is building a “rocket ship” out of cardboard tubes and tape, then narrating its mission. (That’s executive function and storytelling.)
• Two four-year-olds are negotiating who gets the green marker. (That’s social-emotional learning, even when it gets loud.)
• Infants are pulling up on a low shelf while a teacher narrates: “You’re standing! Look how strong your legs are.” (That’s language acquisition in real time.)

Outside, kids dig, run, balance, and notice. Inside, they paint, sort, build, pretend, sing, and listen to real books read by a real person. Teachers narrate, ask open-ended questions, and slow down to let kids work things out themselves. None of that requires a screen, and most of it is actively interrupted by one.

What this might look like at home

You’re not running a daycare. You’re a parent on a Tuesday night with dinner half-made and a toddler hanging off your leg. Here are a few small habits that mirror what works in our classrooms:

• Device-free meals. Even one meal a day. The conversation alone is a language workout.
• Narrate during play. “You stacked three blocks. The red one is on top.” Sounds silly. Builds vocabulary fast.
• Point and name on walks. A walk down your own block in Montgomery County is a sensory and language goldmine if you slow down for it.
• For kids under two, reach for a board book instead of an app. Real pages, real laps, real voices beat any toddler app on the market.
• Let them be bored sometimes. Boredom is where imaginative play starts.

The bottom line

We don’t keep screens out of our curriculum because we’re against technology. We keep them out because the years we have with these kids — six weeks to five years old — are short, and they’re built for something else. Hands. Voices. Other kids. Adults who notice.

That’s the work, and it doesn’t fit on a screen.