Author’s practical guidance
They can do it on the screen and not at the table
Source named in the book: research on the video deficit in early childhood (Troseth)
They sort every shape correctly on the screen and then cannot do it with the actual blocks in front of them.
Say this now
“You did this on the screen. Let's do the real ones.”
Names the bridge out loud. That is most of the work.
“Show me with these.”
Short, and it moves the task into the room.
Do this
- Do the real version afterwards the same day, with the actual objects, once.
- Name the connection yourself — small children do not make it unprompted.
- Expect it to be harder off the screen, and let it be, without correcting much.
- Keep the real version short.
- Judge the screen by what happens after it, not by how well they perform inside it.
Avoid this
- Assuming the screen version means they know it. Knowing it there does not mean knowing it here.
- "But you can do this one!" To them these are two different tasks.
- Buying more of the same to fix the gap. The gap is between screen and room, not within the screen.
If it repeats
If the gap does not close over months and it shows up in everything rather than only on screens, that is worth a conversation with your pediatrician. Within the screen itself, though, a gap of this kind is what the research expects at this age.
Why the book suggests this
They sort every shape correctly on the screen and then cannot do it with the actual blocks in front of them. Nothing has gone wrong. What a small child learns from a screen tends to stay attached to the screen, and getting it across into the room is a separate piece of work.
This gap is one of the most reliably reproduced findings about young children and video. It is largest for the youngest and it narrows with age, but at three it is still substantial. It is not a reason to remove screens. It is a reason to stop expecting the screen to have done the teaching by itself.
Related prepared situations
What happened next?
From this collection
Same Words: Every Screen
45 prepared situations in this family area.