I am trying to encourage my 18-month-old to play on her own.
Playing on your own is good. “Great work” I tell her.
Play encourages children to develop new competencies, develop resilience, sharing, social interaction, and helps them discover their own levels of interest. The list can go on on.
With a little wee-one on the way, I am beginning to incorporate independent play into the daily routine.
We are a family that likes to go out, have fun, go to the park.
But this weekend we relaxed. We stayed home. We played at home.
(Mind you the weather here was utterly freezing so it was a good excuse to stay inside)
Curiosity, imagination develops in free-time.
Free-time to do their thing.
But what do you do when your child just wants to hang around you, be at your feet and not want to be alone? (As I write this my Little E is getting up to mischief around me too…)
1. Make independent play a part of the daily routine
2. Stop stressing about what the munchkins can be doing…. ok, so if there is a crayon mark on the wall… so be it…
3. Reduce the number of extra curricular activities and have more relaxed free-time at home
4. Children learn through repetition and modelling. Show them what to do, how to play with something, step back and encourage their achievements.
So this was my fabulous Sunday afternoon.
An afternoon of free-time play.
Mum slept, dad read the paper and the child played… well attempted to anyway.
Babysteps.
Small steps.
Know that these things take time.
Patience and encouragement.
How do you encourage your children to play independently?
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