Find the Play in Parenting

Oh my goodness, everyone, today is beautiful here in Austin! It’s warm, but breezy, sunny, but not sweaty…it is just oh-so-perfect for PLAY!

Play is one of my favorite things. As humans, we learn through play, we delight in play, we grow in play.

But for many, that freedom to play gets trained out of us. The thing is – play for your little ones is crucially important for their development. In this talk, Play Is More than Fun, It’s Vital, Play Researcher Stuart Brown makes an excellent case for the importance of play, not just in childhood, but throughout life.

And I share this with you, not to make you feel like there’s one more thing on your list of to-dos. In fact, I share this with you to help accomplish your list! Connecting and playfully guiding your little one brings ease and joy into the (sometimes irrationally frustrating) tasks of tying shoes, brushing teeth, making dinner, and and and!

Check out two stories from participants in my Evolve Program about how they find play in parenting.

When I don’t feel well, I can lay on the couch or floor and entertain the girls for a long time being their patient. If I get a brand new (clean) toothbrush and floss pick, they love brushing my teeth and flossing them. They love playing doctor to my patient and taking care of me. It is interactive, imaginative, connecting play all while I get to lay down and rest. win-win. : )

……..

Timers are FUN. Often I feel like getting the timer out somehow is NOT fun and is in fact a consequence. But these are just my feelings. For my son timers are FUN and I need to see it from his perspective. Often we get the timer our at dinner time because he can be so distracted and dinner is no fun for anyone when I’m constantly reminding him to eat… IT all shifts when we get the timer out. He picks the time, sets it, and then the eating just magically happens. It’s a contest he wants to win. He’s NOT shoveling food down, but he is eating and keeping track of the time and dinner takes on a whole new attitude.*

 

I encourage you to take some time and make a list of ways you can start to incorporate a playful attitude, and actual moments for play, into your parenting. When the list is already developed, you’re more likely to use it. Stretch and flex that play muscle, then you’ll be improving and playing in no time. And if you are at a loss for ideas, I’ve included 60 ideas –> .

This list is a combination of some of my favorite people’s ideas and a bunch of my own. I recommend you pull from this list and/or create your own to suit the needs of your family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Finding the Play in Parenting

1. Dance party! – put music on and dance dance dance

2. Kick a ball outside

3. Roll cars down the hallway

4. Stack blocks into huge tower

5. Sandbox time!

6. Jump on the bed

7. Board games

8. Chase around the house

9. Playing toss with soft objects into laundry basket

10. Snowball fight with cotton balls

11. Toilet paper fight – you can use the mess as a future paper towel

12. Tissue bonanza – let each child have their own box of tissues to do as they wish

13. Collect rocks in backyard

14. Make a sheet tent

15. Animal noise time!

16. Wrap up random objects around the house and open them like presents

17. Play hide and seek

18. Music instrument time

19. Family yoga time

20. Sing ‘Head Shoulders Knees and Toes’ as slow and then as fast as you can

21. Spin around in circles in the backyard

22. Call or Skype with loved ones

23. Draw pictures of each other

24. Make funny faces in the mirror

25. Paint our toe nails

26. Play follow the leader about the house

27. Qtips – use them for any and everything they aren’t designed for!

28. Glue things together

29. Popsicle stick art

30. Make popsicles

31. Bake cookies

32. Chop veggies

33. Play-dough

34. Wash plants

35. Plant seeds in cups and place by the window

36. Pillow fort in the living room

37. Living room camp out

38. Blanket on the grass

39. Look for shooting stars

40. Hide and seek

41. Neighborhood walk

42. Eye spy

43. Massage

44. Tell stories of when everyone was a baby

45. Challenges

46. Nature collage

47. Experiments with food

48. Food coloring on coffee filters

49. Blow bubbles

50. Obstacle course

51. Please and thank you game

52. I’m so…mad, sad, frustrated, excited, happy, tired… pick an emotion and run around playing how you can express it

53. Make up silly words

54. Freaky Friday – pretend you are the kid and the kid is the adult

55. Breakfast for dinner

56. Draw together

57. What if…

58. Puddle jumping

59. Look for worms – anywhere in the house!

60. Look at family photos and tell stories, even let them make up stories about people they don’t know

 

*Craving more good stories? Check out my bestie’s compilation - Slow Family Living!