How To Encourage Independent Play

The other day as I was trying to make dinner, both my kids where wining at my feet, bored and apparently incapable of playing alone.

As you can imagine, hot pans, boiling water and young children aren’t the best combination, so I walked them to their play room, only to see an explosion of toys: stuffed animals all laying on the floor, plastic and felt food next to an abandoned kitchenette and dolls half undressed mixed with books and games.

And I realized that simply cleaning the play room won’t change anything, because there’s too many toys. Too much choice. Too much stimulation. And that’s when I started to be more rigid about organizing my kids playroom. Instead of accumulating everything that they could use to play with in one room, I try to leave them space to play and to actually see their toys!

Here’s how I got my kids exited about independent play:

1. Toy rotation.
– Once a week, I purge their playroom with a big box. Then I bring them one or two “new” toys at a time during the week.

– I don’t keep all of the big toys ( like a drawing board, a kitchenette, a play tent, etc) together in the room. Out of all of the bigger toys, I choose one or two at a time.

2. Moving furniture around.
Just by moving things around I create the illusion of a novelty, and kids feel instantly exited by it!

3. Setting up play stations.
Sometimes I’ll prepare a scene of their toys eating, sleeping or just sitting in a circle. It’s like an invitation to play, and it always works!

4. Less is more.
Kids don’t need that many toys. Too many toys in one place make it harder for them to devote themselves to one play, because seeing all the other choices just makes them want to switch.

5. Keeping the playroom essentials.
Every child has their favorite toy or an activity. For my older daughter it’s playing imaginative role play with little figurines. So I keep these out of toy rotation.

6. Keeping the decoration simple yet inspiring.
I love adding whimsical touches to my kids playroom, but too much decoration is also over-stimulating kids, and taking their focus off the essential: their imagination.

So now my kids are more likely to be found in their playroom playing, then at my feet whining, unless of course it’s dinner time and they’re hungry: they’re still kids after all!