Before going to bed, I often put out a few toys to get the Q engaged in playing so I can enjoy relaxing with my coffee and morning writing.
This is an example of a super simple version of this idea. It took me about ten seconds to set up a couple of scenes to spark interest. The idea is that a dynamic play environment is more enticing than individual materials in containers.
You can see he moved the vehicle to the train set, redesigned the blocks a bit, and then spent some time twisting the puzzle.
Not a supremely engaging activity, but it bought me enough time to make my coffee before Q resorted to dumping out bins of blocks, which is the current favorite activity.
This is a quick and easy way to “play with your kids” when you don’t have time! If you know ahead of time that you’ll be busy, or – like me – just wanting to relax and enjoy your coffee in the morning, take some time the night before to set up a few materials in an interesting or novel configuration as an invitation for your kids to play independently.
For some reason, all the toys in boxes or bins is not as enticing as a few things intentionally placed.
My number one best tip for keeping your kids playing happily is: fewer toys!
It may seem counterintuitive, but honestly the fewer materials they have access to, the more deeply engaged they become. As an example, my two and a half year old somehow acquired about eight duplo blocks – a few squares, a few rectangles and one longer platform, and a window. These eight blocks have probably provided well over twenty hours of entertainment in the past few months. I have been blown away by the variety of configurations possible, the stories he tells about them, how he uses them to interact with other toys and with other humans.
Conversely, I have noticed that when confronted with a room full of fifty different options, the tendency is to spend five minutes dumping everything on the floor, and then be done “playing”.
(Update: it’s official! Science is backing me up on this.)
It is for this reason that I recommend rotating toys. Any time your child acquires multiple new things at one time, put away most of them in a hidden closet, and keep out just one or two to really explore. Then a few weeks or months later (depending on their age and how quickly their interest begins to wane), put those ones away and bring out a few new ones.
I bet you will find that their attention span for playing independently becomes longer. An additional bonus is that there will be far less to put away at clean up time!
Fewer toys = longer play times + shorter clean-up! Win-win
