Tips on Playing With Children

Spending all day with your children can be long and tiring if you're not equipped.

There are things you can do to be prepared.

The first I'd say, from one person who prefers to stay up late, is make sure you Get Enough Sleep! If I don't have enough sleep, I am much more cranky and have less energy and creativity. All these things are detrimental to spending quality time with your kids.

Resource wise, you also need to stock up on key items in your house that will allow you to have diverse play activities and keep them (and you) from boredom.

Here's a list of ideas and tips on playing with children:

Tips on Playing with Children
  1. Remember it's about spending time with them, not about getting your chores done.
  2. Have a stash of card games or boardgames in your cupboard/shelf, so you can always bring them down at any time.
  3. ROTATE your TOYS! This doesn't mean turning them around 360 degrees! This means putting certain toys away so that the children don't get to play with them all the time. For example we have an IKEA train set plus some Thomas trains which we store in a plastic container. The boys only get to play with it once or twice it week, and it's such a treat for them. They love it when the trains come out. They also play much longer with the trains when they actually come out. You can also use them as a reward for good behaviour or helpfulness.
  4. Buy some good jigsaw puzzles and keep them away from the kids. Bring them out when they are in the right frame of mind to play with them. Aside from keeping them 'special' this also helps avoids loss of pieces!
  5. Don't worry about your house getting messy!
  6. At the end of games get your children involved in cleaning up and tidying. We make it into a bit of a game by singing:
    Now it's time to put away
    Put away
    Put away
    Now it's time to put away
    Put away the toys
  7. Buy some things to do craft eg. paintset and brushes, coloured paper, scissors, glue. Also keep things like used bits of ribbon and wrapping paper, buttons etc.
  8. Get down onto your kids' level - sit with them on the floor, lie on your tummy and play with them.
  9. Let them wrestle with you on the bed or sofa if it's big enough! Children just love to cuddle up to you and roll around!! If I lie on the bed, within a minute I can guarantee you that I will have at least one toddler sitting on my tummy! You can also get creative by incorporating some exercise into it - like trying to lift you children up and down on your legs etc.
  10. Put some percussion into a special drawer or a box so that you can have 'music time'. Turn on some music and get shaking and dancing and singing!
  11. Think to yourself, if you were at work, don't you give 100% of your energy and your mind to doing the best job you can? (well I do!) Then do the same for your very own precious children!
  12. Allow yourself to think and act like a little kid!
  13. Get your children involved in helping whereever possible eg. putting away things, making the bed, putting on their clothes, handing you the clothes pegs as you hang out the washing. In everything you have to do, think of a way they can help - even if it will add a few more minutes to getting the job done!
    Just like us, children love to feel useful :)
  14. Kids first, chores last.
  15. Make things FUN!!
  16. Spend time reading with them. Repetition of books is the best way for young kids to learn. Better to read three favourite books over and over, than 40 books read only once.
  17. Be Creative!
  18. Think of role playing games - shopping at the supermarket, driving in the car, going fishing, going on a picnic etc.
  19. Try and take them on an outing once a day. Little kids need to run around. It's great for them physically and developmentally and they'll sleep much better for the exercise.
  20. Even on rainy days, have a place that you can take them to run around - eg. McDonalds playarea, local shopping centre, the library (maybe not soo much running here!) , indoor playcentre etc.
  21. Only play with boardgames twice in one sitting. Once is sometimes too little time to have spent playing it with them, little ones sometimes take a little while understanding the game, and by the third time they will lose interest before you finish playing!
  22. Buy activity books - like colouring books, sticker activities, dot to dot, writing books - that you can pull out at any time to amuse them.
  23. Buy or borrow books from the library that have play and craft ideas.
  24. Use the internet. There are thousands and thousands of printable resources available FREE on the net. Most are educational. 
  25. Cooking - get your children to help with eg. mixing batter, spreading butter on bread, pouring cereal into their bowls, adding sugar in your tea etc.
  26. Make sure you get enough sleep the night before. A sleep deprived person is never going to be working at their happiest and best potential! Go to bed as early as possible.