I am going to assume that most families have had to scale back on time spent away from home. For your child, this may mean that you have more time to play with them. If you are able to play with your child please know that it is an important part of your child’s development. Play is good for grown-ups too.

I have always been pretty good at setting up the environment for play. My kids always had paints and play-doh available. I would let the kids paint the shower walls. They would love to bake with me because I never followed a recipe and food became an experiment (sometimes a costly one).  They had toys but playing with toys all alone is rarely fun for kids, especially when children are very little.

If I am being honest, my kid’s dad was a much better play partner. I recall trying to settle the kids down after their play sessions. It was bigger, louder and far less structured than the times I spent with the kids. I think he had as much fun as the kids did. This unstructured and frankly unproductive play is golden.  I had to learn to value this kind of play.

This is what I have come to understand about play-

“Emergent play does not typically unfold from activities with a lot of structure and rules, as this tends to confine and take the lead in terms of play. This is not to suggest that we stop these activities but it does mean that we need to stay cognizant that structured play activities are not equal to free play.”

“All play is not created equal; it’s not about the toys, the stimulation, and the entertainment. The type of play that their brains need is where the energy is coming from within the child to construct, build, create, and so on. This type of play is called emergent play and in this state you see curiosity, imagination, and sense of discovery in full action.”

By Deborah MacNamara  (full article attached below)

https://neufeldinstitute.org/its-not-just-childs-play/