How to Get Kids More Playtime

this is a follow up to the post Kids Need Play Time

How Can We Help our Kids Get More Play Time?
Play time is not just for toddlers and preschoolers, kids of all ages benefit from free unstructured play time, so how can we help our kids get more playtime?

1. Limit the Toys Your Kids Have – There is something to be said for having a few choice toys.  When it comes to toys Less is More.  If a child has too many toys, they may not know where to start when you tell them to go play.  The benefits of having fewer toys are numerous, but in general fewer toys lead to more creativity, longer attention spans, and a greater resourcefulness. (as exhibited by the impromptu game of acorn golf shown here)
2. Schedule less structured activities- While we all want our little ones to experience as much as they can art, dance, baseball, swimming, scouts, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Around here we like to limit the kids to one activity at a time per kid, even still that is a lot of time spent on the road going to and fro, Just this past fall we were able to whittle down our activities to just one night a week. Yes that does make for a crazy night were we often don’t get home to dinner till 8pm but that frees up the rest of week for us. The benefit of all this free time is that my kids  have more time to create and invent and just play. The result of the free time, my daughters have learned how to crochet, make bows and cook new dishes, while son is out building emergency shelters in the woods.
3. Have open ended toys – I have always been a fan of Real Toys, real toys are those great toys like blocks, baby dolls, bikes, dress up clothes, recyclables and art supplies, for a more complete list see Real Toys for Real Kids, yes this list is rather long but the best part about open ended toys is that you don’t need all of them at once.
4. Limit Screen Time   This one is a given, doctors recommend limiting children to no more than 1-2 hours of screen time a day. Screen time includes, time watching television, playing video games and being on the computer. Yes I realize that some kids are playing educational games, watching educational television shows/videos, but play has it’s own benefits too.
5. Schedule less structured activities- While we all want our little ones to experience as much as they can art, dance, baseball, swimming, scouts, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Around here we like to limit the kids to one activity at a time per kid, even still that is a lot of time spent on the road going to and fro, Just this past fall we were able to whittle down our activities to just one night a week. Yes that does make for a crazy night were we often don’t get home to dinner till 8pm but that frees up the rest of week for us. The benefit of all this free time is that my kids  have more time to create and invent and just play. The result of the free time, my daughters have learned how to crochet, make bows and cook new dishes, while son is out building emergency shelters in the woods

If you give kids the time to play and the tools to play they will soon be teaching you how to play. It is important to remember that play has a purpose even though it is “fun”.
How do you get your kids to play more? Share Your Ideas here.


This post is linked up to Living Life Intentionally

Technorati Tags: kids play,getting kids to play more