5 Ways To Be a More Playful Parent

Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn X (Twitter) Email

While watching your children play, it might appear as children simply chasing one another or tossing a ball back and forth — but play is so much more than that. Play is how children learn about themselves, others, and the world around them. Being a playful parent shows your child that you care and intend to play an active role in their lives.

Here’s how to be a playful parent:

Play with your children while they’re young.
Reduce your reliance on electronic devices.
Use fewer toys.
Commit at least one hour per day to your child.
Become involved in your child’s hobbies.

There’s nothing wrong with being silly and fun with your children, as it doesn’t take away from your role as a parent. Playing is good for adults and children, and it encourages emotional, physical, social, and mental growth. This article will show you how to engage in age-appropriate play with your children, so stick around.

1. Play With Your Children While They’re Young

If you have infants, toddlers, or preschool-aged children, now is the time to start playfully interacting with them. Talking, gesturing, laughing, and facial expressions greatly benefit the mental and emotional development of young children. It teaches them early social cues and language skills.

Let’s take a look at age-appropriate play in more detail.

Infant Play

A common game enjoyed by babies is “Peek-a-Boo.” The fascination with Peek-a-Boo stems from the element of surprise that stimulates the young brain.

Over time, babies learn that just because something is “gone,” it doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. Parents can make the game even more playful by mastering silly expressions when revealing their faces.

Some infants may also enjoy watching you jump up and down, flail your arms, or shake your head back and forth.

Alternatively, you could try making sounds, such as blowing raspberries. Observing and listening to people allows babies to mimic movements and sounds, and learning a new gesture or sound is both funny and exciting for both the child and parent.

Toddler Play

As babies grow into toddlers, they prefer more hands-on activities, such as playing Pat-a-Cake or stacking blocks. This provides sensory stimulation as the child moves their hands to the words, and it also teaches rhyme recognition and memorization.

Block stacking encourages hand-and-eye coordination, and most toddlers get a kick out of knocking the blocks down, which teaches cause and effect.

Around the age of three, toddlers become more social in their interactions. However, they’re not yet fully aware of what it takes to be a “good friend.” When your child has a playdate, observe the children closely. If they begin to fight, get involved playfully.

Through play, you can teach children the proper ways to interact and aid them in sharing and being kind.

Preschooler Play

Once a child reaches preschool age, their imagination is in full swing.

Around this age, children typically enjoy role-playing realistic and fantasy situations, such as playing house or pretending to be their favorite movie character.

Playing house is a simple, imaginative way to spend time playing with your child. You simply pretend to cook, clean, sleep, or perform any other regular day-to-day activity. Perhaps your child wants to bring you imaginary food, so all you have to do is pretend to eat it.

As simple as it sounds, imaginative play can provide a child satisfaction for hours.

2. Reduce Your Reliance On Electronic Devices

In our fast-paced world dominated by technology, it’s difficult to imagine shutting down the WiFi, even for only a minute or two. However, children need downtime — teenagers, too. Playtime doesn’t mean sitting in front of a television or their rooms with a tablet in hand.

Children, teenagers, and young adults receive so much more stimulation from hands-on, interactive activities and physical play. Not only do they learn and grow more, but moving their bodies is essential to prevent childhood obesity.

Instead of sitting indoors on tablets, phones, and computers, encourage your kids to spend at least an hour per day without electronics.

Younger children benefit from games of tag, hide-and-seek, playing pretend, going on walks, or riding bikes together.

Teenagers may enjoy squirt guns or water balloons (weather-permitting) and an old-fashioned water fight. If you don’t feel like getting wet, silly string creates the same playful vibe. Show your children that life doesn’t have to be boring just because you’re an adult.

For something a little more laid back, consider setting up a scavenger hunt. The “prize” at the end could be a new book, picking what’s for dinner, or going out for ice cream.

3. Use Fewer Toys

Toys are great because they provide an excellent way to improve fine motor skills in babies and toddlers and encourage imaginative play in older children. However, toys aren’t needed to have a good time with your kids.

Sometimes the best way to play is by using the things you find around you.

Think about it. Have you ever given your child a gift, only for them to spend hours playing with the box that it came in? This is because children are imaginative. A box isn’t just a box — it’s an airplane, a car, a mansion, or a schoolhouse. Use this to your advantage.

Grab several boxes along with a set of markers or crayons and turn those cardboard boxes into something magical.

Alternatively, get outside and make mud pies on paper plates, create “fairy houses” with sticks and stones, or roll around in a pile of leaves, pretending that it’s snow. For older kids, consider making origami animals, writing your own Mad Libs stories, or drawing funny portraits of one another.

Whoever draws the funniest picture gets to choose dessert.

4. Commit At Least One Hour Per Day to Your Child

With our busy schedules and fast-paced lives, committing an entire hour sounds like a difficult feat. But, when it comes to children, one hour of your undivided attention could change their lives in a positive way.

Between school and extracurricular activities, kids often feel stressed out by responsibilities.

The value of play is so significant, especially during the elementary school years. Make it a point to allow your child at least one hour per day to play however they choose and you can get involved, too.

If your child wants to bake a cake, help them out. Make it fun and playful by pretending that you have your own cooking show. Tell jokes about the ingredients and laugh a little, or a lot.

Does your child want to relax and unwind instead? Build a fort with pillows, blankets, boxes, and whatever else you have on hand. Pop a bag of popcorn and sit inside the fort while watching a movie together.

5. Become Involved in Your Child’s Hobbies

Good parents encourage their children to take part in activities that they enjoy. The best way to show your child that you care about their interests is by getting involved with them.

The artistic child might enjoy a day at a do-it-yourself painting studio, which often hosts events with an instructor who walks customers through the step-by-step painting process. Typically, all materials are provided but check with the venue to be sure.

Children or teens with an affinity for music may enjoy hearing some of your favorite songs from when you were a child. In return, ask to listen to theirs. If dancing is part of their love of music, consider spending time creating your own silly, or serious, dance together.

Another way to encourage hobbies in children is by picking up books on topics they’re passionate about. This shows that not only do you listen to their passions, but you want to encourage them to continue evolving their skills.

Conclusion

The most important rule of being a playful parent is this: Don’t take life too seriously.

Getting angry over spilled flour while making cookies is a great way to ruin what could have been a jovial vibe and a memorable moment with your children.

Being playful means spending quality time without the stresses of life weighing on you. It means making memories and bonding with your child. Once you become a parent, it doesn’t bar you from having fun.

In fact, by having fun with your children, they learn that life is something to be enjoyed at any age.