Playtime Develops Young Minds

Playtime

Does playtime develop young minds? with Felice Gerwitz

Podcast #208

Playtime allows children time to discover and explore. Sometimes we provide the latest and greatest toys or schedule every second of our kids lives with sports, camps, and lessons. Kids need time to think and to thrive on having time to figure things out on their own. Do your kids have a hard time playing on their own? In this podcast Felice shares tips on helping children to be independent, learn and explore. Sometimes just a little bit of structure helps as well as well as having ideas they can pursue on their own.

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Show Notes: Playtime

How do you gear you kids up for “free time” playtime?
What do you do when our kids can’t figure out things to do on their own?
What is something they ask to do – that you say,”We don’t have time to do now?”
Set up timers
Paper – paper airplanes
Books – reading, writing their own stories, creating plays and “shows”
Brainstorm lists with your children of things to do

Children sometimes need direction to play alone. If your child is one of these “types,” the best advice is to work into it slowly. If your child has other siblings this may not be difficult. However, children tend to gravitate to the tried and true. They may not explore other avenues unless parent-led. If your child tends to be a realist (I had several children who were), encourage them in the arts, theater, puppet shows, etc. I explain more about this on the podcast about playtime.