10 Ways to Encourage
Your Children to Play

1. Make your own playdough. You will find recipes on our playdough recipes page.
2. Large and small cardboard boxes are excellent and can be used to make buses, cars and trains which encourage creativity, design and technology.
3. Keep a box containing old clothes, such as dresses, shoes, jackets, handbags, shirts, trousers etc. Kids love to dress-up and this will help develop their social, communication and language skills.
4. Fill a bottom drawer with safe kitchen utensils (obviously nothing sharp like knives etc) such as pots and pans and wooden and plastic spoons. Let your children know that this is a special drawer for them to use.
5. When you are in the garden give them something to do to help, e.g. provide them with a watering can so they can water the plants.
6. Old sheets and blankets inspire creativity. Children love to make cubby houses where they can hide and create their own little world.
7. Let them climb trees, ride bikes, and play their own pretend games.
8. A sandpit is great fun for kids. You can fill any large container with sand and add some water, so they can see what the different effects are with dry and wet sand - let them experience the beach at home. You can set it up either outside or inside. If inside, an old baby bath could be used. Provide them with some fun items such as buckets and spades, pots and pans. This is a good way to teach them about science and maths because as they play, they are working out the weight of each item, what is heavy and light, and, for example, how many spades full of sand it takes to fill a bucket.
9. Involve them in your household chores. Children relish being involved and love assisting in tasks such as sweeping, vacuuming, gardening, and cooking. Be patient with them and you’ll often get them started in their own role-play.

Here are a few ideas to help you:

• When you are sweeping give them their own broom and ask them to sweep a certain area.
• Give them a chance to see how the vacuum works or give them a toy version so that they can accompany you, when you are vacuuming or let them make one of their own.
• When you are cooking, let them mix the ingredients or stir something for you, particularly if you are preparing a dish that is simple like macaroni cheese. Children love to bake and have fun, but be prepared for lots of mess and for them to get dirty! They may also like to lick the spoon afterwards (that was the best part of baking a cake with my grandfather when I was a child).
• Ask your children to help you in the supermarket and let them know what you need and let them help you to find it.
10. When you are out and about, here’s some further ideas to encourage your children to play.


• If you live in an area where there are animals, tell them about the different species that they may find (encourage them to listen and move quietly so they have the opportunity to see and hear them). Also point out that they may see animal tracks if they look carefully enough.
• Show them the different trees and encourage them to look but not pick the branches off (they can discover the different textures of the leaves).
• Take them on a picnic/a day in the bush so that they learn to appreciate the world around them. Encourage their environmental awareness by tidying up when you are finished, so that you keep the environment clean and the birds and animals safe.

Enjoy your time with your children and have fun being playful and spontaneous. Remember that your child within loves to have fun and play too. Your children will not be children for long so cherish the moment and allow them to be the children they are!