Even when young children love to assert their independence, they still desire your attention and company. After all, YOU are their first and favorite playmate. When they are building blocks, they want you to build blocks too. If you leave the room for a moment, they become your shadow and want to help you with whatever you are doing. This can be both sweet and frustrating! Below are some practical ways to encourage and strengthen your child’s ability to play independently so that you won’t be their sole source of entertainment. 

• Use parallel play. This technique is helpful when you want to reassure your child that you are nearby while he plays independently. You could say, “While you build a tower over there, I’m going to work on this puzzle over here.” Eventually you will be able to play farther away or leave the room for short periods of time because your involvement will be less and less important. Play is such valuable time for children to learn, imagine, take chances, and make mistakes and then do-overs.
• Provide open-ended toys. Toys such as blocks, dress-up clothes, play food, small figurines (people or animals) and dolls can be played with over and over again in different ways. Recyclable objects such as cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls, and empty milk jugs make great toys as well!
• Make things new. Sometimes just changing things up a bit will renew your child’s interest in a toy or activity. Rotate toys by temporarily packing some up and bringing old toys out again. If you don’t have extra storage space, simply change the location of a few toys to bring new life to some old favorites.
• Teaching patience and resilience. Children eventually learn that their parents cannot always be at their beck-and-call. Knowing how to play independently and wait until someone is available to help them can teach children patience and give them the confidence to know that they can do things on their own.

Remember that engaging in uninterrupted play with your child for fifteen minutes each day will help “fill the meter,” making him more willing and able to play independently. Be sure to check out a Forty Carrots Partners in Play group for a perfect opportunity to connect with your little one and fill their emotional bucket.