How to encourage independent play

It is not possible to entertain your kids 24-7.  These times might include cooking dinner, talking on the phone, paying bills, cleaning the fridge, etc.  Or the occasional moment you might like to take five minutes for yourself.  I know that I need strategies for these times.  Also, starting in their toddler years, it is good for our children to learn to do things independently. 

I use bins.  This is a simple technique that requires little money and little time on your part to set up.  Our toy box is full of bins, I try not to have any loose toys.  There is a bin of monster trucks (and other vehicles), a bin of blocks for building, a bin of tools and a bin of cooking items (a pot, play food, an apron, and spoon).  It is a good idea to offer a variety of toys, but not too many choices.  Too many choices can be overwhelming.  Each bin has a picture label on it, you can use clip art. 

Now our son can get a bin out of the toy box, sit down with it and all of its pieces are in one place...which is much more suitable for independent play.  He knows where his toys belong, making clean up time a breeze! 

How to survive grocery store trips with your toddler

Many Moms that I know schedule their grocery trips when they can go alone. Why? Well, if your a Mom, then you understand that its just plan easier to do it yourself. Less time, and way less frustration and escaping the risk of little toddler throwing a massive, volcano eruption like tantrum right in the middle of the store....or worse yet, at the front of the store while you are trying to pay and get out of there. Sound familiar? But these wild little inquisitive ones, they crave and need as much independence as you have time and the patience to give them. And in the end, it is so worth your time. Why you ask? You can teach independence, and thus they become more secure individuals preparing them for the roller coaster ride that we call life. In the end, don't we each want our children to fly free successfully in every way and anyway they can? It starts here, I believe in the very beginning.

Here is a strategy for involving your toddler at the grocery store. Make them their very own grocery list. They love to "do it themselves." Here is a picture of our biggest little one's first grocery list.

 

It is a purposeful way to include them in your task you will already be doing anyway.  I gave him only two items to start out with so that he can be successful.  I also kept them close together as far as where they were located in the store, and in the beginning of the store.  This eliminates having a tired of being in the grocery store toddler doing his shopping at the end of the trip.   As an Occupational Therapist, I frequently use picture symbols as a way to supplement verbal language for children with disabilities. Of course, these strategies prove to be effective also with children that are not disabled. There is a program well known to the special education, speech and language and occupational therapy world, called Boardmaker.   Simply, the concept is using pictures to aid the understanding of words, it does not have to be the boardmaker symbols (although that is popular and universal picture software). I used generic clip art pictures found on the Internet for my little guys list. The pictures help aide the understanding of language and give structure to the task. The child knows exactly what is expected of him and thus, almost always you will be able to avoid the volcano eruption!  As we take future trips, his list will be modified and enhanced to include smaller pictures, more pictures and add some letters as he is learning to identify them.    Our little guy was so proud of himself and I was proud of him too. Way to go little guy!