Independent Play Challenge: Day 3
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Welcome to day 3 of the Independent Play Challenge!
How to choose toys that encourage play and creativity
In the previous days of the challenge, we talked about the importance of offering kids open-ended toys and materials to encourage creativity and independent play.
Today we will focus on:
- what “open-ended” actually means and
- what criteria can help you decide what toys are right for your kids.
It will only take you a few minutes to go through today’s tips, so you can have more time to do the assignment and implement them.
- ⭐ Spend 3 minutes going through today’s workbook: How to choose toys that encourage play and creativity.
- Check out the assignment inside the workbook and spend 10-20 minutes curating open-ended toys and materials for your kids to use in they play.
- 📌 BONUS: Because I got several messages from moms asking for toy recommendations, I also created a list of 50+ open-ended toys for kids to grow with. If you are looking for toys that will help you encourage independent play, this list is full of ideas to inspire you.
One important thing to remember throughout this process is that you don’t need tons of fancy toys or expensive materials to create amazing play experiences for your kids.
Being intentional about the toys and materials we offer to our kids is a lot more important than having one of those “picture-perfect” play spaces we often see on social media.
🙋 If you have any questions about any of the topics we covered so far in this challenge, please add them here in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer them!
➡️ Coming next: How to set up engaging activities that your kids will want to try (available tomorrow)
The list of toys is sooo good, thank you! I was one of the moms asking for toy recommendations and this helps a lot.
How do you store the toys you use for the toy rotation?
I use some storage boxes I got from Target, but you can also find many options on Amazon depending on what size you need.
I recommend choosing boxes that you can easily stack so you can store them in a small space.