Find a new way to add play to your day

You might not think of yourself as a playful parent. Having twins, I certainly do not remember actively sitting down with them for creative and imaginative play. They had each other to play with, as soon as they were old enough to realize it. My next two kids are 18 months apart, so they also have each other (yep, that was the plan). Keep reading or watch the 15-minute video for ideas to add play to your day.

Favorite quote from this conversation:

“Play is the internal motivation for learning.”
-Robyn Robertson

School vs. Play

I feel in our homeschool there is a line between school time and play time. If I were to pinpoint the difference, I think the main thing about play is that it has to be optional. It can’t be a rigid thing to check off or it’s not fun.

School can also happen through play, like the time my 10-year olds took turns writing a 6 page story after rolling Story Cubes. It was a Star Wars, Harry Potter mash-up, completely organic and unassigned.

Weekly Rhythms

I try to set aside one day of the week for what I call “Project Day,” which is usually Wednesday. It’s a day where they get to work on whatever they want and I am available to help them. On our most recent project day, one of my 10-year olds wanted to learn how to play the Mandalorian theme song on the piano. I knew it would be hard even for his intermediate piano status, but I found a download for him. We went over the sixteenth-note counting. He used the sheet music and a Youtube video and just fiddled around with it until the beginning started to sound pretty good!

Project Week

We keep the same rhythm all year, so every 4th week, is a “project week” where we just go down rabbit trails and they keep working on our projects. Sometimes they play catchup on the first day to finish a certain reading or writing assignment, but it doesn’t take long.

If we read a fun book with a recipe, such as Fry Bread, we have plenty of time to make messes in the kitchen during Project Week! These books are usually geography related. When we studied Philippines, we made pancit from the back of “Cora Cooks Pancit” and lumpia from “Doña Esmerelda Eats Everything.”

Weekly Movie Night

One doesn’t think of watching movies as “play,” but it brings us so much joy and is so easy to incorporate. My kids don’t allow us to skip a week without movie night! Here are a few Movie Night tips.

Post a rotation of who chooses the movie for movie night. It’s exciting to look forward to your turn! You can bet my choices are animated movies related to our country of study!
Check your library for movie rentals. This takes a bit of forethought in case you have to put it on hold and pick it up from the library.
If microwave popcorn makes you gag, try making it in an air popper. We’ve used this one for 20 years now! That’s a lot of popcorn!
Pause for intermission halfway through. Everyone washes their hands and vacuums the kernels on the floor.

Weekly Game Night

Game night happens most weekends for us. Occasionally it is squeezed out if we have a lot going on, but we really enjoy this as well! You’ll have to watch the video to hear my history with board games. Here are a few Game Night tips:

Post a rotation of who chooses the game for game night. (It’s on the same paper as our movie night rotation.)
If a game is chosen where the younger kids can’t read directions, then we team up or one parent will play an easier game with them and one will play the harder game with the older kids.
Teaming up, adult with younger child, is such a great way for the younger kids to start to understand.
If you’re starting a new game, watch a youtube video for how to set up and start playing.

Here’s the best part: mine have started playing games without me, all the time! Reading directions, teamwork, and figuring out rules! Robyn has valuable insight in the video about the value of games for training in math and problem solving.

My favorite types of games are those with geography themes. Not necessarily with a map, but a game that has a connection to a culture or place. We have so many of these strategic geography-themed board games.

Family Fun Day

These happen less frequently for us than game and movie nights. But basically, I have a list of suggested activities for us to decide on together and do for a few hours on a weekend.

Trails, including specific ones for orienteering or geocaching.
Museum passes that we can check out from the library to cover admission.
Family sports such as: tennis, indoor swimming, skate park, biking, badminton, ice skating, bowling, etc.

The exposure to new places and sports is so valuable. It is also a safe environment where the kids can try something new and possibly discover something that they enjoy.

A Themed Year

In 2021, my kids started to get into Star Wars, so I decided to make it a Star Wars themed year. I bought books of Star Wars Origami, Drawing Star Wars Characters, Star Wars Maker Lab, Star Wars Perler Beads, made Star Wars themed cakes, crocheted Star Wars themed hats… it was so much fun!!

2022 was the year of Harry Potter. We listened to the first few books on audiobook and watched the first movie. I bought them Harry Potter pencils, How to Draw Harry Potter characters, and a book of Magical Science Experiments. Those who wanted had Harry Potter themed cakes and we made a few recipes from the Unofficial Harry Potter cookbook.

My kids are already talking about 2023 being the year of Mario Kart. Fun times ahead!

Thanks for checking out this list! I hope it’s given you a few ideas. Have any more? Drop them below!