Straight after I cut out TV as a way of entertaining Miss K in her everyday life, I knew it would take a while for her to learn how to play while she was 'de-toxing' from the effects of daily TV. As a starting point for encouraging independent play for Miss K, I felt it was really important to make sure alternative activities were easily available to fill in the large gaps that TV had naturally left so I could ease the transition. When she would have normally been watching TV, I made sure simple activities were within easy reach.
I found it important to have a look at where things were placed in my home to make play easy and natural for her. I don't think keeping the children's toys upstairs in their bedroom or a playroom helps with independent play. I personally feel it is a case of out of sight, out of mind. Children want to be close by to where the parent is most of the time, so it makes sense for me to keep all of the children's toys in the main living room area, where I spend most of my time. I keep a few, open ended natural toys on open shelving, at the child's height so it is at their eye level, very similar to the Waldorf classroom tradition. The toys are separated into simple, shallow, wicker baskets. We don't use toy bins or toy boxes. In my opinion, the traditionally styled toy boxes are just too difficult for young children to manage. The toys end up in chaos, with the child having to dump everything out in order to reach something at the very bottom.There is a little home corner, with the wooden play kitchen, play food, play frame, dolls crib, stroller, vintage till and three dolls. It sounds much more than it actually is. Simplicity is so important to me when it comes to children's play things. I am conscious of making sure I don't overwhelm a child with too many toys so they don't become so confused with what to play with that they end up not playing at all, or that there is so much 'stuff' that they pick something up only to put it down a few seconds later when something else catches their eye. Less toys offer the opportunity of a deeper level of play to a child. Less really is more.
I bought a child size table for their colouring, gluing and sticking. Something as simple as making sure that your child's things are at their level can make such a difference, so they are able to reach them themselves rather than having to come and ask a parent to get it, or ask for help to clamber up onto a large dining room table to be able to draw! If their art materials are shut away in a cupboard unseen, art isn't an easy option for a child to choose. It might not even occur to them as something they can 'do' right in that moment as they transistion from one activity to the next, as they flow through their day, as they can't see it right in front of them. Again, out of sight, out of mind. To make it easy for me to clear away the art materials at the end of the day, I make sure it is organised. I keep the paper in a shallow container so the girls can easily reach paper and I keep the pencils and crayons in two little separate containers. Simplicity and quality is important to me here, I don't bother cluttering up the house with cheap art materials that don't give great art results for the children. We exclusively use Lyra colouring pencils and Stockmar beeswax crayons as they are so rich and pure in colour. It was only recently that I bought some Crayola washable felt tip pens, I find that colouring with markers is a nice activity in itself so I tend to rotate them with the colouring pencils and crayons.Again, we don't have a large box full, just a pack suitable for Miss K with the super fine tips and a stubbier pack with broadline tips for Little L. The girls like the intense colour felt tip markers make on paper.
Really, I think where children's toys, books and art materials are actually kept in a home is only a little part of how to encourage independent play/activity in children. As a natural follow on from my series of posts about radically reducing TV, over the next few weeks I will be writing about different ways to encourage independent play!