Making time for play, every day!

After a busy day, the thought of getting down on your hands and knees and taking time out to play might be the last thing on your mind. But believe it or not, making time for play can be a breeze! It’s all about managing playtime so that it slots into any gaps you can grab in your family’s schedule.

So, let’s dive into our playtime tips for busy parents and see how you can squeeze more play into every day!

The importance of daily play

As well as keeping our kids entertained, play time boosts their development and gives them essential skills they’ll need for school and later life. Take building a LEGO® set, for example; physical activities that get their brains whirring can help them to build their memory, thinking and reasoning skills (maybe they can remember where you put the car keys…).

Creating a daily play routine can also help them build their skills without realizing they’re learning. Whether it’s fueling their creativity and imagination with quick builds and random bricks or building together to boost teamwork and communication skills, educational studies prove that learning based in play keeps children’s attention for longer

WFH to PFH (Playing from Home!)

With so many parents working from home one or more days a week, it can be tricky to juggle work and life! Add school holidays into the mix, and keeping the kids entertained can be a logistical nightmare.

But fear not… it’s time to start Playing from Home (or PFH)! On days when you’re working from home, transform lunchtimes into a bond-and-build activity for the family. Think ‘30 minutes lunch, 30 minutes play’ to create an easy-to-manage daily play routine.

A de-stressing activity for you, and a moment of great bonding and playtime for them. And once your lunch break is over, you can leave them to carry on your creations, or pick up the project where you left off the next day. Lunch breaks have never been so much fun!

Squeezing play into the everyday

Any time of day can be a time to play! Think ‘wake and make’. Pop a quick build or stack of bricks on your breakfast table and get your kids to flex their creative muscles after they’ve eaten their favorite cereal.

Or look at time for play as an after-dinner treat. Left some food on your plate? Only five minutes building time for fussy eaters!

As well as motivation to make mealtimes easier and get your little ones towards their five-a-day, it keeps your kids occupied and engaged at the table longer. Physical activities like this are a great distraction to have tough conversations about school or to get to the bottom of any tricky subjects.

A perfect way to amp up your daily play routine and get some all-important family bonding time!

Guided play for everyone

We all know there’s a time and a place for screens, but what if there were a way to weave some playtime into screen time and get two wins for the price of one?

Gather around the table, grab your tablets or phones, and tap on the Build Together function in the LEGO Builder app. Then voilà! You can team up on any size of LEGO project with easy-to-follow, interactive guides from a small LEGO Friends Sea Rescue Plane (41752) to the colossal LEGO City Downtown (60380). Great for their teamwork skills and independent learning, but also, you get to play and build your own thing, too!

ABC (Always Be Constructing)!

“Are we there yet?” “How much longer will it be?” “I’m BOOORED!” Sound familiar? So much of our time can be spent waiting around, and when you’re tiny, fifteen minutes can feel like FOREVER. Fighting boredom and distracting our little ones from an inevitable queue or waiting room stint means it’s time for play!

No matter where you are, always keep some LEGO bricks handy to weave some play into your day. Waiting for a dentist appointment? Quick, make a model of your favorite toothy animal! Stuck in a traffic jam? Build another mode of transport that could get you to your destination in record speed! This is a quick way to fight boredom and top up your daily play routine – win-win.

We know how busy parents are, and the number of different pressures we’re under to grow our little humans into the best people they can be! But the importance of daily play is just as vital for adults as it is for kids. By making time for play, we can boost the whole family’s skills, banish boredom for good and get a great LEGO set to display at the same time.

Ready to play? Check out 8 ways to bring more offline play into daily life with LEGO bricks for more inspiration!