Our Favorite Ways to Play with our Kids

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Because I love to have fun, I thought playing with my young kids would be easy. I was surprised by how wrong I was!

Far too often I find myself winding how to play with my kids!

Certain types of play bore me. I wonder at times if I outgrew the imagination and whimsy inherent in children.

Sometimes I’m distracted by other things I’d rather be doing or a pressing list of things I need to finish. Other times, sheer exhaustion steals all the fun of play.

Over the past year, however, I’ve been very aware of the importance of play with my kids. Conversations, interactions, ideas, and connections are triggered through the simple act of play. Kids need time with us when we aren’t disciplining, teaching, or leading. They don’t always need our insight or experience; they simply need us.

Do you want a better relationship with your kids? Play with them. Regularly.

Keep a List of Play Ideas

To help me be more proactive in playing with my kids, I made a list of activities we both enjoy. I keep a running idea list for those days when I can’t think of what to do, and I add to it whenever I think of a new idea. {Grab your own idea list HERE.}

In case you need a little help getting started, here are some of our favorite ways to play.

- - Hide and Go Seek — it’s a classic for good reason.
  - Board Games — Check out some of our favorites.
  - Playmags — one of our favorite ways to play these days!
  - Swimming
  - Fishing — ok, this is Daddy’s specialty, but it’s a favorite for my boys
  - Family walks or bike rides
  - Duplos and Legos
  - Puzzles
  - Trains — I love playing trains. Well, really it’s the tracks I love building. So many combinations, so many ideas! ;)
  - Idea boxes
  - Sidewalk chalk
  - Basketball / Horse
  - Running Bases
  - Coloring — Even though adult coloring books are all the rage, I still enjoy the options for kids.
  - Tag
  - Hot wheels and Matchbox cars — what can I say? I grew up with a brother. :)
  - Races around the yard
  - Impromptu dance parties — because we have AppleMusic, we have a wide variety of choices, but many times our dance parties are part praise parties, too.
  - Video Games — I try to limit this, but one of my sons loves video games. This is our favorite game to play as a family; this one too. We laugh so much every time we play these together.
  - One on one dates (click here for date ideas with your kids)
  - Books — One of favorite ways to relax with the kids – curling up with a good book. I’ve been collecting great book lists HERE.
  - Family Movie Night — while this isn’t exactly playing, we do love a good family movie night. THIS has become our FAVORITE way to pick a family movie — SO many options, and when we want to snuggle up for a cartoon with the littles, THIS is our go-to place!
  - Audio Stories – We love to turn on some of our favorite audio stories while snuggling on the couch or coloring at the table.