30 Days To Hands On Play Challenge

I play with my kids.

A lot.

It's normal in this family. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case in a lot of families. So, my  bloggy friends Jamie at hands on : as we grow and Anna at The Imagination Tree have created a 30 day challenge to encourage parents to play with their children for a minimum of 15 minutes uninterrupted. No emails, no texting, no chores, no thinking about what's for dinner. Just focusing all of your attention and energy on your child(ren). I think this is the perfect challenge for parents that work and would be great for grandparents that live close.





Day 1's challenge is to create a mission statement for what you hope to gain from the challenge and to observe your child's playing habits.

The mission statement took a little bit of time for me to come up with but I think I finally have one:

To learn new things about my girls that I didn't know before and to challenge myself to expand the way I play with them.

Learning something new about my girls may be more of a challenge to me. Being a stay-at-home mom I feel like I know pretty much every little thing about my girls, they are with me 24/7, but if I focus more on really trying to learn something new I think I can accomplish this goal.

Expanding the way we play will be easier I think. We play a lot but sometimes we get in a rut. Our typical play is going to the park "with the green slide" pretty much everyday. It's fun for the girls and I have no problem with doing it but, I'd love for them to know other ways to play.

Next I observed how my girls play:

Charlotte (4 years):

*She's my singer and dancer, she turns everything into a song

*She's the boss, she likes people to play her way

*She isn't into independent play, she prefers a playmate at all times

*She loves to pretend to be a person that can serve people: chef, hairdresser, postal worker, etc.

*She's my emotional player, she really feels what she's playing is real. When she's dancing, she loves to close her eyes and let the music move her. When she's playing Mommy, she cares for her dolls with true motherly love.

*She gets frustrated easily, if she can't figure out something on the first try she has no problem pushing it aside without trying it again.

Alexis (2 years):

*She's my little copycat, she can mimic every move and sound you do

*She's a daredevil! She has no problem jumping off the back of the couch or going down the steepest slide

*She likes to get messy. She loves smearing herself with paint, squishing her toes in mud and pouring sand in her hair.

*She loves independent play, she can sit by herself in her bedroom for hours playing.

*She like nursery rhymes and handplay activities, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Where is Thumbkin? and all of the above

I can't wait to get started with this challenge and tell you all about it! I hope you will join in on the fun too!