Hardly does a day go by without my daughter telling me: “Mom, I want to play with you!”. While I like to participate in her games and pretend plays as often as I can, there are days when I’m dog-tired, stressed or have so many household chores to do that I’m not interested in playing at all. And let’s be honest, on some days, playing seems like an extra chore.
So on the days when I don’t feel like playing, I still spend some quality time with my daughter and give her 100% of my attention, but playing the things I like. These activities do not need a lot of work from my part, but they still give me the opportunity to bond with my daughter, get to know her better, talk about our day and give my daughter that much-needed parent attention all kids crave so much and at the same time I get to relax.
These are some of the activities that let me spend some quality time with my daughter and unwind at the same time:
Play-Doh
My daughter loves playing with Play-Doh, and I love it too. The act of squishing, kneading, rolling, pounding and smashing it helps me to feel less stressed and somehow calms me. We have a huge box full of different playdough molds that we use during the play time. We get creative and make cakes, decorate cookies, design clothes for dolls or just cut out different shapes. If you prefer an extra relaxing playdough session, make your own calming dough.
Coloring
Adult coloring books are really popular at the moment and they are also a great way to unwind after a demanding day. Did you know that adult coloring books are great for your mental, emotional and intellectual health? So, get some coloring books, or print some designs from online, gather your kid’s colored pencils and start coloring! Your little ones will like drawing their favorite characters while you can reduce stress, boost your mental clarity and simply relax.
Magic Sand
Playing with Magic Sand is a great way to decompress. Letting the sand run through my fingers brings back memories of beach vacations and also the time when I was a kid playing in a sand pit. It’s a lot of fun build sand castles or other objects and then just demolish them. While at the beach, I have to be really alert as accidents might happen, but playing with the sand at home is a stress and also a mess fee activity, so I don’t have to worry about the accidents or the time the cleaning up might take.
Legos & Building Blocks
Legos and building blocks are beneficial toys that can help with many things other than just play. A lot of people, including David Beckham, find that playing with Lego is therapeutic. It doesn’t matter if it’s a complicated Lego set or just a Duplo tower you are building with your kids, seeing something materialize gives you a sweet feeling of achievement.
Oh, and the most important thing! Remember to gather all the pieces after playing, as you would not want to step on one!
How do you relax while playing with kids?
**The mother carrying little boy unedited image is designed by Freepik.
