Being a playful parent is important and play has a wide range of benefits for children. For positive parents, play connects parent and child, and connection is the parenting key.
Children love to play with Legos and blocks, so why not change it up a bit and play games with them! Below are several game variations you can try with your kids from Positive Parenting author, Rebecca Eanes.
Seek and Build:
My children love Lego bricks, and I love inspiring their creativity! This seek and build Lego game is a favorite in our home, and I hope it will become a favorite in yours, too!
Simply fill 10 sandwich baggies with various Lego pieces. Some of my bags are themed from sets we have, and others just have random bricks. Hide the baggies all over the house. I like to do this while my kids are sleeping so that it becomes a fun morning surprise! There is only one rule, and it’s simple. You must build a creation using all of the pieces in the bag you find.
Because I make 10 baggies, I tell my 2 kids that they get 5 baggies each. If one child finds 5 baggies first, then he helps the other find his remaining baggies. Once they each found their 5 baggies, they dumped one at a time and built a creation before moving on to the next baggie. Immediately after finishing this game, they asked me to set up again for the following day. They really love finding the baggies and creating from them!
Fizz and Build:
This is a fun (and educational) spin to the seek and build game.
You’ll need:
Mix 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water in a bowl. It should be thick and pasty. Pour half of the mixture into the cake pan. Spread Lego bricks and minifigures all over, and cover with the remaining baking soda mixture. Freeze for several hours. The next part is probably best done outside as it will be messy! Pop the frozen baking soda mixture out of the pan and give each child a dropper. Show them how to use the dropper to drop vinegar onto the baking soda. As the baking soda fizzes away, the bricks will emerge. Have them rinse the bricks in the water bowl and build a creation with what they found.
