Fisher-Price® Woodland Friends SpaceSaver Jumperoo™
Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Smart Stages™ Puppy
Fisher-Price® Baby’s First Bocks
Fisher-Price® Learn With Me Zebra Walker
Fisher-Price® Kick & Play Piano Gym
Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Smart Stages™ Chair
Flower Cookies c/o | All Toys c/o Fisher-Price
Being a busy mama of two little ones, I often find myself wondering at the end of each day if I’ve done enough. Did I feed them enough vegetables? Have they gotten outside today? Have I spent enough time trying to teach them to count or learn the ABCs? Did they watch too much TV? Did I play with them enough? The list goes on! With Addilyn turning three, I have most recently found the pressure to enroll her in more schedule related activities such as dance, swimming, preschool etc. I felt so stressed and overwhelmed as I started looking into it all, only to realize that so many parents do this before their kids are even two. Yet here I am with a three-year-old and JUST beginning this process. Then Fisher-Price contacted me to work with them on sharing such an important message – one I as a mama needed so badly to hear! Spreading the word on the value of unscheduled playtime.
Just as I experienced as a child, unscheduled playtime is one of the most key elements of childhood. I remember playing for countless hours with toys at home, and at play days with my friends in the neighborhood. Today, there are so many pressures placed on us as parents to enroll our children in scheduled activities! With outside pressures such as the media and society as a whole, we are all losing sight of the simple fact that kids just need time to be kids. Unscheduled play allows a child to develop their imagination and helps encourage creativity. While kids play and use their imagination and creativity, they are also developing a foundation for their future!
This is where Fisher-Price comes in: they create toys for children that help nurture and grow their developing minds. Their toys help nurture physical, cognitive and social/emotional development in children of all ages! Essentially while your kids are on the floor playing with toys, they are doing so much more than that.
A couple of weeks ago, I had some of my wonderful neighbour friends with their cute kiddies over for a huge play day to share this message. As you can see below, the kids really had a blast with all of the fun Fisher-Price toys, and us mamas had some coffee and good conversation! Trust me though, this is not how all of my play days look… most times they’re last minute (as in I am in sweats and no make-up) and the kids usually end up eating whatever I have on hand in the pantry ha! Thank goodness it is more about the kids getting to play together, and hopefully a little bit of uninterrupted conversation with a friend. You can see more of these wonderful play days under the hashtag #FPPlayDay on Instagram as well!
And there’s more! Fisher-Price wants to help you throw your own Play Day and are offering one lucky reader the chance to win an incredible prize pack, chock full of toys and gear. Valued at $375, this prize pack includes:
Fisher-Price® Woodland Friends SpaceSaver Jumperoo™
Fisher-Price® Kick & Play Piano Gym
Fisher-Price® Rock-a-Stack®
Fisher-Price® Baby’s First Blocks
Fisher-Price® Fun Feelings Monster
Fisher-Price® Double Poppin’ Dino
Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Smart Stages™ Puppy and Sis
Fisher-Price® Learn With Me Zebra Walker
Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Smart Stages™ Chair
Fisher-Price® Think & Learn Smart Scan Color Chameleon
To enter, please comment below with your tips on how to incorporate more unstructured play into your routine.
Contest open to Canadian residents only, excluding Quebec.
I keep a small selection of toys in every room. This way, while I tend to one child, the other has something to do. I find they almost always play better together and more imaginatively in these moments.
I also like to minimize rushing and “try” to incorporate otherwise challenging tasks (read: jackets and socks) while the kids are playing. When they are engrossed in play they tend to comply and everyone is happy!
Unstructured play – I love to let my kids figure out their own ‘games’ to play. I find they will come up with more games and play longer than whatever I think of myself. This party looks adorable!
What a great post! I usually plan my week and leave a day or two at home with no plans for the kids to just play with their toys/games or out in the backyard and let their imaginations take over.
It’s easy to get over scheduled especially with multiple kids so it’s nice to just have some down time with no scheduled activities! Thanks for sharing!
Being a stay at home mom we get lots of time for unstructured play! If I’m downstairs doing laundry my LO will play with random toys in the basement and when I’m upstairs cooking and cleaning she basically amuses herself whether it’s at her little kitchen while I’m cooking or helping me clean with her own vaccum. We can’t wait till it warms up to head outside and explore our yard, the beach and playgrounds!!
Being a mom of a one month old, I love providing opportunities for unstructured play when my son is awake and alert. That is why I have multiple swings and bouncers with mobiles to catch his interest. But my favourite type of instructured play at this age is the spontaneous interactions that happen when he is engaged with me, such as talking and smiling at him when he makes eye contact.
I look forward to seeing him grow and develop while having fun with awesome gear like the fisher price items shown in your blog post!
I’m a stay at home mom of a three, two and four month old! So my days are busy! My oldest two children don’t nap but I still need some down time during the day while the baby sleeps. So while I ‘nap’ (more like sit down for a minute) I need to contain them so they’ll be safe and not need me there so much. I get out some options of their toys and they just go for it! Like play dough, Lego building, they love to play in their kitchen, they like to dress up and it keeps them so entertained, busy and having fun! It’s lovely to see them play together and where there imagination and creativity takes them!
We have toys all over the house and this definitely aids in all day unstructured play, but what I find keeps my 2 year old using her imagination the most is when she starts playing with things she finds around the house… my headbands, a dish towel, my husband’s lunch bag. Its those things that really help her imagination sore! I love watching how creative she can be with everyday household items.
I feel like I’m always working on ways to have unstructured play. The day usually starts with my daughter going into her toy room & saying good morning to all of her toys which ends up being play time. I find water tables, sand boxes, etc. are great for the imagination.
I like to incorporate toys into my decor so the spaces in our home have an element of play for our kids.
Ahh!! Amazing idea. Great post!
We rotate the toys in our house – too many can get overwhelming. It’s so wonderful to just get to their level and “play”. I let the boys pick the toys and lead the “playtime”.. no cell phone, no TV, just quality play time 😊 Although it doesn’t happen as much as I’d like- when it does- it’s the
so much family fun!
our favourite way to create unstructured playtime is to spend time outdoors. i love to watch my little kingston use his imagination while playing with sand/water tables + roam around our yard.
great post, mama!