Can you teach a child to play alone?

[RosieLemonade]

I don’t know if I’m expecting too much of DD. She’s 3 and a half and she never ever plays by herself. Today I had a banging headache and I just wanted to lay with my eye closed for five minutes and she was yelling at me “play with me play with me. I don’t want to be alone.” I was in the same room as her! I do like playing with her but I’m finding it grinding now and wish I could be getting on with things. But then I end up putting the telly on just so I can get things done and I would rather her have less screen time. Is there anything I can do?

Did you tell her you felt unwell? she might have understood, and given you a break?

Some parents do train their children to play independently. It used to be the norm when I was a child.
Eg.

I did this with a younger child so sorry if it's completely useless advice! But this worked for my DD.
Start actively playing with her, after ten minutes or so, stay in her area (sat on the floor, or by the sand pit wherever) reacting when she asks or shows you something, but don't pick up toys or get involved on your own. After ten minutes, move away to the sofa but keep watching giving encouraging smiles. Ten minutes - go do the washing up or whatever you want to do.

Over time the amount you have to stay will get shorter and the amount she plays alone will get longer.

When I was tiny my mum used to give me join-the-dot magazines so that I could learn the alphabet. I'd happily go off and do them, and return to her when I needed to learn the next few letters. In the meantime she got on with stuff downstairs. Colouring books might also work for some children...?

Thanks for the replies. I did tell her I was unwell but she still sobbed till I played with her.
She won’t do colouring etc by herself. The only thing I don’t have to join in with is watching TV. But I’m worried about the amount of time she spends watching it as that’s the only time I get to sort the house etc. I work evenings so I can’t do it any other time.

Watching for useful tips, we are exactly the same, same age and won't do anything alone except TV!

This is probably a bad explanation but there's a Waldorf (I think, I don't "do" waldorf) concept that's like "breath in" then "breath out". So you "breath in" with together time, doing something together like reading a book or doing a puzzle or pretend play etc for a bit and then "breath out" where you sort of leave them to it for a bit, if they want you back say something like I'll play with you after I've hung the washing up or in ten mins. Then repeat and over time extend the time you do the "breath out".

My DD is 2 and 4 months and wasn't interested at all in independent play. She still isn't great, but interestingly we had to isolate recently for a fortnight due to me (and then DH!) getting Covid, and some of the time I wasn't capable of much more than lying on the couch. I didn't notice it much at the time, but she has started playing independently a bit more since then. I'm following this thread through as I'd like some more ideas, particularly as her sibling is due in 5 weeks!

I sort of trained mine. Got a digital little egg timer (which they loved) and would set it for 5 minutes or whatever when I was in the kitchen making their lunch / dinner. They were to play independently until the timer went off. Gradually increased it as I did different tasks- to teach them there were times where I needed to do things independently and so did they. It was a success for us.
I also had a busy box / bag of things they wouldn't normally play with to make it more exciting initially but they didn't need it after a while as they would find something to do themselves.