encouraging 2.6yr old to play by himself?

[moojie]

My 2.6yr old ds used to be quite good at playing by himself for 30 mins. Over Christmas holidays he had lots of people around to play with and now will only play when someone is with him...you might get the occasional 5 mins!

I am 6 months pregnant and feeling the strain. All I hear is "can you play with me" over and over. I will have spent an hour playing with him and 5 mins later it starts all over again.

Any tips on encouraging him to play by himself? We go out most mornings to avoid me going crazy with his constant asking so he is well stimulated.

I need to improve things otherwise I have no idea how I'll cope with a newborn too

mine will play with a big box of megablocks on his own on the floor for ages - or if you have outside space something like the little tykes ride-in car is good as no child can resist driving round in one of those! and a mini slide can be useful outside as well. If its nice weather you can sit outside 'supervising' but not having to move! Crayoning? like, if I say 'I am sitting on the sofa and watching you draw' mine will draw very seriously for 30 mins, he's 2.2, he will often want me watching though and shout the colours at me which I have to shout back but have found I can do that whilst eating/reading a mag haha! I have found a little table and chair from Ikea for him brilliant as well, as he will often perch himself there to read a book/draw/other crafts/build towers/eat, I can't get him to sit still other than a 'project' at his table which he loves. best of luck :)

The phrase i hear most other than 'why?' is 'what shall we play mummy?'
it is really draining since i have a newborn who screams constantly when awake. b4aby came along i introduced a reward chart for playing on his own - just a small treat for 20-30 mins play - it worked quite well and gives me a short break, my ds is a bit older than yours though so he understood how the reward worked - might be worth a try.

if all else fails i resort to the t.v!!!

Good luck