Play Activities Help Reduce Stress While Waiting

by Antonia Llull View Bio

Antonia Llull

Antonia, better known as Tonina, has been a practicing occupational therapist for over 20 years, specializing in Pediatrics. In her career’s journey, she has founded/directed a multidisciplinary rehab clinic and a private school for students with special needs (in Orlando, FL) and has been part of the rehab medicine management team at a top rated hospital in Manhattan. Tonina continues to work with children and families while building educational programming for parents and professionals. Founding MPowerMe and mpowermetoys.com culminates her clinical experiences and her love for discovering, sharing, and collaborating with her community to foster growth and creativity in children of all ages and skill levels. She strives to share about the use of toys, games, gadgets, literature, and sensory accessories to build children’s social skills, physical performance, ability to respond adaptively to their environment, and foster their continued journey as life-long learners.

Solving waiting room woes has been the point of discussion for designers and form-function specialists for years. The where, when, and how we “wait” has changed drastically since the start of the pandemic. Now, more than ever, increasing the comfort and value of that “waiting” time is essential. It is a time to further nurture your child’s executive functioning and development with planned play.

Waiting rooms may no longer have the convenient access to books, toys, play stations, beverages, and snacks to entertain your child while required to wait; in fact, access to a true waiting room area may not be available and your vehicle is now the “waiting area”.

Regardless of where you are required to wait, it is possible to provide strategic play activities that are easily portable and have a low noise/visual stimulation footprint for those that may be nearby. Further, including your child in the preparation for that waiting time is a fantastic opportunity to build or reinforce their current level of executive functioning (EF).

Executive Functioning (EF) is comprised of cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control. These 3 neurological skills together support the development of tenacity, problem solving, persistence, conscientiousness, self-control, emotional regulation, goal-directed behavior, conscious self-regulation, time management, and organization. All which impact learning and adaptive responses across situations and environments.

Curating the just right “Waiting Room Go Bag” strategies:

• Engage your pre-k and/or early, elementary school aged child in creating a fun list via a category list game – “as fast as we can let’s list all the toys/games/activities we like that are quiet/small/short to play/easy to carry” etc.
• Prepare your child for the opportunity and include them in selecting from appropriate activities to engage in, either in the car or in an actual waiting room.
• Include visual timers when in a shared waiting room (and auditory timers to use in your vehicle).
• For longer waiting times and for younger children, present activities/objects/toys one at a time. Keep the “go bag” with you and bring out the new option when your child shows a waning interest in the current activity.
• Have a clean-up container prepared for any occurrence. This will reduce stress for you - wipes, plastic backs, paper towel etc. Keep this handy for you and your child.

Activity Suggestions for a Traditional Waiting Room:

• I Spy in a Bottle (fill a bottle with small beads/uncooked mixed beans and then place mini-items like google eyes, pom poms, figurines, coins, rock, shell, letter, and number beads, etc. and play a “find it game”.
• Pop up books
• Music and Audio books with headphones so not to disturb others
• Magnetic games/letters/number/blocks
• Non-mess drawing kits
• Suction cup toys to use with your own travel tray
• Fidget and squeeze toys
• Paper pad and pencils for hangman, tic-tac toe, drawing guessing games etc.
• Quiet card and matching games

With a little planning and preparation, you and your child can use that “waiting time” to engage in activities that support bonding, skill development, and having fun. This in turn may also support a better experience once the appointment begins. In addition, a positive waiting experience can support smooth transitions for the rest of the day.

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