We can all be guilty of not finding enough time to play with our kids – of putting them off with “just a minute, Daddy’s busy”. Well, it’s time to put down the iPad and play with your children. If you know how, that is?

New research released today shows that the average parent plays with their children for six and a half hours a week – saying they face barriers including struggling to keep up with their child’s imagination; Parents say they would love help reviving their imagination, but simply don’t know how.

So, to help parents, some very imaginative children show how it’s done by giving their own mini masterclasses on how to tell a story, how to make a fun mess and how to build things.

The research, released to celebrate the launch of new ‘jobs’ on the Chad Valley Play Panel, reveals that parents themselves would like help and support to really harness their inner child and play with their children. In fact, a third say that they don’t feel they are imaginative enough, while one in 10 feel embarrassed when it comes to getting into the spirit of playtime.

If parents were given a helping hand at playtime, almost a third would love help with how to come up with new ideas, a quarter would like to revive their imagination and one in six are eager to learn how to put on character voices to help when telling their children stories.

Leading child development expert, Jacqueline Harding is supporting the launch of the Chad Valley Play Panel:

“Children wallow in play in ways that adults have learned not to and this latest poll is telling of the struggle that adults face when it comes to entering a realm of imagination that they left behind when growing up. 

“From not being imaginative enough to feeling silly or embarrassed, parents placed their heart on their sleeves in this poll and with the average time played with their children coming in at only 6 and a half hours each week, it’s clear that mums and dads can learn a thing or two from their little ones about how to tap back into their imagination – which these new mini-masterclasses do brilliantly.”

The Chad Valley Play Panel consists of both children and their parents who will have the amazing job of providing their first-hand feedback, play advice and toy reviews.

To help parents learn how to be kids again, we took three kids and got them to give a mini masterclass to adults on how to tell a story, how to make a mess and how to build things – kids-style!

Watch the videos to see what happens.