If you're encouraging a child to get into a new game, it really helps to show you're keen on it, too, says beloved TV presenter Suzy Cato.
"Get involved, show as much enthusiasm as you want your child to have in that toy or that game or activity, and wow, you'll get the buy-in because you're into it. Then you can eventually leave them to it," she tells Charlotte Ryan.
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As we roll into the second week of the school holidays, beloved TV presenter Suzy Cato has some tips for fun kids' activities.
It seems harder to connect and communicate with kids these days, but parents are just as likely to "have a device at the end of their arm", Cato says.
Children love newness but they also love familiarity.
With younger children, one way to introduce some holiday novelty is to keep a box of toys in storage that you only bring out during the school holidays.
"You have a box that you put away in the back of the cupboard and during the school holidays, you bring it out ... Don't have all the toys out all the time.
"Even some of the toys [that children] played with as toddlers will make them go... (Gasps) 'I remember this!'. And for a good number of hours, you might get play utilising the toys that they haven't seen for quite some time."
When Cato and her siblings travelled from Kaikohe to their grandparent's place in Hamilton for the school holidays, they were delighted to see old toys they'd come to know so well.
"The younger child loves repetition. They don't even realise that they love repetition."
With a bit of imagination, a large cardboard refrigerator box can be a fun multi-purpose play structure for smaller kids - as a hut, vehicle, or new place to sleep.
Cato also recommends creating a "wonderland of adventure" by draping a big blanket over the dining table.
"It suddenly becomes a mysterious hut or a cave or… someplace from outer space."
Cato's YouTube channel Treehut TV has hundreds of videos, including ideas for classic games such as Elastics and Knucklebones and storybook readings.
When adults are under pressure to get things done, Cato admits the screen can be a "saviour".
YouTube is "not all bad", Cato says, but it is home to a lot of clickbait that might be inappropriate for your child's age.
She recommends their special family-friendly platform.
"YouTube Kids is set up designed so that kids can't easily find themselves in the rabbit warren and down in the dark places you can find in YouTube."
Check out hundreds of New Zealand children's stories in RNZ's StoryTime library.
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