Give your child's room a 'fun play' atmosphere, so his friends will enjoy coming over. Here's how you can do this.
Toys
You don't need to have the most expensive of toys to get your child's friends over, but when buying toys, try and invest more in toys that require group play rather than individual play. In addition to a few toys that your child 'must have' keep a stock of simple, basic games, and try and keep them in good condition. Some all-time favourites include Monopoly, Scrabble, Pictionary, Chess and Carrom. Play these board games with your child, and encourage him to do the same with his friends. Once he starts enjoying them he will be keen to call his friends over and play with them.
Activities
Invite friends with children the same age as yours and tell them to bring their kids. If the children are all very young, you could simply put them in the kid's room and let them play with the toys. But if the children are a little older, you could help organize activities to keep them busy. Board games are a good option, depending on how many kids will be coming over.
Regular Contact
All too often children meet other children through their parents, have a great time, and then don't see each other again for a few years. Naturally when they meet again after a long time, the dynamics would have completely changed and they may barely recognize each other. If your child had a good time with certain children, encourage them to keep in touch by inviting the parents again. If this is not very practical, you could invite just the children over. Keep in touch with the parents and find out if you could enroll the children in a common activity together.
Creative Ideas
One sure way to get all the kids over to your place would be to have something in your child's room that perhaps their friends don't have at home. If money is not a problem you could get the latest computer games, and you can be sure that all the kids will be hooked on to them. Remember though that even something like a swing in your child's bedroom will make coming to your home an enjoyable experience. Or, you could give your child's room the ambience of a tent by getting creative with colourful sheets and chunnis. Make sure that your child's friends always have a few items to snack on when they come over - even popcorn or wafers will do the trick.
Chess
A great game that will sharpen your child's intelligence is chess. Teach your child the rules of chess, and make it a point to play this game with him a couple of times a week. At the same time, speak to a friend, and have her teach her child this game. Once both children know how to play this game, you could have them play together. Naturally, if you have two children they could play with each other, but because you want to teach your child to be social, it helps if you encourage him to meet with various other children, through various interests. Meeting new children while keeping in constant touch with older friends is a sure way to help your child become more social.
