4 Year Old Will Not Play by Herself

My son could play with sticker books for hours. What does your daughter like? There are also color/magic books that use a special marker to uncover cool pictures and colors. Does she like markers or coloring, painting? Try different things to see what she likes. Take her to Michaels or another craft store to pick out something. She can paint a birdhouse, use foam stickies to create art projects, cut up paper and make a collage. Get her started on something easy and then go cook dinner. If she keeps nagging, just tell her that you have to cook dinner and she has to "paint" etc. for a little bit. Do you have a craft table just for her in the kitchen or close by? If all else fails you can have her help you cook dinner if she really wants to be in the kitchen. Give her a bowl and some ingredients to put together and mix up.

Have you thought about setting a timer. When it dings the first time you can play with her. Set it again when you start playing to end the play when it goes of. She will learn to entertain herself and you will be more sane.

have you tried using a timer.... tell her mommy need to do something else, and you need to play by yourself for 10 minutes. when the timer goes off, go and play with her. you can gradually extend the time as she gets used to it.

i use a timer for everything. when the timer goes off: it's time to stop playing and get in the tub, it's time to eat lunch etc.... this especially works for being outside my daughter would be outside all day if i let her.... she knows when the timer goes off time is up and she goes on to the next thing with out i fight.

Find a craft she enjoys..
How about beading? Walmart sells foam beads that get strung on with a plastic needle.....

I was interested to see the responses here, because my daughter's just over three and is the same way. Someone mentioned sticker books; those work for us as well. Your daughter might like the "sticker and activity" books--they have simple matching and counting games in them as well as stickers. The other thing that keeps my girl occupied right now is play-dough. I make it myself (it's cheaper and it's a little softer so it's easier for her to work with) and she has a great time with it. You could set her up with it in the kitchen so she's nearby. Sometimes if I don't want my daughter to be underfoot in the kitchen, I give her the vegetable scraps (if they're not too messy--kale ribs and things like that) and she puts them in plastic containers and "feeds" all her toy animals. It takes her quite awhile to arrange all the animals around the containers.

Another thing you could do is to have her set up a "picnic"--she can put a cloth down, dishes, cups, fake food, animals, dolls (leave it to her to figure out what she needs) and then when she's all ready she can invite you to join her. This works for different activities; for instance, she could have an art show, make a bunch of drawings, collages etc, place them around the room, and then you can come see her art show (and maybe "buy" a piece of art). Hopefully the payoff of having you come interact with her and appreciate what she's done will motivate her to play on her own getting ready for you.

I know the temptation is to say, "I'll play with you when you leave me alone for 10 stinkin' minutes!" LOL

Can you set a timer, and tell her that when it goes off, it will be play time?

You could also - depending on your stamina! - start teaching her to tell time by using a real clock and then a dummy clock - when the real clock catches up to the dummy clock that shows certain numbers, then it will be play time. They have clock models for teaching in most teacher supply stores on on line.

You can also explain the process of things like "I will set you up with supplies but then you will need to work on your own until I finish vacuuming. If you interrupt me, it will take longer for me to get to you." You can try to engage her with something like "I'll really be pleased and impressed if you can work alone for X minutes." Or " until I finish doing the dishes."

As a teacher, you probably have good training in recognizing whether there are any other issues going on that indicate developmental problems. So I'm guessing she's just doing this annoying stuff because she hasn't figured out how to redirect herself. Staying on task is a skill she will need, as you know. Is she in preschool? If so, ask her if she talks like this to her teacher, and if not, why not. Usually kids will say "Because it's not allowed" or "because that's the rule" or "because Mrs. X will get annoyed." Then you can use the same language to express your rules and needs.

Good luck!

Good luck!