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It took a long time for my son to play independently, one thing I did was to set up things for him in the same room where I was, but not to engage him in play. Now, almost 3 years later, he's content to play alone in the playroom.

Art supplies are in the kitchen, he can play with those at any time and he typically chooses them when I am in the kitchen.

@catlady: My daughter loves imaginative play too and is 35 months. Little People toys have been a big hit for her to play with on her own. The farm, school, and school bus are her favorites. She also has a Minnie Mouse dollhouse she'll play with for a long time. I got her a set of Sofia the First characters that are about the same size as Little People characters and she plays with those for a long time too. She's very into pretending. I like to listen to her from the kitchen "Okay Minnie now it's time for school. Don't worry, you will like it. Your friend Sofia is there too!"

Her play kitchen is also a big hit of semi-independent play. I'll ask her to make me a snack and she'll be gone for a few minutes and emerge with a plate of play food.

I forgot DD also really likes her Calico Critters dollhouse (dollhouse with various little animal families). I took away all of the extremely small pieces, but she is perfectly content to play with the clothes and furniture for up to half an hour at a time.

Dollhouses (we have calico critters), Legos and beads/jewelry making type keep looking busy for an hour at a time.

@catlady: Do you allow any screen time? If so, I wonder if a set of character figures from a show/movie she likes might spark her interest imaginative play...in the sense that if she's seen an episode of Daniel Tiger, it might giver her an idea of what her Daniel Tiger figures are supposed to do/how they can "interact" with each other.

I'm not usually a fan of this type of stuff (character things), but I can see how it works. FWIW, my four year old is now an AWESOME pretender of all things, and often has her two year old sister playing that they're going to the Olympics, or on an Airplane, or cooking lunch for all their dolls before the dolls have ballet class....but it took awhile to get there. Some of it may just be age. She still doesn't have the skill to do too much building on her own, though she loves doing it with me or DH.

@catlady: Mine is a lot younger (23 months) but playdoh is definitely a huge help with independent play. He will sit there for a good 30-40 mins with playdoh (which is pretty long for him). I give him one color at a time (since he'll still not understand mixing and making a mess of it) and I got a bunch of Melissa and Doug tools for playdoh. I do have to come over occasionally to ball it back together or he'll ask for a bunch of small balls. But that takes less than a minute and then he goes back to playing with them himself.

What about water color paints? They aren't terribly messy. Or even those books with different colored dots and you just paint with water? (Like the paint is built into the page).

I also give my son construction paper and a glue stick and a few items to paste to the page. Like pompoms, tissue paper and felt circles. Maybe it's because he's young but he doesn't care that it's not a specific thing, he just likes gluing stuff.

Also, if you have a house with a deck or porch, my sister gets different sized paint brushes (art project and even home project ones) and water. And they "paint" on the deck or concrete in front.

lo doesn't play independently that much, but some activities that she does stay really focused on by herself include: watertable with soapy water, plastic toys, and paintbrushes--she likes to "clean" her toys with the brushes. also magnets/magnet board--we have little animals and letters, and she ends up singing the abcs to herself. she also likes to fill up her shopping cart or a laundry basket with toys (mostly play food or doll accesories but really everything/anything) and then move it around our apt/dump it out somewhere else. VERY messy, but keeps her busy, lol