[asielen]

Same exact thing with my 4 year old. We give him very little screen time but it is always the first thing he asks for. Once he (begrudgingly) accepts that he isn't going to get to watch TV and he has to play by himself (if we can't play with him for some reason like coming dinner or taking care of his infant brother) he goes into an amazing creative state where he will play by himself for hours, narrating and creating new games with rules. Or drawing on his easel.

Once he is in the creative zone, he takes charge of his time. He will ask us to help with something and then tell us to go away and then have us come see what he built while he tells us elaborate stories.

There is a kids book called the boring book that captures this process pretty well.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-boring-book_shinsuke-yoshi...