It kinda depends on the kid and age, but my eldest (3yo) is kinda a loner player so I ask to play with the toys while she plays so she’ll usually tell me no🤣 so I kinda let her take the reins on when she comes to me with things and will widen her imagination with whatever she brings me. For instance, she brings me a cup I drink from it and tell her how good that tea was and how she should make more tea for papá and mommy and maybe bake some cookies. From 1-2 it’s kinda more of still teaching a lot, 2-3 is where their imagination kinda roams a little more and 3+ they are grasping a lot of concepts and expanding on imagination. This is from my experience so far!
I dont have a toddler yet (my girl only 6months) but I will say YouTube helped me out a lot with figuring out how to play with her and keep her attention. Also, if you see the way your in laws play maybe even take what they do and put your own twist to it. I hope that helps ❤️