Activities for 3.5 year old son

[Fortunatepiggy]

Hi

Looking for fun things to do with my ds. He loves playing with his trains and me pretending to be a monster or ghost but I would love to do more learning activities or crafts with him but his attention span is v limited. Any ideas what might appeal to a boisterous boy?

Thanks

[TheOddity]

Draw treasure map and then run round house pretending to find X marks the spot.

Play dough. Let him run cars through. Ditto paint.

Tray of rice for his trains to pretend it is snowing.

Take small cars in bath.

Make a duplo station for trains

Set up a marble run out of bits of cardboard and tape ... He can help do it

Dark room and a torch on his train set.

I have a car/train obsessed boy!!

[TheOddity]

Also on craft, I found giving up on doing things with brushes and letting him use wheels instead got him way more into it. Also just a page of stickers and letting them go wild on the furniture is usually a good ise if half an hour...

[Believeitornot]

Why do you want to do more learning activities? He's young! No point stressing yourself or him out.

[5minutestobed]

Cornflakes or similar in a big tub for digging.
We made a treasure chest out of a cardboard box, hid treasure in the cornflakes and dug them up.
Also made a robot/space rocket/train house out of cardboard boxes/paint etc.
Tubs of bubbles/water and a dish brush for a car wash.
Making dens out of sofa cushions.
Ramps for cars out of boxes (our recycling box gets raided a lot!)
Sorting cars/trains into colours/counting with them
I also saw an idea on FB to draw a big alphabet/row of number on some paper then use post it notes with letters/ numbers on and they have to stick them on the right bit. We are going to do this soon I think.
Love orchard toys games for something different other than cars/trains as well!

[Fortunatepiggy]

Thanks
I know I shouldn't stress but I worry I'm not doing enough with him but you are probably right he is young He goes to nursery 3 days a week so I know he is doing stuff there but I want us to have some fun things to do on days off. I do take him out to park and library and do play dates but just looking for inspiration for stuff to do around the house. I just want to make sure I don't put TV on all the time and look forward to doing stuff together

[TheOddity]

I find a tiny bit of planning is useful, really think what he already lobes and build on it and don't be afraid to do the same activity even daily! They like repetition of favourite things. Everything at this age is learning. Interacting with you is a massive learning activity and if you are playing with him or standing by listening to him while he plays, he will be learning all sorts! Also just read, read, read!!

[DoItTooJulia]

We do a mix of more structured activities too (not all of the time, but the odd half hour here and there).

My same age ds likes the Shopping list game (orchard toys) and I've just bought a couple of others: Match and Spell and a Westher game.

We play rockin robot (Elc)

Build octogons, play with threading buttons, and have one of those cork boards that you tap shapes and tacks into.

His big brother is brilliant with him too (he's 11) and they'd a lot of Lego and we have these giant blocks from Melissa and Doug (they're cardboard but so sturdy) and they become rockets, forts, dens, race tracks, you name it.

And the other toy that he adores is quercetti tubations. A huge hit.

Otherwise he runs riot, playing in the mud, building rivers with the hose pipe, and playing with cars, trains and animals. And the dreaded iPad!