Almost 4yo DS bored of ALL his toys and no idea what to get him for upcoming birthday or xmas

[BotBotticelli]

Any ideas?

He is a very-difficult-to-entertain-in-the-house little boy. Since he was about 4mo we have had to go out (somewhere! Anywhere!) twice per day, every day, because he is just shit at playing with toys and he drives me absolutely mad in the house.

Outdoors, or out and about he is a delight. Indoors he bores easily and seems to (still) require a high level do input into his playing which drives me loopy!

What can I buy him?!

Things he is not interested in at all:

• Drawing, colouring or holding a pen (don't even know if he is left or right handed yet, so rarely does he hold a writing implement!)
  
• Any other sitting down crafty things (stickers, cutting and sticking)
  
• dressing up or creative play (toy shop and kitchen never get touched)
  
• Lego. He seems to have no patience or interest in building things.
  

Things he used to like but not anymore:

• we have a massive Bigjigs train set but he is rather bored of this
  
• toy animals (think too old for this now)
  
• toy cars/road mat (shown no interest for last year)
  

What does he like:

• playing imaginary games with his collection of "beasts" (a ragtag collection of dinosaurs, crocodiles, sharks etc) which baically just involves them all fighting each other 🙄
  
• looking at non-fiction books about killer snakes, deadly spiders, sharks and weird fish that live at the bottom of the ocean
  
• watching TV (!) - any old shit on CBeebies but lately has also been avidly watching "Deadly 60" shows on CBBC too (noticing a theme here??)
  
• playing games on the iPad (a rare treat, not every day)
  
• anything outdoors: park, scooter, soft play, farms, museums, day trips, beach etc.
  

Love taking him out and was thinking a bike but this has been going on for 4 years now and I NEED to find something to occupy him indoors so we can have the odd quiet day. Am exhausted!

[scrappydappydoo]

Hexbugs?
How does he get on on with tactile crafts like playdoh?
Active board games like elefun?

[BotBotticelli]

Ooh have just googled hexbugs they look great - he will like the bug element and hopefully might be more inclined to build the little tracks for them than he is with Lego.

Used to like playdoh but now seems bored. Also just makes snakes which he then wants me to play with so they can fight/eat each other etc...!

[BotBotticelli]

He has pop up pirate and hungry hippos (last Xmas) but never plays with either

[BotBotticelli]

Was thinking maybe mini table football??

[MagicHatching]

My eldest was just like this. Beasts, fighting, death, non fiction animal books. Lucky for me he found LEGO and then that was it. It actually completely changed him and he became very thoughtful (not considerate but introspective) and got Into drawing as well. Previously id be running him up and down the roads with a scooter for hours every evening to try and tire him out.

I'd try and expand on the imaginary games stuff and get an Imaginext/playmobil type thing like the castle with dragons, Knights, ghosts etc

[RitaCrudgington]

Some form of invertebrate "pet" and a magnifying glass. We have a little self-sustaining tank of daphnia on our windowsill for my wildlife-mad DS and although a four year old would be too young to manage it himself he might enjoy seeing them grow.
example kit

Or a DVD box set of David Attenborough's greatest hits.

[fuckedupbigtime]

Problem with table football is that it needs you (or someone) to play too.

How about mashers? They do Star Wars, superheroes and dinosaurs etc

You can basically take them apart and build your own creations (which obviously then fight against each other!)

[fuckedupbigtime]

Or Deadly 60 top trumps?

[fuckedupbigtime]

Here's the link of the ranges they do

www.hasbro.com/en-gb/brands/heromashers/toys-games

[OutDamnedWind]

I know you said indoors, but do you have space for a trampoline?

[Clankboing]

There used to be a dinosaur track with cage etc. Possibly elc? If you buy kiddie knex you can make many legged insects. What about stick insects in an aquarium? Or big snails? Or science kits involving ladybirds, ants or butterflies.

[derektheladyhamster]

Top trumps were a favourite with my DS who sounds very similar. We bought him the walking with dinosaurs vhs set for his 3rd birthday! He also got into Lego- just making the kits and following instructions though! Has he tried the harder sets? He mught prefer them
He loved the blue planet DVD set too ( we wore that one out)
Beanie babies - the animals, we had snakes, beavers etc.
Dorsley Kingsley books on the ocean, dinosaurs, reptiles etc
Go gos - small monster figures
Playmobil - knights & pirates + random animals

He's 16 now and planning to be a marine biologist 😁

[BotBotticelli]

Oh my goodness there's so many great ideas here thank you!!

Love the idea of the mini pond creature or even large snails as pets - I was actually thinking of getting him a pet hamster but was put off by the small pets board on here!

Also like the look of those monster masher toys - he probably wouldn't like the Star Wars ones but the more generic "ugly monster" ones look right up his street!

I forgot to mention he already has a small pirate ship and you castle with knights which....you've guessed it....he never plays with! So frustrating!

Any more ideas??

[BotBotticelli]

Ah derek it's so nice to hear from a mum of an older boy who was like this as a child! My boy seems so quirky (ok, odd!) compared to friends kids and I struggle to know whether his obsession with deadly beasts is normal or not!

[BotBotticelli]

Oh and yes - have put a DK animal encyclopaedia and a Nat Geo kids book about space on his birthday list for family....he got a Nat Geo bug encyclopaedia last Xmas and loved it so much

[BotBotticelli]

Got a 10 foot trampoline in the garden but haven't been out there for weeks - lawn is a muddy quagmire and boys have been so poorly with various colds and chest infections that have wanted to steer clear.

[derektheladyhamster]

Totally normal! Deadly 60 came out when he's was about 10. He still loved it though.
In time, he will probably get into pokemon cards, yu ghi oh and magic cards. Then dungeons and dragons games 😁
He also loived plastiuc asnimals. We got him playmats to place them on, and a 3d volcano! Does the elc still do this type of thing?

[SpotTheDuck]

How would you feel about a wii or Kinect? I know it's video games but it's very physical, he can work off some energy even while stuck indoors by the weather, and he can play them alone :)

[verytiredmummy1]

Outdoor den building stuff. Some lessons at a forest school? X

[DoItTooJulia]

Have you seen these? brilliant toy, free flow play, hours of fun-my 11yo ds still plays with his 4yo brothers ones and they play for hours with them. You can get a smaller set called Saxoflute to try at about £8. You can also get them in transparent colours. I'd really recommend them-I haven't come across a child that doesn't love them.

[NapQueen]

Mud kitchen for the garden?

Even in the winter he can wrap up warm and get outside and play with it.

[YokoUhOh]

DS1 is your son's age and loves his Kindle. You can limit it to an hour a day and get it to switch off at bedtime. It comes with a subscription for unlimited games/programmes/apps - DS loves the maths/letters apps as much as the games.

[SavoyCabbage]

Hex bugs are a lot of fun.

Could you try setting up the castle and the pirate ship with his beasts, like two warring factions, while he is asleep?

[lljkk]

Ha! I'm trying to sell 2 barely used Hexbug sets on Ebay & no one wants them.

Why not relax on the ipad access & give him more play time? 50 yrs ago people chucked their kids outside out of sight to play for hours (with the other kids all chucked out together). You can't do what we did 50 yrs ago. Something has to give.

Otherwise, what about Tiny wrapped box with sweets in it in a not quite tiny box with chocolates in a small box... nested all the way up to the single big wrapped box. Poster paint, Scissors & tape afterwards to make the boxes the Best Toys Ever.

A puppy.* But usual caveats about pet for whole family apply! And it won't be much of an indoor item, either.