Limited play with my 4 year old!

[jellybean321]

Hi
My little boy has just turned 4 and since the age of one is obsessed with animals . At home he just wants to.play with his plastic animals and make jungles or safaris he can be persuaded to use paint as long as he is painting animals or jungles and loves animal.role play. For his birthday he just wanted plastic animals..ofwhich he already has hundreds! He dosent really have any.interest in any other theme or tv characters etc...yet at school when I asked they werent really concerned saying he is starting to play with other children than.alongside them!! He has been to.a child developmen t centre for an assessment but they werent concerned. Is this obsessive themed behaviour normal? It has been 3 years now...I cant see how he will move on or am I fretting about nothing?! Alot of his conversation stems aroun d animals aswell randomly asking m e which animals like cold weather or what do certain animals like to eat or name me a ll the birds we know...any ideas. Thanks

[elQuintoConyo]

My now 5yo DS came out of the womb shouting 'nee nor nee nor' and driving a policecar.

Very little interest in anything else.

However, if he is playing with lego - it is police vs badboys. If he's playing with trains - it's this train bad, this train police.
Running around outsude with friends, on his boke, on the beach, in the car, all his drawings..... Big old Police theme!

Does your son place his animals in different situations? Like animals going to the supermarket, animals going to the beach? Or is it just a big tub of animals doing animal things?

I did get DS various books out of the library about police, and he has watched a few (age apropriate) police chases on youtube etc.

He even hugged a policeman last week

[jellybean321]

Lol bet he loved the policeman☺ animals usually relate to where animals should be on.the whole when he plays .

[jellybean321]

Anymore ideas x

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

I think it's quite normal for toddlers/preschoolers to have these kind of obsessions, normally they fade as they get older but sometimes they sustain an on-going. As long as there are no other causes for concern I'd let him crack on. Maybe he'll grow out of it, maybe he'll become a vet or zoologist!

Animals is quite a nice one I think and lots of ways you can use it as a route into things like reading and learning.

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

*on-going interest

[thethoughtfox]

Mine is obsessed with 'small world' stuff and plays with tiny bits of plastic and figures and makes up wee stories / plays out real life stories with them. She is the same and doesn't really play with anything else.

[jellybean321]

Thanks very much. Its good to know it sounds normal☺x

[Jamhandprints]

It sounds normal for his age, my boys come out with their random questions all the time too. I think children are naturally quite obsessive. Does he listen to stories if you read to him about animals? Will he play with his animals in play doh, sand, water, outside? At least animals are a lovely toy and you don't have to watch fireman sam all the time! :-)

[jellybean321]

Yes jamhandprints he will do all that with his animals. Indeed I should count my lucky stars for no fireman sam !!#;)