What does your 10 yr old ds play with?

[gerbo]

I'm just curious as to what other 9-10 year olds play with, as play in our house has taken a real dip in the last year.

My ds at the weekend has no technology or tv between 10am and 4pm ish and I'm finding him often flitting around essentially waiting for 4pm!

Occasionally he'll go into the playroom and make a 'world' with dinos, castle etc but it's so rare now. Occasionally also Lego. For short spurts.

I suppose I miss him becoming absorbed in independent play, with 'toys', although he loves to read and play board games with us.

What do your 9/10 year olds do?

DS is now 13, but at 10 he would go outside and play around with his skateboard for ages. i don't think they had this when he was 10, but his cousin gets a kiwico box delivered every month, and it contains a new thing for him to build each month.

Model aeroplanes
Electric train set
Trampoline
Bike

But yes he also loves screen time!

My 9 yo hasn’t played with toys for at least a year. He likes technology a lot but obviously I try to limit it. He enjoys reading, drawing, swimming, running and goes to cubs.

The only thing they really did at that age was play outside with their friends. Otherwise they'd be inside watching telly or on consoles. They would play board games too if someone was there to play with.

My 10yo doesn't play and sadly never has really. He has autism and no imagination. He used to build Lego but only as per the instructions and for display only! He hasn't even done this since he was 8ish. He never had much interest in toys or role play sadly.

He plays football, rides his bike to the park. We go swimming or to trampoline parks or to national trust places for walks as a family sometimes. But other than that yes he likes PS4 or watching wwe or other crap on you tube! He does read in bed every night though.

My 8yo son however plays for hours imaginatively with his avengers figures or Lego and I hope it continues for a couple more years at least!

My DS age 9 (nearly 10) still plays with his hot wheels cars, and plays football outside. He'll do Lego if he has a new kit to make (Harry Potter is popular at the moment), but isn't so keen on playing imaginatively with an existing kit.

Also, I know you said no tech, but he plays really creatively on minecraft and loves creating his own worlds. Tech doesn't always have to mean a shoot em up type game!

Also nerf guns are popular if he has a friend over to play.

Also (sorry I keep thinking of new answers!), I think a weekend day can seem quite long to a 9yo even if tech is allowed. Does he do any weekend activities (eg football, swimming, music etc)?

Thanks for your replies! He does have tech at weekends- from say 739 to ten, then 4-7 pm so quite a lot, really.

He plays out lots with friends, on his bike, etc so sounds very similar to your replies. He also loves Minecraft!

I feel heartened by your answers, they sound pretty similar.

One recommendation I'd give of something that raises a laugh or two and he loves is his Laser X set, a bit like laser quasar at home!

Lego and Playmobil. Spends hours on it.

Lost interest in the Wii that we got second hand about 6 months ago. We did limit it to an hour at the weekend and extra if friends came over to play.

I'm pretty sure not many kids in his class play with toys.

They all seem obsessed with Minecraft, Fortnite etc

My ds plays a lot of fortnite and minecraft. but when has to get off that will play on his guitar, read Simpsons comics, play basketball and go on the trampoline. Ye likes playing with the dog and playing football. But is an endless battle to get him off the xbox and watching YouTube

DS is a young 11yo. At 10, he had no tech at all, no phone or gaming and never went on his tablet. He did watch tv though. Apart from that, he would:

Do aquabeads - came to them late
Do Hama beads, which he loved
Painting, drawing, acrylics, pastels etc
Paint by numbers type things
Shrinkles
Stencils
Train set
Hex bugs
Lego
Cycle
Trampoline
Read a map (!)

Things we would do together:

Play football or cricket
Watch a dvd
Cook
Meal plan

For a while, I did enforced reading and we would all down tools for 20 minutes or so and read

Lots of Lego - building sets; creating his own figures; building elaborate scenes.
Reading graphic novels and books.

Board games and solitaire.
Playing drums.
Going to clubs.

My 9 year old is the same- seems to be just waiting for technology rather than filling his time.

However we bought some hex bugs from facebook marketplace the other day and he played with them for about two hours. Best £20 I've spent as it made me realise I hadn't seen him play for a long time.

DS2 (10.5) hasn't really played with toys for a while now... When not on screens he loves to play board games, help with cooking, read comics, and make random things from cardboard boxes. But given the chance he would play on his phone or Xbox all day - all his friends are the same so it seems very normal! He also enjoys Cubs and football club.

Thanks @gerbo for this thread! It seems my 10yr old isn’t too dissimilar from others his age

My DS2 is nearly 10, and the range of things he’ll play with is shrinking. He still loves Lego, and will build things for his little brother (he’s 4) which I think has kept him interested. He plays out on his bike and skateboard too, and basketball on the drive. He loves drawing and reading, and board games. He would happily watch YouTube all day if I let him though!

Drawing.
Making things from junk.
Fixing Squishies.
Playing out or at the park.
Roller skates.
Sylvanians-but less so.
Hex bugs.
Making stop frame animation but I guess that requires tech.