What does your 8 year old do in their spare time?

[champagneplanet]

DD1 is 8 (Y4) and generally very well behaved, great report with regards to behaviour and is achieving the expected level at school. We occasionally get some stomping/moodiness but generally she's a good girl.

My concern is really surrounding what she does in her spare time, she dances and swims once a week each as hobbies which is fine however she and her friends are getting to the age where they play roblox, they want to watch (and be on) tiktok, facetime each other and watch vloggers on your tube. I feel like they are losing their childhood to a degree. I was 100% playing with dolls, lego, etc at that age.

I want to find a happy medium between what is too much of the above but also allow her to feel included with others and be a bit streetwise.

As a comparison what is your 8 year old up to in the evening and spare time at weekends and how much 'tech' do you allow?

My 12 year old daughter isnt allowed tiktok. She didn't have a phone until she was 11.

My 8 year old plays on his switch, does drawing, reading, colouring, plays football, tennis, watches cartoons, plays in the garden, makes Lego, plays with teddies, cars, board games.

Loving the Miranda love @FudgeBrownie2019

DD loves playing with dolls, often plays schools - sometimes including her brother. Also reading - that seems to be just a question of finding the right series and she's off. She plays two instruments and is in two choirs so quite a lot of singing / practising / listening to related music cds.

She is allowed some iPad time but most of her apps are educational. No one in her class is on social media as far as I know.

DD 8 decided to spend her Christmas money on a phone and this last year spends a lot of time on Roblox and on YouTube. I really wish I'd put my foot down and said no to one. She also Whatsapp's her friends and makes videos.Enjoys playing Minecraft.
On a weekend when she isn't on the phone she still enjoys playing with dolls/fairies (she would be mortified if her friends knew this).
She also loves making slime.
Once a week she goes swimming.
Once a week she goes to a youth club.
She reads every night in bed and enjoys doing so.

Following out of interest.

Ballet, drama, brownies, athletics. Swimming, playpark or tennis as a family.

At home: tv, Switch, allowed certain child friendly gaming bloggers on YouTube, playing with DD2 (pretending games/dress up/Sylvanian families), reading, drawing, writing stories.

She doesn't have social media, a phone or a tablet, and doesn't contact friends outside school other than meeting up to play. I haven't heard of any kids in her year using social media etc.

My 8yo has a lot of gaming time (Lego worlds, Disney infinity, minecraft, mario, iPad, coding etc) but nothing 'online'. He's autistic and needs quite a bit of quiet downtime around school which gaming seems to do.

He swims twice a week and has drum lessons. Also plays the drums a few times per week.

We have two cats that he loves to play with.

Reads a lot and also loves writing stories at the moment.

Enjoys educational things like maths apps, snap circuits, building STEM kits etc.

Loves Lego, knex, minifigures and having battles etc.

We watch a lot of films as a family, currently watching the Marvel back catalogue. Also working our way through Dr Who episodes and the demon headmaster.

Likes to play board games, scrabble, double, chess, monopoly.

We also go for a lot of walks either in woods or by the sea which is very good for his mental health

No social media / tiktok / WhatsApp etc here!

Lego
Gymnastics class once a week
Piano lesson and practice
Helping with pets
Playing xbox, wii or pc games (2 point hospital, lego works, Mario kart)
Watching lego youtubers
Riding bike
Crafting

Board games and card games

9 year old
Drawing
Science stuff
Piano lessons and practise
Drums ditto
Reads a lot
How to draw / science videos
Horseriding lessons - loves this might get into it more when older
Likes to bake
Some movies

Oh and magic tricks - went through big phase
Rubik’s cube ditto
Cards and chess

Writes stories
Plays with sister
Ok that’s it!
He does a big range of stuff - gets really involved

About 20 minutes of tv a day, occasionally Minecraft but otherwise, Cubs, plays in the garden, plays/fights with siblings, reads and plays with Lego.

Dd will be 8 at Christmas. She swims weekly, watches YouTube kids videos, draws, plays with barbies and cars, loves the outdoors so park/woods etc.

7 year old - definitely no social media! A lot of TV admittedly and You Tube but only about things he’s interested in - clay modelling, sculpting dinosaurs, other art things, stop motion. Not any of the trendy YT accounts.

Uses the tablet mainly for making stop motion videos. When he’s obsessed with something, he’s completely immersed in it. So he’s constantly making models out of plasticine, modelling wire and foil for stop motion or making models out of clay from scratch. He’s got that whole rage to mastery thing so has to become incredible at whatever he’s interested in. Last year he was obsessed with DNA so spent 99% of indoor time on his microscope.

This kind of personality in him really makes me hesitant to introduce ANY kind of gaming. I used to game myself so not adverse but the games these days are incredibly immersive and I fear he’s prone to obsessive tendencies anyway so vulnerable to gaming addiction.

Other than those things, he’s obsessed with bouldering and we spend most of our time outside immersed in imaginative play with his friends.

DS is nine now but does pretty much the same things as he did a few months ago! Gets home, plays with toys (cars, little figures, lego, meccano). Might read a bit, do maths homework. Allowed an hour of TV / iPad after dinner, generally watches Odd Squad, The Deep or Teen Titans. Has to do piano for 15 mins even if just something fun. Clubs: swimming, cross country and diving. On the waiting list for Cubs. In the lighter, dryer months, he plays out on his scooter or bike before and after dinner once homework is done. At weekends when not playing out: skate park, beach, tenpin bowling, swimming or clip n climb either with friends or with me. Or the same as he does after school - watches Strictly with me and we sometimes play UNO or board games. I’ve banned YouTube as over half term I wanted to throw my laptop out the window when he was listening to Dan TDM (surely that should be Dan Tedium? Never have I heard such a stream of drivel.)

Just 9yo (only) DS:
Sails competitively which takes up hours and hours.
Swim squad x2 nights a week
Rookie lifeguards x1 night a week
Chooses to board in school with his friends one night a week
Plays out with friends on our street
Plays board games with us

However, he also:
Plays PS4- mainly Fortnite
Watches YouTube- mainly DanTDM

Is it not all about balance? I'm not sure giving a child no access to tech is particularly virtuous.

Left to her own devices she plays 'schools' with her dolls, reads, watchs telly, she's always making stuff- masks, pictures, stuff out of loo rolls, plays with her brother. With me in her spare time she will play board games, bake, cook, do science/ crafting kits, paint Lego.

My 8yo has free access to her tablet, an she probably uses it most days, but never for long. She mainly prefers to play out in our village on her bike or scooter. She also does a fair bit of craft (aquabeads, knitting and junk modelling are current favs) and we play a lot of board games.

Her organised hobbies are swimming, horse riding, piano and ballet, and occasional bits of bouldering when we can fit it in.

Interesting. We moved schools and DD former class was much 'older' than their ages. The new class seems less so.

I wonder re the strictness of TV/Internet/Social media has a correlation to whether the 8yr old in question is an oldest or youngest/younger sibling. I think perhaps it might!

9 year old here. She does loads of after school activities including Cubs, ballet and orchestra on a weekend. Downtime is reading (complete bookworm) or writing stories.

We have a Nintendo switch that the dc play on a weekend, usually for about an hour. They earn time on it by doing stuff through the week like music practice, clearing the table etc; each item on the list is worth five mins on the switch.

No social media or YouTube. I’ve never heard of roblox or tiktok.

Possibly, mine is eldest and we haven't yet got her a tablet, and when we do she won't be going online unsupervised and definitely no social media/ games with chat rooms etc

My dd has a youngest brother 19 months and a sister who is nearly 16. My niece (8) who is the eldest child is much more mature. I think it comes down to parental influence and personality. DN doesn't play with dolls. Dd year 4 still loves them. Dd is much younger in her outlook.

Mine are 31 and 26 at ages 8 they were playing Nintendo and watching videos. No outside stuff as I was a single parent working full time. I’d take them bowling or cinema weekends

No social media, but can go on CBBC website to play games if one of us is around (in the same room)
Reading
TV watching (sometimes a bit too much) but mainly...
Drama
Fencing
Art club
Swimming
Dance
Martial arts
Brownies type thing
Cycling in dry weather
Arts and crafts activities

We quite often play board games or "pretend" where we may have to be (as dictated by DC) Romans, Victorians, members of the Famous Five/Secret Seven, or we have to play schools, or being on a plane...

My just turned 9 year old DD Swims, does gymnastics and trampolining. She does have road blocks and a private account on tiktok. She also uses her iPad for a spelling and time tables game connected to school so she plays against her classmates. She is obsessed with mako mermaids on Netflix but also likes watching cbbc for junior bake off, newsround etc there are some good programmes on cbbc