My reception age DS no longer plays since starting school

[cheeseandpicklesandie]

He likes watching his iPad and when that time is up he asks for activities all day long. As in he has some educational apps like teach your monster how to read, plus ones the school send homework on. He has reading books online from school and begs to do these. He loves doing homework type stuff on the computer , but not particularly writing, but he will ask to do it. He likes colouring and asks for colouring homework. He's certainly not a genius, but is doing ok, so this isn't a stealth brag. I'm just sad he no longer plays with any of his toys like his cars, figures, Lego. He might build something out of Duplo if I'm playing it with my younger child. It's driving me nuts, is it just an excuse to get on a device like my laptop? He doesn't ask for new toys and most of the Christmas stuff hasn't been played with, he's just turned 5, so seems young not to play.

We do go walking or cycling but I have to drag him out and he will enjoy it once he is there.

Reception can be very tiring. Lockdown will have had its effect too. I'd continue with time limits and gently encourage playing.

It might help to sort through all of his toys and reorganise them. A change of storage can make things look much more exciting.

Peer pressure also helps- are there any friends who are particularly good players you could invite for a playdate?

@MissPerfectlyFine I definitely think lockdown having his teaching over the computer has changed him. We do have a WhatsApp group with most people in his class , but typically the parents I actually know in real life he's not really friends with their children.

We did go to the park one day last week one of my friends, as their child is the same age and in reception in another school. They ran around together. I had asked her over and she's been before but didn't want to come in due to Covid.

I’ve also got a reception aged child and I notice she’s very variable with toys. Sometimes she’ll play for ages and other days it feels like she hasn’t gone near a toy. We had some toys out last weekend that we’ve not had out for a while and she played for hours and hours. They haven’t been touched since but I think there is a lesson there re rotating toys and hiding some.

I have a 7 year old. At the moment they are playing with their toys quite a bit. However there have been times where that hasn't been the case at all. Honestly, I have thought they'd outgrown playing with toys at various points. Each time it's just been a phase. Your ds is probably just going through a bit of a phase.