inspire me with some imaginitive games I can play with DS(7)

[tentosix]

On a near daily basis i have to play with him for around half an hour after school, before the evening meal starts. He loves this one to one time but I am running out of ideas.

He likes to use his toys (teddy, monkey etc) and we will play schools, and teach the toys lessons. We've done, jurassic park, holidays abroad on an aeroplane, bank robbery, hide and seek with the toys hiding from the other toys, shipwrecked on a desert island, swimming lessons, prehistoric cavemen....and on and on. We make the toys talk to each other, get in cardboard box cars, and generally improvise... a torch is a fire, other toys meat we've hunted and cooked etc.

I have now run out of ideas, and so has he. Any half hour scenarios for an imaginitive little boy and mummy?

PS we also play boards games, charades, gravitrax and so on but he loves me all to himself.

Rorys story cubes

@WhatAmIWorth

Rorys story cubes

Not seen those before, but they look like I have to tell a story, rather than get on the floor and make monkey have a conversation with dopey about hunting the dinosaur, or shooting the pirates if they come near our desert island I’ve simply run out of ideas. 😂

Follow his lead; hand him the reins and see where you go! Ask him what he would like to do!

Any books you've read that would provide a setting? Hogwarts, 13 storey tree house, beast quest or whatever he is into?

Surely half the fun is letting him make up the setting?

Other thoughts - something with a time machine to visit the past or future. Or something with spies maybe, or secret agents doing something undercover.

@SteveBuscemisRheumyEye

Follow his lead; hand him the reins and see where you go! Ask him what he would like to do!

I do. Even he is running out of ideas 😂

@Stompythedinosaur

Any books you've read that would provide a setting? Hogwarts, 13 storey tree house, beast quest or whatever he is into?

Surely half the fun is letting him make up the setting?

Roblox with piggy’s running around killing everyone.
A. I didn’t understand what it was about and b. Thought it got a bit mad and repetitive.

He’s not a big reader, but I will explore what books he has in school. Or even films, but again he just won’t sit still.

@Stompythedinosaur. I like spies and time machines. Like odd squad. He likes his imaginary key pad to get into his room!

We do:-
Playing libraries, we’ll get books downstairs and arrange them in sections in the ‘library’, make up tickets and library cards, then do a library tour for the new members (in your case the teddies etc 😂)

Go to space in a space rocket and visit imaginary planets

Go camping (involves making dens too so win win)

Cafe / shops

Zoo / safari park

Medieval castle in the olden days

You could suggest looking at some virtual tours on YouTube of different places, then act out going there yourselves??

If you’ve got a children’s atlas, suggest he picks a different country each time and you imagine living there and visiting places?

Perfect age to teach card games. You can get books with different card game rules in and it teaches strategy, counting, deception () and can be as fun or serious as you like. My mum and dad taught me so many games and it's a real family tradition to play now.

I did a thing with mine today (I struggle too!), he's a little younger but it could still work for you. We have A3 plain drawing pads and I said he would say a word and I'd draw it. Then I'd say a word and he would draw it for me. Obviously we started with "Pooh" but soon got on to hug, cat, that sort of thing. Mine is not a keen artist so it was nice to do for 20mins or so and he thought it was hilarious.

Ghost hunt?
Treasure map
Shops (good for his maths too)
Den building - this is a fab in our house
Doing a ‘show’ ie a theatre performance

I get my reluctant reader to read by saying If you can read this book we’ll act it out after!

You sound like an awesome mum OP :)

Perhaps Egyptians, Arctic explorers, a factory (you could set up some kind of production line), a post office, a school for learning to fly, adventure under the sea.

When mine were little they had first aid kits. I used to lie on the sofa and they pretended I was poorly and bandaged me up, nursed me, took care of me.
They would make up tales about how I'd hurt myself. Some were quite extreme! 🙂

You and your son could write loads of things on little bits of paper like ‘Pirates’ or ‘spies’ or ‘postmen’ in one pot and then in another pot have different scenarios like ‘at the library’ or ‘going to the supermarket’ or ‘at the dentist’. And then choose one from each pot so you may get ‘pirates at the dentist’. Means that everyday is different and you can make it up as you go along! And you can go as silly as you want with it!

Making dens/castles/rockets. We do toy hide and seek a lot. What’s in the box. 20 questions. Hangman. Colouring in.

@daisydalrymple @Sadieeloise5687 @MMMarmite

Great ideas. I am printing them out!
@Horsemad. We've done hospitals...specifically A&E and an operating theatre. good fun bandaging all the teddies. We even learned to do CPR and sheep gave birth to her lamb.
Playing libraries, we’ll get books downstairs and arrange them in sections in the ‘library’, make up tickets and library cards, then do a library tour for the new members (in your case the teddies etc 😂)

Go to space in a space rocket and visit imaginary planets

Go camping (involves making dens too so win win)
Perhaps Egyptians, Arctic explorers, a factory (you could set up some kind of production line), a post office, a school for learning to fly, adventure under the sea.

Cafe / shops

Zoo / safari park

Medieval castle in the olden days

You could suggest looking at some virtual tours on YouTube of different places, then act out going there yourselves??

If you’ve got a children’s atlas, suggest he picks a different country each time and you imagine living there and visiting places?
Ghost hunt?
Treasure map
Shops (good for his maths too)
Den building - this is a fab in our house
Doing a ‘show’ ie a theatre performance

Thank you all. Great ideas. This will keep him entertained for a while

Really nice to hear about people playing with their kids and kids into imaginative play rather than kids stuck in front of screens! Enjoy op!