What do your kids do for fun?

[crazypiglady]

Just that really - I have a 9 and 11 year old & this half term the Barbies have finally been cleared out after gathering dust for over a year…made me sad that that phase has passed for my kids & also wonder what other kids do in their down time/for fun?

My 11 year old walked herself to the shops today, purchased some plain fairy cakes and some bits to decorate them with - kept her busy all morning.
Watches tv - goes to the park - reads if it is a book she really enjoys and chats to friends on facetime

My 10yo is a boy and my girl is just 7 so a bit different but both love:
Going to the park on their bikes
Pokemon cards
Board/card games
Drawing & painting
Water fights in the garden
Gravitrax
Playing the keyboard and singing
Online gaming (Among Us, Roblox, Minecraft) whilst chatting to their friends
DS also loves:
Fossils and crystals
Fortnite
Teaching himself card tricks
Baking
DD also loves:
Rollerskating
Skateboarding
Practicing hair & makeup
Gardening

I have a 9 and 11 year old, they like:

Reading
Making slime
Arts and crafts
Playing in garden or parks - tag especially and the monkey bars.
Water fights in the sunshine
Star Wars Lego
Playing the drums
TV/you tube/switch sports
Playing with and walking ours dogs
Seeing friends
Day trips - merlin passes have been a big success
Beach visits
Library
Eating out

My 9 year old will still play barbie occasionally because we have a 5 year old girl who’s still into them. I know some of her school friends still like dolls and things like that even without a little sister. I don’t know many 9 or 10 year old girls who don’t still play in this way. My dd never really did even when younger but that’s for a different reason. Did your 9 year old want to get rid of them? Did she have the opportunity to use them? Eg enough none scheduled time and did you set the up occasionally?

Anyway to answer your op, my 9 year old watches you tube, plays Minecraft, plays outside on our slide, mud kitchen and trampoline. She rides her bike outside either in the garden or on the street. She walks round to her friends or he walks round her and they spend their time gaming or just chatting and being silly. She makes clothes on the sewing machine. Does arts and crafts. Lots of writing stories and reading. Drawing. She loves board games and we play those lots. She makes up her own board games sometimes and we play them. She plays with our dog. She makes up dances. Does fashion shows to us with the dressing up stuff. She sometimes cooks something for her and her sister. She listens to music and plays the piano either on her own or will play to us. She makes potions in the bathroom. She swings about on our indoor swing. She spends lots of time annoying her sister and following me around telling me extra long stories of things that have happened to her.

Play 🏏.

Oh yes forgot Lego. Lego friends is a popular thing at the moment for my two.

Aaagh this thread makes me feel I’m not developing DD’s interests sufficiently! Kids making clothes on a sewing machine!

I have an almost 9 DS who would watch rubbish on the iPad or play on console games all day long if I let him.
Most of his down time is on the switch, Xbox or iPad but the things he loves other than that are:
Swings/slides/monkey bar/trampoline (we have these in the garden)
Water bombs in the garden
Bike rides
Lego (either following instructions to make a set or just building his own inventions)
Painting/colouring
Craft kits (we did a plaster mould one over the weekend which he loved)
Pokémon cards
Building dens
Loves watching movies with me and DH
Loves doing DIY stuff with DH, especially garden bits and bobs. Chopping wood for the fire, weeding, tinkering with bikes/cars etc.
He does watch crap on kids YouTube (gamers talking rubbish and trying to get subscribers etc) but he learns everything he needs to know about his games on there.
Having said that, a lot of the kids shows he likes are quite interesting and he does learn a lot. He also likes videos of people restoring old things and bringing them back to life, magnet fishing and learning sign language amongst other things 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh and nerf guns
His cousin and friends are all into similar things.
Unfortunately my DS would quite happily never read a book for the rest of his life...he absolutely hates reading and finds it a real chore

I have 10 year old twins (almost 11).
they like to…
ride their bikes, skateboards, roller skate
go to the park
trampoline in the garden
They still play Sylvanian families
Lego
board games
puzzles
read
arts and crafts
potter in the garden
watch tv

these are things they do without input from me.

Oh and badminton, they love it

Arguing
Arguing
Arguing
Park
Garden we have loads to do in garden
Arguing
Coloring
Arguing
Crafts
Games
Arguing
YouTube = peace for an hour

Beg for YouTube and or gaming. When that isn't forthcoming:
Lego whilst listening to the same audio book on repeat mainly. Her floor is covered in a massive installation built from all the sets they ever got.
Occasionally drawing, mainly kawaii style or Pokemon and sometimes she'll sit and listen to the (same) audiobook and draw pictures from it.
Play out with neighbours DC, build a den etc.
Also archery, pogo stick, badminton, soft tennis etc also sandpit and scooters when the 2 year olds are out.
Also reading, board games, jigsaws (always have a 1000 piece on the go) and card games but more in winter as there's usually always someone out to play with in summer.

Other than that, and as a family, swimming, biking, walking.

Youtube and gaming.

Making own videos on the iphone

swimming

cinema and animated comics

I have an almost year old and she likes

YouTube and gaming, she's particularly into Sim City at the moment.

Minecraft and technic Lego.

Playing on the trampoline with her brother, also having water fights on the trampoline.

Colouring and 'work' books.

Playing on the keyboard.

Doing tricks on the gymnastics mat.

She has never been a 'player'. Her younger brother will play for hours with his sonic toys or action figures but she has never done this.

Oh my gosh that made me laugh out loud!! Yep! I hear ya!!!

Yes so about a year ago all the play sets were out & rarely touched, it almost became part of the furniture, so I packed it away thinking she would re-engage with it when we bought it back out…which she did for about half an hour then lost interest. The 11 year old always played with dolls a lot more than the 9 year old to be fair.

The 9 year old has an Our Generation school play set which she loves but she is also obsessed with Roblox & Kids YouTube & would be on it all day if I left her to it.

When she’s off a screen, it’s like she remembers how to play or just be, to just sit and chill & stare into space or whatever, and I wondered if this is just her or if a lot of kids are the same now. When I was her age my Barbies were everything but then we had 1 TV in the house and a corded landline phone so I’m not comparing like for like!! But I remember sitting in my room just staring up at the clouds through my window & being content to just be, & I want my kids to have that experience to, to not feel they always need to be doing, making, practising something if that makes sense?

If your DDs like animals... My DD took up wildlife photography at that age with a cheap "proper" camera. It became a huge hobby/passion all through school, and the excuse for lots of lovely walks around wildlife reserves, or sitting in hides watching the world go by. We still go out to places like that when she's home from uni!

Stalking this thread for ideas.

My DS (9 and with ASD) likes:
Swimming
fidgets toys
Anything that involves swinging and bouncing - trampoline and park still popular options
Building using connecting straws (giant straw pylon currently in living room 🙄)

Special interest is trains, so reading train maps, drawing maps, inventing train routes, train spotting, learning new facts about trains, building stations in minecraft etc.

7 year old loves -

Switch
Tv
You tube
Reading
Board games
Cards
Bike
Park
Trampolining

Never really been bothered about toys for a few years now

9 year old...

Writes LOADS of lists
Draws
Top Trumps
Crosswords
Watches films

My 11 year old rides horses. At home she still plays with her horse toys but dolls etc have now gone.

She will watch tv, limited amounts of tik tok. She loves to draw and design so she'll spend a long time doing that.

Aside from the usual screen based stuff, 11yr old DD’s favourite thing to do at the moment is skincare. This involves me lying on the sofa or on my bed, tucked under a blanket, head band on, whilst she does the full cleanse, scrub, face mask, eye mask, jade roller, etc etc. If I’m lucky, I might get a head massage whilst the face mask is on. I do need to listen to her explaining all the various serums/lotions and potions but can usually block the ramblings out OK.

This is by far, the best game she has ever played in her 11 years and if it’s down to TikTok, I’m eternally grateful .

I have an 11 year old. They play Roblox watch YouTube and we go out together or they go to the park with friends. Will usually read before bed.

I get what your saying about not always having to feel the need to be doing something. If my dc says they are bored they grab their phone or switch and play on that. I can't remember the last time they just sat and were happy to do so.

Also reads loads. He has always loved books.