What do your 10 year olds do other than screens?

[Hadebough]

In spare time at home?
recently ds is impossible to get off his screens, I don't mind him playing minecraft online with his friend but I hate it when it's just mindless YouTube scrolling etc
hes not really interested in Lego, drawing and things like that although he used to be. He's never been into toys really.
he can't go out and play because we live in the town centre so it's not safe for him to do that. He has asd and adhd which I think maybe doesn't help with him finding it difficult to stick to any hobbies etc

Mine's a bit older but he still loves K'nex. He will spend ages constructing and deconstructing different models.

Following with interest as this is our situation too. Currently our 10 year old DC is earning pocket money by doing some polishing, but it is even hard to get them to do that. We try to get them out into the garden/for a walk & that will be easier today because the rain has cleared. But everything except Minecraft and crafty YouTubing is done under protest.

I am mean, so my 10 year old doesn’t do gaming at all. She does: reading, craft, playing her instrument, listening to music, playing with siblings, garden stuff (eg climbing trees, trampoline). She also has domestic jobs she has to help with.

Colour (likes Pixel art and geometric), Sudoku and crossword books, and little challenges we set on a mini whiteboard (then he makes a challenge for us), read (not much - will read a bit of nonfiction particularly if it's interactive, with a quiz, or a short / easy article in the newspaper,

My 10 year old DD loves her Bluetooth speaker and going on the trampoline and dancing with that . She does like drawing and colouring . Especially things like anime drawing. We got her a few 'how to draw ...' books last Xmas which were a hit. I get it , it's really hard to get them off their screens . Her and her friends currently video call each other while they're doing their skincare routines ...🙈

He’s currently upstairs fathoms deep in a non fiction book (What If? By Randall Monroe. Highly recommended). Cricket in the garden (we have a net up with a matting base so it’s useable any time it’s not raining). Lego sometimes. Screen time (not counting family TV time but that’s a weekend evening thing) is 30 minutes a day unless otherwise relaxed (this doesn’t count homework, he’s got a Scratch project for school on the go) and it tends only to be relaxed on awful weather weekends. Instrument practice (about 20 minutes a day).

There is a fair bit of mooching around that goes on. But we tend to offer him ways to help and he’ll either find himself something else to do or roll his sleeves up. He has an ASD diagnosis so I accept he can’t always cope with vast amounts of social stuff.

...jigsaw, helps with chores, goes to buy bread, and, with us, read fiction, play card and board games like Uno, Top Trump, cooks a bit with supervision or helps cook, or go out for a walk / scoot, to play table tennis in the park. Also plays imaginatively with his older sister without screens but she has less free time as a lot more homework plus books to read for school.

In the holidays it is so hard to keep screentime down especially when weather is cold and we need to do work stuff, etc. Plus no usual extracurricular (tennis, football, church club). He also wakes up at crack of dawn regardless of bedtime (and is not tired).

DelurkingAJ Is the Randall Munroe book for adults? Would an average and slightly reluctant 10 year old reader be able to access it?

Gymnastics in the living room on her mats or air track, trampoline in the garden, roller skating on the front, reading, drawing, lego and occasionally still plays with her barbies or other toys. Now she's year 6 she's allowed to walk to the shop alone and go to the park for a bit with her friends.

Plays football, basketball in the garden with older brother. Plays outside in the street with his friend on bikes. He loves shopping for clothes etc. will play on x- box , PlayStation but not a lot. Loves baking and helping to cook.

@DominiqueBernard what do I need for the basics of pixel art please? Thinking DS10 might like it for Christmas but not sure on paper size, pens etc. Does your DS just get drawing ideas from a book?

My 10yr old has v limited screen time. She does art projects, reads fiction or Pony magazine, plays with neighbours DC in either house/garden, spends endless hours at the ponies - riding, grooming, feeding, medicating, mucking out. Luckily DH is responsible for accompanying her!

Cooking is quite a good option here

Also collecting and organising their collection. Football cards. Pokémon cards and coin collection. This can sometimes fill a bit of time

Well she is very busy with classes etc.

Saturday morning. Am. Class.
Back at lunch.

Eats

Then does her homework.
Plays with her sister.
Prepping for 11 plus.
Or if we have something organised like a day out. Go there.

Usually eat around 4-5.30.

Then goes family house. Plays, mooches around.

Sundays

Cubs in the morning.
Then lunch.
Sometimes karate-. Other times chills/ catches up on homework if she hasn't finished it.

Depending on how I feel sometimes we may go swimming later on.

Sundays later in the day i usually let her relax. So playing with her sister. Watching TV. Crafts. Anything to keep her busy. But I'm planning on getting her to start helping out with cooking and prepping food. So hopefully she'll get involves with that too.

Another rone without proper devices but she does watch TV and use laptop for some things. Other than that...? Plays with hamster, draws, plays instrument, goes to park with friends, speaks to friends and family on telephone, reads books and comics, bakes, does homework, walks neighbours dog.

DS, is a v. young 13 (also ASD). Basically be lies on the sofa staring into space &/or whining if screen time has been used up.
He does play out sometimes with the neighbours kids.
When he was 10 he would play for ages with Brio, sometimes Lego, simple
marble runs. We also had a brio marble labyrinth. Jigsaw puzzles (1000) piece ones.
Do you have any outdoor space? A soft archery set? Or a Velcro darts board?
If he likes technical stuff, meccano or Fischer technic.
snap circuits
laser maze
a science kit
Colouring in whilst listening to audiobooks

My nd 10 year old also has a lot of screen time. She also starts fights and says I hate her a lot- and that she hates me.
Does he have friends? Could they come over and watch with him. I try and do things that are an easy win, low pressure.
It's very easy to feel like we're getting wrong.

DS has a younger brother so that helps so they'll spend a fair amount of time together with bet blades or bagukan. DS will spend hours playing with small hot wheels type cars still, or they still play with small animals or dinosaurs.

They both won arrow/archery sets last night at the funfair/fireworks so have been immersed in various games today firing suction arrows at things. They're howling laughing down there right now.

Peabody25 Just squared paper - with the small squares - and felt tips. He learned it at afterschool club (like wraparound care) and sometimes comes home with a picture to copy, otherwise he finds one in a magazine/newspaper (often ads.) /book/packaging e.g. computer game case or even packaging for food.

We don't have a garden, but there is a park outside with ping pong and space to play football (no swings or anything). In the school holidays all friends go away (as do we, usually. This last week has been quite tough with the bad weather often keeping us in, and definitely feel guilty about too much screen time.)

Mine loves playing football with his brother. He does go on screens quite a bit, normally video calls while he’s playing Roblox. We don’t get home from school until 5.30 so in the week it’s music practice, homework, helping with dinner, half an hour or so before bed on a screen. He also does sports clubs twice a week.

At the weekend he plays sport, has a music lesson, and then we go out - walks, national trust, museums etc. When we’re at home he’s playing football. He likes drawing too and LOVES Lego, he’d Lego all weekend if I could afford it.

I think you need to limit the screen. As you say, he used to be interested and now it's just screens. Screens are totally and utterly addictive. My nearly 10 year old (y5) has an hour a week on a Saturday and he uses it to play minecraft on the ipad or some switch. He's never been upset as it's always been the way.

He reads a lot, lego, does a lot of sport, cubs, plays an instrument. Sometimes him and I will crack out a 1000 piece jigsaw. He plays cards with his siblings, or monopoly.

Basically think back to our childhood. There were no screens. We all had a fine time finding entertainment. I know some people will get on their high horse but truly, limit the screens and the rest will come. If it has got a bit out of control there might be a period of adjustment with whinging.

And anyone with younger children reading this, please please put limits on screens now and it'll pay off in the future.

100% agree regarding restricting screens for as long as possible. My 13 year old didn’t get an iPad until he was 10 and he is so much better at self regulating screen use. We would have done the same with DS2 but Covid happened and it was the only way he could keep in touch with friends - via video calls and games and I WISH we hadn’t opened Pandora’s box that early for him.

With both my kids, they’re not terrible on screens but it’s the one part of parenting where I really wish I had never introduced a screen or had been much much stricter from the start with how often it could be used.

Plays on the trampoline, drawing, making models, putting music on and dancing.

He loves going out to softplay, kayaking etc. He also likes to help with diy, gardening etc. Or even just a trip in the car to b and q. He's got 2 teenage brothers who need taking places and great grandparents who sometimes need a lift too and my 10 year old likes to come along for the ride.

My 10 year old: sews on the machine, does crafts (usually stuff she ales up not kits), draws, colours, writes stories, reads, makes challenges or scavenger hunts for her sister, plays with the dog, chats to us, makes up dances, does puzzles like sudoku, walks round to her friends house, chats to her friends on the phone, paints, sometimes plays dolls with her sister, plays her instruments, listens to music, makes up songs, some chores (but this is often a stressful thing to get her to do) goes to her dads work to 'help', rides her bike out and about, walks to the shops to spend pocket money on candles, crystals and sweets, cook some simple stuff.