If you have DC around 8-12, what non-screen self-led activities do they enjoy at home?

[CroccyWoccy]

My DC are starting to grow out of playing with toys and I’m struggling a bit with keeping them engaged at home without resorting to screens.

Whereas a year or so ago they’d gravitate to the toy cupboard when they got home from school, it’s now the Switch or TV that pulls them in.

So I’m looking for ideas for how to keep them off screens. If I have time I can get them engaged in cooking dinner or take them to the park or set up a board game with them. But when they’re left to their own devices…well they’re on their own devices! I want to try to break this habit before it’s all they’re interested in!

Arts and crafts
cooking - more so when 10+
one will play sports all day if she can
mine are girls so stuff like ‘spa day’ was a thing for a while.

My 9yo likes Hama beads, diamond painting, making up dance and cheerleading routines and gymnastics or trampoline in the garden (she has an inflatable gymnastics mat).

With “arts and crafts” what materials do you have? Can they just access these readily without supervision (and will they tidy up when they’re done?!)

I feel like we have loads of materials but they need me to direct them to it and suggest something. One of mine will pick up pens and paper on impulse and draw something, but that’s about it.

Lego, marble run, making up dance routines with music blasting out, reading.

Mostly screens though tbh, it’s hard!

Trampoline, every time.

If your children didn’t have the option they’d find something to do… so decide on a limit for screens. Children could read a book or magazine. Draw, paint, listen to an audio story, play patience games with a pack of cards, lots off board games they could play together? Jigsaws, puzzle book, write a story, keep a diary, go outside to play with friends.

Indoors - gravitrax, Lego, painting by numbers, knex, board/card games and sometimes puzzle books.

Outdoors - swing ball, frisbee/football/stomp rocket, scooter or bike, building dens.

Arts and Crafts, BUT it has to be set up otherwise it's out of sight out of mind. So I just put a shower curtain over the floor or art table cloth on the table and grab the art box or whatever and then she'll do it.

Different arts and crafts things are in different boxes so it's easy to do.

DD also likes logic puzzles Think Fun do a good range, again I'll pop that out on the side and she'll do it if she sees it.

Listening to music, but whilst we have Spotify we also have a good range of CDs, cheap as chips at the charity shop and she also likes that

7yr old (8 in Aug), loves diamond painting, in particular keyrings as she gifts them to friends, aqua beads, loom bands, drawing pictures ( i buy glitter glues, stick on gems etc for her to jazz up pictures, she also has lots of gel pens in glitter and pastel) cooking, she'll help with dinner prep where it allows, writing stories. There is a fair amount of TV and kindle use though, when on kindle she needs to do at least one game of TT rockstars or another times tables game before playing other games.

I don't mind them playing Just Dance on the Switch or doing yoga videos on YouTube. Or we tell them to read a book. They will do stuff like hama beads independently or those scratch art things where you scratch off the black wax.

Main screen free activity is playing out the front with the neighbours.

DD2 is 9yo and would happily play schools all day, she has a blackboard and loads of resources. But she wants to play with a real person, she won't do it with teddies, and DD1 will very rarely cooperate.

Oh and jigsaws

Forgot to add but this is a screen - DJ raphi on you tube. Great fun, everyone loves music and it gets them moving.

Reading
Lego
Air dry clay
Kinetic sand
Trampoline
Board games
Going to the park

My 9 year old has just started going out on her scooter to the local park with friends. She also has a pull up bar which she uses endlessly. She spends a lot of time singing (she does sometimes use Apple Music/ YouTube) for backing tracks but is not just 'watching'.

I hide all the electronic devices at the weekend to encourage no screen time (during the week I don't mind because between school and after school activities I don't mind some electronic down time). DS (11) complains for a bit then either reads, plays on the trampoline, plays board games (he adores board games), does some drawing (designing computer games) or kicks a ball about in the garden. Still does a bit of lego as well.

Lego, arts and crafts. I would allow extra screen time only to watch tutorials that can teach new skills such as kitting, crochet etc.

Does no one read anymore? Unless I missed it, no one so far suggested reading a good book.

Reading was my DD's go to and still is at 16. She spends hours reading and spends more on books than anything else.

It feels like no one encourages reading a great book these days. It was definitely my go to as a child (when there were no screens) but I don't think that has to change. I guess the key is encouraging reading for pleasure from a very young age. Now it seems reading is a chore, a school thing they have to endure but not fun.

None of my friends dcs read so is this the norm now? Makes me sad if it is.

My DD is 8, she's a bookworm so head in a book all the time except when I've taken them off her to do something else for the odd hour.
She also loves painting with watercolours, I got her some great paint and watercolor pencils off Jacques website, they keep her busy.

Reading
Getting outside
Drawing
Baking

She's also recently found some old loom band kits from a few years back so likes to loom.

This will probably require input from you too, but mine quite like a bit of gardening! Things like:

• planting strawberry plants in pots/hanging baskets (remind them to water regularly)
• creating a mini pond: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-create-mini-pond
• make a terrarium out of an old kilner jar and a small, slow-growing plant that likes humidity, such as Fittonia or Earth Stars. Tip: don't add too much water at first - remember, you can always add a bit more later if required. And don't have the lid too tight (I remove the rubber seal from kilner jars, to prevent gas build-up)

@Iamthemoom I always had my nose in a book too. The fact that DD isn't a reader was frustrating but we've found her medium now as she doesn't like novels, she prefers poetry and plays. She also writes and submits them to poetry contests (but that's done on a screen).

In the summer, watering fruit and veg and plants in the garden. Adding feed (ratios!) to the water on Feeding Friday

all year round - Aqua beads were a hit for way longer than I anticipated, ditto. Play doh or fimo soft, shrinkles, the canvases that have a picture on them that you can paint, collage, the more grown up sticker books that make a mosaic type picture, stained glass art colouring sets

lego

he still often helps make dinner or lunch or pancakes for breakfast and is quite able to make a family meal now at 16yo and will get involves with meal planning. I’m going to introduce budgeting next as it’s costing a fortune

would yours sew? Cross stitch type things? Tapestry?

My dcs are 8, 9 and 10.

They like lego, hot wheels cars, nerf guns (target practice), kinetic sand, playdoh, decorating biscuits/cakes, playing games with their soft toys and drawing.

Outdoors stuff they like doing is riding their bikes /scooters, going for a walk in the woods and building dens, playing football together or other ball games. They love gardening too.

I've found that if I take their devices away from them then after a while of complaining they're bored, they will find something to do.

Playing with pets, cooking/baking, reading, having a bath for hours. She does a lot of arts and crafts like needle felt, aqua beads, diamond dot, clay, fimo, things she can make and give as gifts. She has them in her room freely accessible. Honestly she does a lot of things like this with a screen on next to her playing music videos mostly, she watches craft tutorials on YouTube too. I don't limit this really.