What activities can son do with broken arm?

[ienjoyeatingcake]

Hi,

My 7 year old broke his left arm a few days ago (he's right-handed) and it's just dawned on me how little he can do other the holidays - no parks, swimming, soft play, crazy golf... I feel really sad for him. Any suggestions other than the cinema? Anyone else been in this situation? Posting here for traffic, no idea where else to put it!

Thank you so much xxx

Ah bless him that's rubbish for him, I hope it's not too uncomfortable for him.
Some ideas from me: Electro darts, board game cafe, bowling with the thing you push the ball down if you set it up for him? The arcades at the beach if you are close enough? I hope you have a good summer.

You can get a waterproof cover for the cast then he could swim and do beach days.
supervised time at the park and not going crazy should be ok!
walks in the wood with a scavenger hunt.
board games.

Walks, scavenger hunts, jigsaws, museums, cooking.
You just need to be a bit adaptable. How big is his cast, you can get waterproof covers.

I've known plenty of children with broken arms. I know you're worried, but in my experience the children adapt really quickly. I would say within a week of breaking it 99% of them would have been absolutely fine to play in parks and crazy golf, especially as it's not their dominant hand.

Agree with waterproof covers. Tesco have inflatable canoes on sale atm that would be good!

Also school holidays are over a week away. He'll be in a lot less pain by then and more use to it. They adapt at such a young age to having the cast on.

There's no reason he can't manage some of those activities you've ruled out - my ds friend did them all and he was only born with 1 arm! You just find a way!

I broke my left arm at the start of summer hols when I was his age. It was annoying that I couldn't go on climbing frames and swim, but I did pretty much everything else. Definitely take care to keep sand out of it (the waterproof covers mentioned above sound great!), but I would have been fine playing crazy golf and on most play equipment. X

Picnics
Nature walks
Drawing/sketching
Lots of board games
Summer reading challenge at your local library
Zoo

and Frisbees, geocaching, jigsaws. Also, check your local museums or similar - lots of them will run activities for children over the summer that may be suitable.

Depending on how restrictive the cast is, he could still do a lot once the swelling has gone down and he's feeling his normal self. My DC managed to continue training for some of their sports with a broken arm and forearm cast. Swimming and rugby were out, but they could continue martial arts with some adaptation - no press-up, planks, sparring, or striking with the broken arm, indoor cycling and circuit training.

If the cast goes over the elbow it's harder, but even then, kids tend to find a way to do the things they want to do.

He should be fine to do most of those things, he'll just have to adapt to using one arm.

I really wouldn't worry, kids are incredibly resilient.

Bowling? (On bad weather days).

A waterproof cover is essential. Also, this sounds ridiculous, but I made a padded cover for ds's cast so he didn't hurt people while he was playing. Casts are very, very hard!

When my cousin who was about 8 at the time broke his arm he was skateboarding a couple of hours later.

Let him do whatever he feels like he can do.

DS broke his at the same age but his right arm. It needed surgery and the cast was above elbow. We got a waterproof cover for our forthcoming bucket and spade holiday.

It can't come to much harm with a cast on. It didn't stop ds doing anything much except cricket.

When my son broke his arm he taught himself how to solve a Rubik's cube!

Thank you so much everyone, some really helpful answers here. We will definitely eat one of those waterproof sleeves too. Xxx

They are aren't they. I think it's bothering me more than him!