Activity suggestions for 11yr old in wheelchair

[whyisitsomuchwork]

My son recently had an accident which means he is going to be in a wheelchair for a couple of months.

Really keen to get some ideas of what I can get him to entertain him? Normally we are quite an active family so not really set up for a sedentary life at home .

He loves gaming ( fortnite /Minecraft), and art - but not sure he can't draw all day! Any suggestions of cool games or activities for this age that we could go for??? What activities could we do so his friends think it's fun to come around too???

Any thoughts ??

Speak to your local tennis club, ours does wheelchair tennis. They might do a group session if you ask.

Bowling

Does the sports centre run any accessible sessions for football or basketball?

As mad as it sounds do you have a Clip n Climb nearby? Ours offers all manner of accessible climbing inc for those in wheelchairs.

Can he swim? Even just splashing in the shallow bit of a wave pool would be fun if it is permitted.

In terms of physical activities...swing ball/Catch/Basketball hoop in the garden. You could do a Treasure Trail (Google it), they make it clear which ones are wheelchair accessible.

For his friends....movie night with pizza, popcorn etc. Or a gaming afternoon.

For family time board games/card games or puzzles. Does he play chess? That could be a good one to learn. Has he ever.done Dungeons and Dragons? That's a good one for friends too. Or just your standard Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Monopoly Deal, Uno, Jenga etc. You can also get Escape Room style games which are good fun if you're into that sort of stuff.

In terms of using this time wisely....get his school reading list for next year and get started on reading/ extra practice on a musical instrument/if there is anything he needs extra help with get a tutor or work with him on stuff. If he can use this time to get ahead with school stuff he'll have more.time for games/fun when school goes back and his leg is better.

Has he tried table cricket?

If you’ve got the space I’d get him something like an air hockey table and let him get really really good at it…..

Google RYA Sailability, they have hoists and boats that can be sailed from a sitting position, they will give instruction.

Table tennis club?

He might be a bit old to find it fun, but how about supersoakers filled with fabric dye to be fired at plain white T shirts on the washing line? The results will be hideous but it's something he can do from a chair and still have a laugh with his friends.

Board games, of course. How about you set him the challenge of creating his own? A simple Monopoly type layout maybe, and he has to come up with consequences for landing on certain squares?

Maybe teach him some card games and 'gamble' for pennies.

Bake sale, maybe raising money for a charity that supports wheelchair users? He and his friends could have fun making a mess cakes and then selling them out the front?

Introduce him to Duolingo.

Life skills. It might sound a bit lame but take the opportunity to teach him how to do laundry and cook, he'll probably be more willing to partake with limited opportunities to be physical.

He could make stop-motion films with plasticine figures he's made himself? Or Playmobil/lego maybe?

Look into physical activities for wheelchair users near you. I think there's more out there than there used to be. Would he be allowed to ride a horse? I used to volunteer for children's Riding for the Disabled and we had some wheelchair users. I guess it depends if he's healing from surgery or whatever and needs to stay immobile?

I would just let him do the things he would normally do with his friends where the injury would be irrelevant - cinema, movie night at home etc. New x-box (or whatever) game. Being inactive for 2 months is not going to cause a problem in an 11 year old. Assume he's at school as normal?

Disability/wheelchair sports won't be an option for a temporary injury anyway.

Wow, thanks do much for all your suggestions!! I should have mentioned he is in a very large cast so swimming, climbing and horse riding won't be possible at the moment but great ideas for when it's off and need to build strength again.

He isn't back at school yet- only just getting out of hospital , but hope to have him back mixing with his pals in a couple of weeks. Guess I am just panicking about keeping him entertained without him defaulting exclusively to screens ( especially as some of the day I have to work)

Thanks so much for the recommendations and advice!

My 9 year old son has been in a wheelchair for 15 months now, hopefully it won't be forever as he's making progress but honestly, it is so difficult. Before this, my son was very active too and he's still struggling with the fact that he's benched from his football team.

He loves gaming too such as roblox and minecraft and games such as jenga, bop it, uno & exploding kittens. He isn't much of an arts & crafts person as much as the play team in hospital tried to convert him!

He also loves a good nerf gun battle. He can be surprisingly fast in his wheelchair now he's used to self propelling.

All the best to your son, hope he's feeling better soon.

So sorry your son has had to go through this- hopefully he is back up on his feet soon! Must be so hugely frustrating for him 😒 .

Interesting you say about Nerf gun. My DS suggested he could do that and I instant rejected it as an option- shows how wrong I am about whats possible!! Need to broaden my mind

It's definitely possible but your son would need to practice in his wheelchair at first. He'd soon pick it up though.

My son can pop a wheely now and loves to show off to the 'big' Year 6's at school to impress them. Boys. 😂

If you’re a national trust member many of their sites have wheelchair friendly walk routes (demographic, I imagine!)

We go a lot to many of their sites with my youngest (still in buggy) and my dad (long term wheelchair user).

My daughter's friends enjoy taking it in turns to have rides in my wheelchair when they come round, so do my nephews!

If you have a suitable path or bit of driveway they might quite enjoy that. (I obviously supervise them very carefully)

I often do cake /biscuit decorating competitions when my lot have friends over.

Get lots of icing, sweets to decorate, and let their imagination run wild. I often just get something like rich tea biscuits for them to decorate