to expect ds age 5 to play with something properly for 5 minutes

[PiedWagtail]

instead of wandering round the house taking out one toy, setting it all out, playinf ro 5 mins then wandering off?? So far this holiday he has played with blankets, soft toys, balloons, random items and soft balls. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Mainly He adn dd prefer to fight/play fight/dig up garen looking for ants nests, etc etc, than actually play with one of the toys they have in their huge playroom that is full of too many toys. Argh. It is DRIVING ME MAD. Have threatened to ebay all his toys if he doesing f*ing play with them. AIBU???????

do you play with them with him?

Is he happy?

Of course he should be able to play alone for 5 minutes.

It sound like he lacks pupose and direction, could you set him up with a little project beased upon one of his interests, IE Thomas The tank/ under water?
Or could you do something you've never done with him before like allow him to do body painting or foot painting in the garden on a massive piece of fabric/ paper?
Could you ask him to wash the car?

Maybe put soe of his toys in the freezer in dishes of water then check them soon?
Failing this - a DVD?

Frozen toys?

yes- to teach in a fun way about solids and liquids- it's fun honest Also jelly, put his dinosaurs in jelly- that's even more fun

My point is that if you are willing to play with him for an hour or so he will happily play alone for longer

seekers got it!

buy them all the toot you like but i still want to play in the mud!

Op- is he happy?

Yes, he's happy. He's happiest being outside - walk, canal, river, park, forest, garden - but I can't be with him every second when in the house. He does seem to need a lot of adult-directed play at the mo and I'm not sure why. Gahhhhhhhh.

Perhaps he's ready to be pushed/ stretched a bit and try new harder things?

Hmm, Broody, he has playmobil and lego and K'nex and his big sister's toys to play with - I have no idea.

Too many toys? Too much choice?

My dd doesnt pay with her toys much-she doesnt have a lot of toys for that reason, but shed much rather hunt for snails or "make things" out of scraps of paper. Have you tried giving him a few empty cardboard boxes and glue and scissors and just see what he comes up with?

She spent a huge part of today making tickets for an imaginary party.

What is he like @ school? He is probably just relaxing and maybe a bit bored having been used to being at school all day with all the structure that involves. Give him the cardboard recycling and let him create some things with that, then you can share some of my pain having dd2 (same age) who spends all her waking (unstructured)time creating craft stuff and messing up my house/ destroying a rainforest with all the paper.

Yeah - part of me thinks, good for him for making up games out of nothing,a dn the other part of me thinks, play with your real toys!!!! He is 'creative' and does love a good cardboard box so will do that. Thanks :) I think I was gettign stressed partly at him but partly at him and his sister bickering all the time - she went for a play date this afternoon adn he was much better!! we played shops and he was lovely.

OP I posted a simialar thread up a while ago about the fcat that my daughter seems to pay with anything BUT her toys, twigs, leaves, scraps of paper etc and was told something along the lines of "the boxes and paper can be anything she wants to be in her imagination, the toys are simply that just toys all the play sets in the world wont make up for imagination"

I took the advice and have chilled out a lot about it since x

The DVD and needing more challenge suggestions were jokes. The must have been, surely? Nobody could really think that a child happily using himself with the things around him would be better off watching a DVD? Or beng pushed into "more challenging" activities?

Thanks fishandlilacs - v helpful :)

i never get the upset when kids dont play properly with toys-let him play how he wants