To ask when did your child stop playing with toys?

[Forthepurposesofthetape]

My dd is seven and in year 2 and loves imaginative play with dolls and play figures or whatever you give her, she's always making characters and stories. I was talking to a couple of mums at the school gate whose children are in dd's year and they said how hard it is to buy birthday presents for their children because they don't play with toys any more. I felt genuinely surprised, it did seem quite young to grow out of toys. I'm sure I was still playing with toys when I was ten! I'm just obviously letting dd do what she likes but I am a little curious as to whether it's something they do grow out of a bit more quickly nowadays.

I suppose being on a device is more or less the same as reading a book? My children used to read a lot when they were younger.
Both activities can provide them with passive entertainment and stimulate the imagination and can remove them from whatever else is going on for a while.

I was another 13 year old who played with Barbie's. My 9yo still happily plays with toys.

What do kids do when they stop playing with toys? We have a no iPad/console during the week rule. I used to read but DC1 is an unenthusiastic reader.

My Ds 14 still plays with toys and if we let him he would be on minecraft all day every day. He has playmobil, minecraft toys, lego and loves his hot wires electrical sets. He has ASD and is mentally younger than his age.
He does have a basic mobile phone, 3ds and family xbox. He broke his 3rd tablet and we haven't replaced it yet.
My dd 11 loves toys still, she has a fab imagination and plays with a wide variety of toys. She has Sylvanian families, lego and playmobil especially the how to train your dragon sets. Which she asked and received for her 11th birthday. She has some jurassic world dinosaurs which are currently being played with in the garden.
At the moment she wants to be a palentologist.
She asked for a make up set for Christmas which has been sat unused so far.
She does have a tablet, family xbox and 2ds. No mobile phone yet but that will come for her moving up to year 7 and starting secondary school.
We allow an hour a day on devices and nothing in bedrooms overnight.
I know things will change very soon so just enjoying the last of the toy playing years.

DS is 8 and hasn't played with many toys for a while... maybe over the last year or so. He does play on his Kindle and Switch but we limit that time. He's always been someone who will build something with Lego once then never touch it again. He'd ask for Playmobil then get bored with it after a week or two. He's mostly always made up his own games, usually with some blocks or a piece of paper. He loves to draw and make up games on the paper. He enjoys playing board games together and he loves playing with his Science circuit kit. But that's really the only toys he touches nowadays.

DS is 12, he loves his devices and ‘gaming’ but still plays with Lego on an almost daily basis and quite often still plays with toys, although I don’t think he would like his friends knowing.

What do kids do when they stop playing with toys?

They seem busy - reading, TV, computer games - Minecraft - one building historical buildings another is programming, other computer based puzzle games, sometime programming games - sometimes board games, writing – two are currently writing their own stories, drawing, playing with pets, going out with friends, craft projects – knitting with hoops, French knitting, sewing, making soft toys, – getting involved in DH craft projects, going out with friends.

The older two just don't play like they used to with toys.

They need to be bored, I think, so that they think up things for themselves.

I agree but oh the complaining when I tell them they've had enough screen time and need to go and play.

I suppose being on a device is more or less the same as reading a book?

Not really, with a book you can drift in and out of reading and daydreaming whereas a game requires more concentration. The flickering screen is much less restful for most people than reading a book. On the other hand playing computer games can be more social, my three crowd round the desktop and play the games on cbbc and chat and laugh, that's quite social and has its place in their play.

My dd is 6 and would much rather play on her tablet/the switch or watch a film over playing with her toys.

However, we strictly limit her tech time she has to play with her toys

My DS is 7 and in Y2 and has SEN. The SENCO said that all the boys in his year want to play X-box and football and he's very babyish in comparison - now that IS true and he DOES have an obsession with our cat, who only came to us at Christmas... but I also know that the family we went to the park with, the boy his age was building a den and instructing my DD to be his assistant and all the adults and DS was joining in and pretending in parallel that the spotty leaves were wallpaper, which was a perfectly acceptable pretence to that 7 yo.

And the Beavers all love a good running around game, though that's not strictly "toys".

And my niece was in the Toy Club till at least 12.

and the marble run we have is MINE not for children and I'm 52

CountFosco, about the complaining. I know. But if you stick to it and don't engage, the moaning does get less.

I have timed the moans, and told them that the time they take to complain is time that comes off their next session. I only have to do that once for them to believe me.

Plus I have found it quite helpful to use device time as something to reward people with for good behaviour.

8 or 9. They prefer video games and as a lifelong gamer myself, I don't mind.

What do kids do when they stop playing with toys?

I found that DD stopped when she started secondary school and got really busy in the afternoon with homework. She also has three late slots for her hobbies each week, taking time away.

She re-discovered books, she was always a good reader but now really enjoys stretched out on her bed with a book or her kindle in hand.

She does play with the ipad, watches youTube and Netflix. She fools around with her make up and loves to bake.

We also try to go out, play board games and she meets with friends.

Sorry, CountFosco, posted too soon.

I make it sound easy, but it hasn't been. I've had tantrums and people storming out of the front door and marching off down the road in their pyjamas, saying they hate me, and they'll never come to my bloody house again. I've had to remind myself that I am the adult here - not that it helps much. But once that's all over, the next bit is surprisingly easy, and they just accept it, ime.

I agree with you about reading, and computer games having a social element, btw.

Almost 7 and 9 year old boys. Neither play with toys much apart from nerf guns. They are outside on bikes and favourite at minute is basketball and swingball. It's hard when weather is rubbish though as then they want to play consoles. They both were never into toys apart from lego

My dd is in year 2 and has never been a big toy player, she sometimes plays with My little pony but prefers colouring, writing. My oldest played with her toys until around 12.

15. Still build Lego. Probably will still be building at 50.

My 12-year-old still plays with cars, especially RCs, and he and his friends all still love Nerf guns, water pistols etc. It's definitely on the wane though - he asked me to hide all his stuffed Pokemon and other soft toys when he had a sleepover recently.

Forthepurposesofthetape Some children actually find science things fun you know! To them it IS playing. You are judging someone else’s child by your own standards!

Most boys never stop playing with toys. They just get bigger and more expensive.

My dd is coming up for 8 and tbh, plays with toys less and less. Her older sister who is 12 has really stopped playing with toys. For my youngest daughter, it just seems too young but she just isnt as interested as she was.

'Ive noticed that when I look after my grandchildren, they don't seem to know how to amuse themselves without me directing their activities

I could not agree more. I find this. I feel as if i have to be constantly entertaining to keep them amused. Actually i dont do it. If they are bored, i leave them to it. I will not become their entertainment organisers.

Around 9/10. But they still build dens and we live next to a park so they play out a lot.
Lego is still popular but they only find the fancy kits a challenge and they aren't cheap.

My sporty child stopped playing with toys regularly about age 8 . Still sometimes plays imaginative games with a sibling. My older child is still playing occasionally - but only if technology isn’t available .

I’ll keep encouraging the toys as long as I can - being a grown up lasts a long time

My daughter is 10 (will be 11 later this year) and still plays with toys and a lot of role-play/dress-up games with her friends. There are two of the girls who seem to have gone the console route but the rest all still play.

With my two boys (now 13 and 18) from 9 onwards there was more console and less playing - the exceptions being Lego and Nerf guns. It really depended on who they were with. I do remember a lot of the boys got out of imaginative play and into either consoles or soccer from that age onwards.

'Ive noticed that when I look after my grandchildren, they don't seem to know how to amuse themselves without me directing their activities

To things you want them to do? Things that you did as a child by any chance?

This is my MIL, expects her gc to listen to “modern music” (Elvis) and watch old films every. single. visit. But computer games? Nope. Their choice of tv? Nope.

She has board games and cards which after an hour or two are frankly boring to a child who has the electronic versions with more options. The world has moved on and there is so much crap talked about games having to be played on a certain way. Why? Because our grandparents had nothing else!

My MIL won’t even let her gc read on an electronic device, it HAS to be a book with paper pages lol!