to think 7 years old is still too young to stop playing with toys?

[SoggySocksAgain]

Something my relative said that surprised me. They said that at 7 years old, they can't imagine their LO will be playing with toys for much longer. Really? Surely they'll be playing with toys until at least 10-11? We were discussing their birthday and it made me realise how we expect our children to grow up far too quickly.

My 10yo still likes to play and I'm pretty sure I played with some specific things until 12/13.

This is so sad and your relative is very misguided. Toys are very important even over the age of 7.
They allow children to express themselves freely , play out situations and emotions and use and develop their imaginations technology cannot fully replace the roles and importance of toys.
As an example my 8 year old daughter has bought a new large dolls pram and some LoL dolls as well as some books and craft bits with her birthday money. I'm not going to tell her to give up dolls any time soon.

Your relative is on glue. I'm 57 and regularly play with toys, sometimes with kids sometimes not. Most of my friends and family are the same.

My dd was laughed at by another girl in her class for having a doll in the playground before school in primary 2 - she was 5!

Actually both my Ds's stopped playing with toys very early. I wonder why. By 7 or 8? Or so I think.

We occasionally play chess, or ludo now.

But no, no trains, no Lego, not for a long time. Is that odd?

Other than water pistols and nerf guns, and swing ball, I don't think mine have played with toys since 8?

I think it is a little bit Oblomov! What to they play with/do instead? Are they really into reading or crafts? I played with toys u til I was quite old I think, but when I stopped they were definitely replaced with books and sewing.

DS2 was gutted when he went to secondary school and no longer able to 'play' at break times. He came home and said that they just stood around or kicked a ball around. He didn't like football. He played at home until 13 ish.
DS1 was at boarding school so played up until 13. They built dens, roller-skated, played imaginative games. They were encouraged to take toys to school.
DD played up until 15ish, the type of play changed though.

Me...I played until 14/15 ish..but weirdly struggled with imaginative play with the kids. hated it I much preferred helping build dens, play ball games, going on bike rides etc. I would love to play with lego/playmobil/magnatex/knex now. I can afford it now. When the DC were young I couldn't.
I still imagine/make up adventures in my head while walking the dog or out for a bike ride.

It does depend on the child and their personality.
I know I played probably till around 13/14yo. My playing changed-I described it as I "collected dolls" and made clothes for them, arranged them in scenes and wrote stories round them, rather than specifically "played" with them.
Otoh I don't think my dsis played much with toys after 8/9yo. She read, listened to the radio, and that sort of thing. Wasn't that she didn't have the opportunity (I used to bug her to play with me) but she didn't particularly enjoy it.

If your cousin was the latter then she may be projecting from herself which isn't an unreasonable thing to do.

My 8 year old plays imaginative games with the 3 year old. He will even play with his brother’s Happyland. He’s not Lego mad. But he loves Magnatiles and is obsessed with board games. But mainly they build dens and have imaginary adventures.
By himself he plays solo board games, rides his bike, plays and writes music and reads a lot. Play is play in whatever form it takes.

A 40 something year old manager I used to have bought himself Star Wars Lego every time we got our annual bonus!

My Dd is 8 nearly 9. Still plays with dolls loads. I can't see this stopping anytime soon.

My 8yo nearly 9 has loads of things and he never really plays with them anymore. Doesn't play with his robot which I thought he would love, is apparently too old for playmobil that only got about a years use and he has loads. He will do meccano but needs help. He is more into science kits and his microscope, bike, scooter, skateboard and skates than toys. We need a clear out!

12 year old still playing with specific toys

My 14 year old was still dipping into Lego occasionally till recently

However we live semi rurally and have a limit on daily screen time.

DSD has pretty much given up on toys at the grand old age of 8.

Most of her Christmas/birthday gifts that she absolutely had to have are still in their boxes untouched. They will probably be sold to buy this years batch of toys which she will no doubt have to have in order to be happy, which will then similarly languish in the cupboard.
It’s depressing.

Mine are 13 and 10 and still play with toys

It’s my 38th birthday soon and I’ve asked for Lego lol

My kids got me a lego fire engine for my 40th. The teen chose it.
I believe the upper age limit on lego is 99?
But I guess they dont enforce it.

My dd is 7.
Always with a toy of some description.
She brings me one if I dont have one.
Usually met with " I had bear in the other room. Now i need to get the hot things out of the oven. Can dog wait on the table for me?"
She still pushes a pram round. Not usually with a doll in, but some kind of cuddly animal.
I was the same as a youngster. I hated dolls. They were hard and cold.
Dd does play with baby dolls. We dont have any branded ones, just a couple of mis matched ones from the charity shop.
They get bathed and dressed and sat I the buggy or cot.

She has zero interest in barbie/sindy type dolls.
Nor the LOL dolls. What are they supposed to DO mummy?
They are just lumps of plastic.
She has a nice collection of wooden blocks.
Carpet/rug thing with roads on for little cars.
Enough pens and paper to start a shop.
She would rather be outside. With her bike or scooter or paddling pool. Or climbing in a tree.
Ds is 16. He still loves lego. Radio controlled cars. Rubik's cubes. Books. Drawing (as long as its black!) Sports, bike.
And I quite often chill in bed with a colouring book or jigsaw.
And a teddy or 3, thanks to dd.

My DS is 8 but hasn’t really played with toy-toys since he was four ish? But his brother is 5 and still going strong, I can imagine and hope he’ll like toys for years to come. They just have very different play styles and learning styles - DS2 loves pretend play, stories and talking, DS1 always preferred sorting/ordering/working things out. They both like making and building though - Hama beads and drawing etc. And the PlayStation...

My daughter is 6 and she absolutely loves playing. Her favourite thing is role play, either on her own or with others. Her favourites are her kitchen, lego, dolls, shopkins etc.
My son is 9 and has mild sen. He has never, and I mean never played with toys. I didn't realise quite how unusual this was until my daughter came along. If he receives a toy as a gift he keeps it in the box and displays it in his room. He doesn't play with crafts either. He. Is only interested in computer games and luckily sports outside, his bike, scooter etc. I can definitely see the positive effects of play.

I loved to play as a child up to high school. I particularly loved sylvanian families, playmobil, and crafts. I'm nearly 40 and I still love playing with my kids toys!!

I’ve had comments before about my DS who is 8- ‘Oh I expect you don’t buy many toys as Xmas presents now as I bet it’s mainly technology now and no toys’ and along those lines. He still has loads of toys he plays with frequently- Lego, K-nex, marble run, puzzles, figurines, car tracks etc

I also kept his Brio trains and track bits for his younger sibling but at 8 he is actually still playing with it a lot!

The adults who say they play with toys. I don't think you can count Lego and creative toys. Do you buy yourself a barbie / LOL doll to play with not collect? If you do that's surely not normal?

That's a bit of a "no true Scotsman" argument Louise, isn't it? "Oh but lots of adults play with lego or jigsaws or trains or play dungeons&dragons or collect Nintendo figures or or or so they don't count OBVIOUSLY".