To ask for craft ideas for boys?

[UnsolicitedOpinions]

My son is 13 and only interested in playing Minecraft on his iPad or watching YouTube videos of Minecraft geeks.

He also loves Lego (and has all the Lego in the world so doesn’t need any more at this juncture!).

I really do not want him to spend all summer on his iPad and so I’m looking for some sort of craft-type activity for him to do - ideally that would take a while to complete.

He is creative and is good at drawing. When he was younger he would sometimes do some sewing kits to make little felt toys etc.

Does anyone have any ideas of time-consuming activities I could get for him to do?

I was looking at some ideas that occurred to me such as D&D figure painting and those book-nook type models, but I don’t know how good those things actually are to do.

Any ideas appreciated!

Is that a real thing?!

My grandson enjoys origami , following instructions from books. He's also made a number of bird mobiles from cut out and glue printed kits.

How about woodwork (making bird boxes?), cookery,

DS(15) is currently painting up some minis for a big campaign boardgame we're playing even as I type! The "Army Painter" brand is more reasonable than some of the specialist paints. He (and DD) did play Warhammer a bit when they were younger, but soon realised that it was very expensive (as figures came out of their pocket money...)

We have a local shop, so I’ll have a look - thank you.

Your username always makes me smile - maybe I should get him cracking on my Discworld collection!

These Timberkits models are really good and very satisfying to build. Little automata at varying levels of complexity. I love the musician ones but some of the engineering ones are good too. The kits are very well designed with brilliant instructions.

These Vintage Model Airplane Kits also look pretty good and probably have several hours work in them.

BTW someone up thread said lock picking, which is not as off the wall as it sounds. A few years ago I got DH a lock picking kit and set of practice locks for Christmas and it occupied him for ages.

Oh yes - I very much subscribe to this notion. My daughter and I do a lot of different craft-type things, but although he did do sewing when he was younger it doesn’t appeal at the moment.

I thought if I asked what people’s boys liked doing I might get some new ideas (other than what our cupboards are already bursting with….)!

I should add... do you, or anyone else in your household, enjoy fantasy or sci-fi boardgames? Because if you do, you can buy some absolutely incredible ones which have lots of miniatures included; then he can paint them, and playing them together can be a great experience, especially if they are "co-operative" games (the players are a team trying to win together against the game).

Thank you - I used to build balsa aeroplanes when I was about 17/18 and really enjoyed it!

Stop motion Animation?

I would be very happy to play fantasy board games with him. Are there any particular ones you would recommend that just the two of us could play please?

Yes - he does sometimes do that actually, so that’s a good suggestion. He used to do loads of it with Lego minifigures.

There is a HUGE game called "Gloomhaven", and its (new) sequel "Frosthaven." They are amazing but take forever to play. Luckily there is a stand-alone introduction called "Jaws of the Lion" which is meant to be amazing and great for 2 players, although it only has a handful of figures to paint.

My son was 13 when we started playing GH and loved every minute of it.

Airfix sets can be found reasonably priced in places like The Works and often in Aldi/Lidl (always check though if paints are included - some sets they don’t include them).
Hornby sets are good too. You don’t need to get the trains - just the scenery sets like buildings etc.

Robotics sets? (DS 7 has a couple that say 8+ and tbh they are tricky even for an adult)

Rather than craft - some DIY? I remember kids making spice racks in secondary school DT.

Thank you - I’ve just been looking at it - it IS huge. I think he would like it though!

I hadn’t thought of Hornby, thanks - I’ll have a look.

Yeah you can buy sets of tools and transparent locks in varying difficulties, then you can just buy cheap padlocks and pick up old ones etc too keep practising on. It's appealing to people who like puzzles. It's really satisfying but you need to stick with it for a little while. The transparent locks are cool but some people don't agree with them, but I think they keep it fun while you're learning the basics

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luxebell-24-Piece-Transparent-Practice-Locksmith/dp/B07S3SXW2V/ref=asc_df_B07S3SXW2V/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=353673854068&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7730669704061681639&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045870&hvtargid=pla-766069073275&psc=1

GH (and the intro, JotL) is like playing D&D but without needing someone to run the game. I played it over the course of about 2.5 years with my two kids, on and off. It was a really lovely way to spend time with them (and they were much better at it than me, but you play as a team).

GH was very very much "in at the deep end" for the first nine or ten hours, but I gather that "Jaws of the Lion" has a much better learning-curve and if it had been available when we started, it would have been a better beginning. One of my colleagues has played it and was so impressed that he's bought GH (he plays it with his DW.)

Frosthaven is currently sitting in a huuuuuuge box waiting for us to crack open once we're all on summer holidays (I'm a teacher). DS is painting figures for a sci-fi game right now.

Look on line for a company/catalogue called Bright Minds. They have good kits for investigations/construction

I’ll give JotL a go then!

@OneTC Thanks - I’ve never heard of that and I think he would like it!

@UnsolicitedOpinions Good luck! Come back and tell us (well, me) if you both enjoyed it. (My DD got even more engaged by it than my DS!) If you're completely new to "modern board games" it might be worth googling for a "how to play" video.

Look at tinker crates. My son gets a lot out of them.

Thank you - I will do!