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AIBU?

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Original poster

How do you 7/8 year old boys entertain thselves at home?

32 replies

Nbvvz · 04/05/2025 10:37

Ds is 7, soon to turn 8 but all he wants to do at home is basically game or read. I really regret getting him a switch at Xmas. What do your boys do at home?

OP posts:
Fireandflames · 04/05/2025 10:49

Nbvvz · 04/05/2025 10:37

Ds is 7, soon to turn 8 but all he wants to do at home is basically game or read. I really regret getting him a switch at Xmas. What do your boys do at home?

My son is nearly 10, all he does is play Roblox or take thing's to pieces so he can fix it again. He's been that way for years.

dontforgetme · 04/05/2025 10:50

My lad is 8 next week. At home he games, Lego or is outside with a football.

FloraBotticelli · 04/05/2025 10:51

lots of Lego at that age and lots of Switch! I didn’t mind so much - some of the Switch games are brilliant - like the Lego games where you have to puzzle through the levels.

Tried things like puzzle and drawing books (e.g. Usborne activity books), drawing comic strips, Meccano, but he didn’t bite!

Also tried making videos with the Stopmotion app and Playmobil/Lego figures - he needed a lot of help with this and appreciate it’s yet more screen time, though lots of creativity, art, making scenery, thinking of storylines etc too.

Biking, climbing, swimming, going to the park were all big hits outside of the house.

FloraBotticelli · 04/05/2025 10:53

Oh have you tried baking or basic cooking? Making pizzas or make spag bol together and get him doing the chopping? (I found this appealed because of the danger and trust!)

YesThatsATurdOnTheRug · 04/05/2025 10:53

Kick a football round and bargain constantly for one of us to join in! (We regularly do)

BigCheese24 · 04/05/2025 10:54

My son is 7, will be 8 in November. If he’s amusing himself it’s usually YouTube or Roblox on his iPad. If he gets bored of that it’s his Lego table he goes to or Mario on his switch. He also loves his daft wee cheap toys like Rubix cubes and pop tubes.

if I feel he’s been on technology too long I’ll pull out his art stuff, his playdoh or his kinetic sand. He loves all these he just wouldn’t pull them out on a whim unless I do it.

Syuni · 04/05/2025 10:56

It’s so sad that so many children these days have little to no imagination or curiosity about the world.

Original poster
Nbvvz · 04/05/2025 10:56

Ok, maybe it's not so unusual. He spends lots of times outdoors and does clubs. It's his indoor time that concerns me a bit.

OP posts:
dontforgetme · 04/05/2025 11:03

I don’t mind the gaming, we moved house 12 months ago and the ps5 has been a brilliant way for him to keep him touch as well as play with his old friends.

@Syuni I’ll bite.. both my kids have amazing imagination and curiosity about the world so I wouldn’t waste your time feeling sad about them 😁

mnahmnah · 04/05/2025 11:09

I have two boys and they are totally different. The one who is currently this age will be in the garden doing football, basketball, cricket. Or playing card games, or gaming. A good mix. My older one at this age was Lego, switch or reading.

jjeoreo · 04/05/2025 11:09

My son is 8 next month.

We watch a couple of hours of TV on Saturdays and Sundays, no games yet. We don't watch TV during the week so i am pretty relaxed about weekend consumption.

He likes reading, pestering us to play football or tennis in the garden. Wi do lego and stuff like that but only with us or friends. Practises his violin or piano. Likes music. Will generally moan and mither though can get lost in a book. I found a dot to dot book for 6 year old that occupied him yesterday...hah. He's always hated amusing himself though, its the first thing they said when he went to nursery at 11 months!! Couldn't do a thing when he was little.

Middleagedstriker · 04/05/2025 11:28

Tbh I think screens and young people is worrying. You will have lots of people saying it's done my kid no harm but then you only have to look at the obesity problem, issues of socialising and social isolation which is endemic to think actually having a senseable approach to it is really important.

We did no screens (including TV) during the week and a limit of 2 hours at the weekend.

At 8 they played Lego, did make believe games (harry potter was the obsession with all of them!), drew, played with moshi monsters and played ball games and football.

I can see the difference in kids that had limits and kids that didn't. So of their primary school friends barely know what to do other than gaming and say football club.

Katemax82 · 04/05/2025 11:31

My nearly 7 year old autistic son plays roblox, Minecraft and roblox studio, he also draws endless pictures of stuff relating to roblox or sprunki

TheAmusedQuail · 04/05/2025 11:34

Reading! Fab.

Mine: Lego, Mobilo, crafts, clay, sticking things. Basically anything around building, engineering and making.

He WOULD prefer free reign on the tablet but I won't allow it. I let him have the TV on in the background while he's playing.

GoodCharl · 04/05/2025 11:37

Everything in moderation. Sounds like hes active outside the house, i wouldnt worry about it. My lads were into Lego, army bases, nerf battles, puzzles eg jigsaws/card games/board games at that age. Play with him or suggest a movie night. Do activities together.

Tortielady · 04/05/2025 11:38

Apart from being a wonderful thing in its own right, reading is a great hook to hang other activities on. Is your DS interested in food and cooking? Would he like a children's cookbook? As suggested by a pp, he could develop some skills and make a pizza - with your help of course. If it turns out that you have the next Nigel Slater or Yottam Ottolenghi on your hands, that's great. If not, he still has a set of skills he can use and have fun with. Or is he interested in sport? There are loads of books about specific sports and players that might boost his knowledge and enthusiasm.

Also, don't dismiss the value of just kicking back with a good story, whether it's in book format or a game. Your DS is active outside the house and it's good for him to have downtime, just as it is for an adult or older child.

autumnleaves8888 · 04/05/2025 11:40

Two boys here . Oldest loves drawing , reading dogman , bunny vs monkey. Playing with Minecraft figures and lego . Loves going on his scooter / bike. Also enjoys time on his iPad and switch .

youngest is similar but has less screen time . He still loves toys and playing in general! Xx

ACynicalDad · 04/05/2025 11:41

Digs in the garden, watches TV, Lego and Switch.

Syuni · 04/05/2025 12:28

@dontforgetme
It was a general musing, not directed at anyone on the thread specifically. I also think what I wrote is quite accurate generally speaking. I do think many children nowadays lack the imagination and curiosity that children used to have. There’s probably a lot of contributing factors to that, but it is quite sad I think. If you have ‘bitten’ at it though as you say, perhaps theres something for you to reflect on about why that is.

Girasoli · 04/05/2025 12:32

Mine is 9...he does like gaming/watching nonsense on YouTube but he also likes playing risk (against himself), setting up giant battles with his toy soldiers and army ships, doing junk modelling and drawing pretend worlds. (He is really into military history atm hence all the battles/invading fictional kingdoms)

He's always happy to help bake or learn simple cooking.

Horticula · 04/05/2025 12:34

Screens dominate children's playing these days. I have a 10 year old granddaughter and because in my opinion her parents let her spend far too much time gaming and watching crap on youtube I have a no screens rule when I look after her, which is often. She never mentions it, I have lots of things for her to do which she really enjoys.
When my now 31 year old son was 7/8 he did the usual playing on bikes/ football stuff outside, and at home he read books, played with toy cars, Lego, Meccano, various other construction toys, scalextric, Hornby model trainsets, we had very small size table football and snooker tables in the garage, if no one was around to play he'd practice snooker shots by himself.

mnahmnah · 04/05/2025 12:35

Syuni · 04/05/2025 10:56

It’s so sad that so many children these days have little to no imagination or curiosity about the world.

What is this based on? Nobody in here has given any evidence of that. Not the case of any children mine are friends with. I am also a teacher and this is just not true.

Figgygal · 04/05/2025 12:37

Reads endlessly he goes through a beast quest book a day at weekends and holidays.
Lego he has years of it from his own interests and his brother before him so plays with it a lot
He likes horrible histories and we working through doctor who
Hes enjoying cricket so lots of throwing and catching
Of course tablet time which he'd increasingly be on all day if allowed but we keep him limited

BeefBoogyOn · 04/05/2025 17:10

Dicking about generally, but primarily in the garden, building things, messing with his mates in hedges and up trees. Lego. Switch. Watching the TV. He doesn't like reading or colouring in, but will do a birds eye view technical drawing of a house or whatever.

Elsadutton · 04/05/2025 17:38

I have a 9y/o who isn’t keen on reading or colouring and things like that, so I do feel like the screen time can get a bit much. However, he has plenty of sports and activities on throughout the week, so although the screens are more than I’d like I see it as his downtime. He has got into playing with imaginative play with figures eg army men and wrestlers, so I try to encourage and let him set that up even if it takes over the living room. With the brighter nights he is now outside a lot so I have given him some of his own plants to look after and he plays football.