4 year old who isn’t fussed about characters!

[Abouttimemum]

I know we’re a long way off still but I’m trying to get organised!

I have a 4 year old in reception (5 in a few months) and he doesn’t know what he’d like to ask Santa for. He doesn’t play with cars, characters or anything like that. The only thing he ever wants is marble runs and we basically have them coming out of our ears 😂
he only plays with them, board games and sometimes Lego.

When I ask school parents it’s always the same: Spider-Man, Batman, cars, turtles, Toy Story etc. he couldn’t care less about any of that.

Any ideas? 😭

@RoundAndRoundTheGarden22 @NameChange30 He has a Yoto mini he got for his 3rd birthday. he’s not fussed about the stories (although does listen to them in the car) but he loves the make your own cards that we’ve put his favourite music on, and the daily podcast.

I’m planning to get him the space cards as he does like the planets, and probably some more stories in the hope this side of it grows on him!!

@Coffeaddict will check those out thank you!

Yes my oldest has always liked music cards especially MYO with his favourites.
I've found it works well to get cards and books to match eg Julia Donaldson, Topsy and Tim - my two like looking at the pictures as they listen. Also things they're already into like Peppa Pig or Paw Patrol (my 3yo is listening to the Peppa Pig cards on repeat atm!)

Following for inspo, my 6 yo is very similar, his 4 yo bro however, alllllll for the characters! So much easier! Chalk and cheese they are ❤️

That’s a really good idea thank you, he loves books and likes to ‘read’ them so having the matching cards might work - will have a look at Julia Donaldson and Tom fletcher etc!

Ha literally all of his little pals are obsessed with Spider-Man et al. Even if DS does watch something on the tv (he loves Peppa etc) he just has zero interest in the toys. He doesn’t really do pretend play at all really! Very literal.

The only character toy he loves is a Peppa pig house bath toy, he’ll play with it for ages however it’s more for the cause and effect with water than anything else I’m sure!!

Some good ideas on here. My DS is similar, same age too. I don't want to buy things just for the sake of it!

My DS loves space and planets so he's got a desktop planets model and my parents jave bought him a telescope.

My biggest has always been exactly the same, loves games and drawing, writing and numbers and now he's bigger does play games on his tablet, even then though, say he's into playing sonic, he wouldn't play with sonic figures etc. I think lego may be a winner, going to try introduce this year, but still, I think it will be the following of the instructions he enjoys rather than free playing with it. I think he'd love some of these 'desk toys' that have been suggested here, and would probably enjoy more elaborate building type games this year like mouse trap etc. His one request for his birthday is the Catchphrase game as he loves watching that 😂😂 Couldn't love his quirky self more, but pressies are definitely trickier!

How about pipes/water wheels etc to do a water-based run (like a marble run, esp if you can float things down a current) in the bath/paddling pool in summertime?

Another game to add to those already mentioned is labyrinth - ds2 had it from 5 or 6 and has always been great at it - despite being the youngest player and luck being involved!

The other thing he used to live playing with from approx 3-10 were Galt Octons - basically plastic octagon shapes with slits in that you can slot together. I remember playing with similar when I was little.

They just have a nice tactile quality and the things you make are all pretty abstract (much more so than Lego)- might be worth a look!

My marble run loving child also likes the aqua play lockbox, magnetic tiles, nerf guns and car launcher toys