Non gaming ways for boys to keep in touch online

[bluefootedboobie]

Just wondering seeing if anyone has any bright ideas of how my DS (10) and his mate can hang out over FaceTime that doesn't involve them having to chat / fill silences. They are good pals but terrible at small talk so not keen on just chatting. They tried last week and it was painful. I expect many boys are the same. They both game but roblox and fortnite are not options.

My younger DD on the other hand can fill hours 'chatting' to friends - they bake together, do gymnastics, whatever they fancy. The boys are a bit clueless in comparison.

My DS uses discord for both verbal and non verbal chatting

Is it just those two games that aren't options?

What about Minecraft? My 10 year old was chatting to a friend while building a house together it was really cute

Yes just those two games - others might be ok. My DS plays minecraft - how could he chat with somebody else - would that be in the game?

@NeverForgetYourDreams

My DS uses discord for both verbal and non verbal chatting

What is discord?

Minecraft is the answer I think. Mine very much love to hang out with their friends whilst playing.

Do they both have Xbox or playstation?

Ok, thank you. Do they need to be in the same game in minecraft?

We have a switch - think friend has an Xbox

Mine also use discord to chat. Another game is Sea of Theives. You jointly crew a pirate ship and go looking for buried treasure.

Sea of thieves is via PC on steam.

Interesting. Neither of mine has any problem just chatting but they are both in mixed boy/girl friendship groups.

My DS facetimes his friend on my phone, while they both play minecraft or other games together on their Switches

DS plays Roblox with his cousin in NZ while they video call over WhatsApp on my phone

My youngest uses old school pen and paper games, chess or messes about with the ozobot. Any game they have the same one of is pretty doable, e.g. connect 4.

Any game can work. My DS is 22 now but at 10/11 I remember him chatting and laughing as he played games online with friends in the next village. Runescape was a favourite, later Minecraft and others. Now living alone and working from home gaming is a lifesaver for him.

My three boys all play games whilst chatting to friends. Youngest (9) plays Minecraft or Rocket League, they are on the same game and both on Xbox, talking through headsets. They have a lovely time chatting. Don't think you can play all games across different platforms - e.g. can't seem to play Minecraft with friend who has a playstation, but can play Rocket League. Strange.

Older ones play Among Us, Farming Simulator (lovely and team work!), war thunder, Roblox, Fortnite (not as bad as I thought it was actually, but 9 year old not on it, only 13 year old). Really important for them to socialise and mine find it easy to do it this way, it has been a good thing through this pandemic when they couldn't have friends round.

Mine is the same age and plays Minecraft and Roblox. He also does Lego with friends online - they build together. That’s quite sweet.
My DD does a lot of Drawosaurus with her friends and cousins.

Mine is younger, but he will do the games and filters on messenger video chat. Also, he will watch you tube videos on a Facebook watch party while chatting.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions. I wish I was more tech savvy to know how to set them up, hopefully DH can help.

Good luck - I've had a steep learning curve this past year too, but thankfully the children seemed to know what they needed from friends!

Boardgamearena.com has loads of digitised versions of real physical board games that kids can play together. Mine plays various games with cousins who they haven't seen for months. Simultaneous zoom for chatting but its ok if they don't have much to say

My DD has built a news website with her friend and they spend hours updating it online together.

With a group of friends they also play around with google Jamboard. No idea what it’s for but as far as I can see they all paste pictures of their favourite things into it and make a collage of pictures (?!)

@mammmamia

My DD has built a news website with her friend and they spend hours updating it online together.

With a group of friends they also play around with google Jamboard. No idea what it’s for but as far as I can see they all paste pictures of their favourite things into it and make a collage of pictures (?!)

The website sounds excellent, I was going to suggest a shared research webpage for mine with a friend - they have a shared interest and I think would enjoy updating it separately and together.

Sounds perfect - thanks