Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Children do not play with toys

42 replies

peppajay · 26/10/2013 18:15

Am I the only one whose children do not play with toys on a regular basis?? It is my fault partly as we are a very active and I never ried on toys or tv to entertain my children. We are always out and about so have really needed a house full of toys. We have toys my dd has hundreds of dolls and buggies but have never done play sets really. My son has loads of cars and jigsaws but no great big imaginext play sets. We did buy him a few playmobil things last Xmas but they have never really been played with. They don't watch tv or DVD's either and we don't have satellite or cable so characters from tv are lost on them. I do try getting them to watch tv but they find it boring. We have been to the cinema once to a £1 showing of the par express but they lasted half he and then were so bored we left. Again my own fault because I never even put the tv for them till my eldest was 4 as I didn't see the need!! All backfired on me now though! They have no idea what a minion is or who I Carly is!! Today it has rained all day and we have been in all day as had loads of jobs to catch up on as I do voluntary work some if the week now so some of the weekend I have to catch up on jobs. I wish now I had bought them more toys when they were younger because perhaps they would have taught themselves how to play. Any ideas of any good toys or things I can get them so they can play which aren't tv related. They are 7 girl and 5 boy. Thanks x

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Babieseverywhere · 26/10/2013 20:01

If they are use to being outside and active, can you continue that at home in a back garden ?

We have a playhouse (thanks B&Q) and a trampoline (thanks grandparents). The playhouse is shelter from the rain and you can get tents for the trampolines which makes them waterproof too.

Of course that depends on having the space but certainly my children play outside all year around.

stargirl1701 · 26/10/2013 20:01

I would suggest you seriously reduce the number of toys available. It is overwhelming for children to have tons of toys. Choose no more than 10 per child. Store them on open shelves, e.g. IKEA Expedit. Rotate the toys by having some in storage and some out.

Artandco · 26/10/2013 20:02

I think it's good for them to learn to play also

We can be out from 9am-6pm daily especially in the summer. But they still play before/ after breakfast, and in the evening and on days home in between.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

FiscalCliffRocksThisTown · 26/10/2013 20:02

At that age just let them get bored..

And see what happens!

It will probably involve cardboard boxes and cellotape.... ( plays ominous music) tatataaaa

Or is that just in our house?

valiumredhead · 26/10/2013 20:08

Boredom is the mother of invention...

zzzzz · 26/10/2013 20:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Yamyoid · 26/10/2013 21:04

I find with ds he plays better on his own when I alternate an activity or game (have you tried baking?) together, then him playing alone. Perhaps 30 mins to an hour of each.

Also highly recommend Lego.

defineme · 26/10/2013 21:15

marble runs divert my 3 -set them a challenge eg tallest tower, longest run etc
painting, playdoh, clay, plasticine ...start them off/do a quick one of your own/give them a theme like animals and then withdraw
get a mixed box of lego and a couple of the boards they stick to--mine build farms, cities, houses, gardens
dress up...mine put together mad outfits (a lot of my old clothes/scarves and hats so not necess bought outfits) and then make up dance routines/plays
give them the recycling and parcel tape and scissors-our house is filled with complex structures made frfom egg boxes

Herisson · 26/10/2013 21:18

Yep, let them get a bit bored. They will soon think of something to do.

DD is 7 and loves playing mummies with her dolls, schools with dolls and soft toys, zoos/safari parks with soft toys and dolls etc. Dolls don't have to be dire - they're just objects to use as you want to in a game and can be great props for imaginative play. I am the headteacher/zoo keeper/grandma in these scenarios and have minimal input.

If they aren't into imaginative play, then junk modelling is good - give them a load of boxes and paper and glue and ask them to make something. If they have no ideas, give them some - a house or a car or a rocket or a cave or a robot or whatever. Working out how to do it is part of the fun.

Lego or sticklebricks or similar have endless applications.

Get a big box and a couple of old newspapers and tell them to build a nest for baby birds (they are the birds). Then they can make some eggs and sit on them and they can make the even smaller birds, too, when they're ready to hatch.

Mini golf inside. But they have to make the holes, the golf clubs and the balls from whatever is available.

Invent a board game (they do the inventing and you can work out together if it's actually playable or not).

Craft stuff from the internet. There are a ton of printable things that you can make. DD just made a Hallowe'en basket for trick or treating with no input from me apart from her asking if she could print it out on thick paper. She found a plan online, printed it, coloured it in, cut it out and stuck it together. She is really proud of it! It is not the most polished piece of work, but that's not the point. She feels great for having had a plan and carried it out to completion - and can't wait to actually use it.

Music - get a little cheap keyboard, a ukulele (you can get them really cheap), a recorder, a xylophone, whatever, and let them make up a song to perform to you. Or a play to perform to you if musical instrument buying is a bit expensive. They can record themselves on your phone or on a laptop and play it back. DD did this with one of her (really v tuneless) songs and I put it in our music library under her name as the artist and she is really pleased with it. I even imported a photo of her as the cover art.

Dancing to music. Any old music will do. Spotify will supply plenty of suitable playlists for children and you probably have CDs that they'd like.

Chores. Give them tasks to do. Put own clean clothes away. Wash the bath (this is actually brilliant fun if they wear wellies, get into the bath, and just use something fairly non-toxic like soap). Mop the floor. Hoover. You do have to supervise but at least something useful is being done.

Buy a roll of lining paper and get them to create a tablecloth for your table (they will have to work out how to make it the right size and shape as well as decorating).

My DD also has no idea about minions or carly or whatever but it hasn't stopped her being able to play.

Mollydoggerson · 26/10/2013 21:20

This is what my kids got up to today, spent hours oing the following:
Pumpkin carving
Making decorations,
Hanging decorations,
Pretending to be vampires/skeletons/dogs/dog skeletons.
Colouring.
Finding old costumes and replacing stuff - moving toys out of a box ad putting costumes into it.

morethanpotatoprints · 26/10/2013 21:23

Playing doesn't just consist of toys though.
Whatever a child is doing can usually be explained away as play.
My dd hasn't played with toys much, she just wasn't interested.
My 2 ds played with toys all the way through primary ages.
I would try some traditional games and maybe some sporty type that you can play on table top, or if you have the room table tennis.
I would also invest in some useful musical instruments or get them crafty in making their own. Kazoos and rain sticks are great and they play after the making process.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 26/10/2013 21:25

my two (6 and 3) are crap at remembering what they've got, and what they can do with it.
i do find that if I dust something off (today it was the wooden train set), and set them up a bit, they'll happily play together for a while. sometimes Wink.

BornToFolk · 26/10/2013 21:43

DS (6) is really not into imaginative play either, he never has been and as it's something that I'm not very good at either, I've not encouraged it as much as I maybe could have.

Anyway, the things he enjoys doing by himself are creative things like writing, drawing (not pictures of things, kind of doodling!), Spirograph, Hama beads and he loves junk modelling too. I keep a load of cereal boxes and other interesting/useful things under the stairs that he can help himself to.

He also likes Lego but building things rather than playing role-play things with it He's also recently got into K'nex. He also likes fiddly things like spinning tops, or plastic tat from party bags like slinkies or jumping frogs.

He sounds a lot like Ragwort's DS as he's very sporty so he's often to be found kicking a ball around the garden, or kicking a balloon in the conservatory. He had a table football set that was played with so much it fell apart! I had to play that with him but I loved it too so wasn't bothered! Grin

I do think he gets a bit overwhelmed with toys sometimes. The conservatory is basically his playroom where all the toys are but he forgets what he has (even when it's on a shelf right in front of him Hmm) If I actually set something up for him and leave it for him to come across, he's much more likely to play with it.

I agree that you have to let them get bored sometimes. He knows know, when I'm cooking dinner that he needs to amuse himself for a bit and he'll just take himself off to find something to do.

BornToFolk · 26/10/2013 21:43

*knows now.

mercibucket · 26/10/2013 22:11

minecraft is great Smile

gallicgirl · 26/10/2013 22:15

Could they make a paper theatre then put on a play?
Should take loads of time to plan and execute.

Jux · 26/10/2013 22:25

Packs of cards.
Board games - Risk, Monopoly etc. my fave game when I was that sort of age was Buccaneer, but they probably don't make it any more.

Card games can be as simple as Cheat and as complicated as Bridge, Canasta etc and anything in between. Kept us going for hours on rainy days.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page