What do your 6yo boys do?!?!?

[Topsy1980]

My son is 6 (almost 7) and I’m really concerned that he doesn’t do anything! Obviously they’ve been off school for ages now and he’s going back in a week so there’ll be a routine in place again soon but I’ve realised since we stopped home schooling (back in June) that left to his own devices all he does is play on the Xbox or on his Switch or on the iPad or watch TV. I try to get him to do crafts, play board games etc and his sister (8yo) loves these things and will happily put her laptop down to do other things but my son literally just plays on tech all day long. He loves football but won’t play out on his own without me or his dad. He loves to go on his bike but again won’t do it without us. He has loads of cars, Lego etc but if left to play on his own then he literally will just stare at a screen. I’m just wondering what other boys this age do?

My son is 6 and sounds similar. He'll go through phases of Lego, drawing, cars but mostly screen watching. He doesn't have a favourite character, show, movie etc but swings through lots of things. I know he's on his tablet too much but it makes him so happy and I'm hoping once he's settled back in school we'll naturally drop the screen time.

7yo DD spends a lot of time building dens, digging in the mud and who knows what else in the garden.

Thank you @puppygalore it’s reassuring to know it’s not just my boy. I have pangs off guilt that I haven’t done enough with him since they’ve been off and so he’s had far too much tech time than what he’d normally have.

Why are you letting him watch so much screen time? He's a child, obviously he won't do anything else if you let him watch TV or even worse play games. I mean my DD is a bit younger and also loves TV, got her favourites but when I say switch off the TV, that's it, she needs to find something else to do. She also doesn't want to play by herself much. Well tough luck, then sit on a couch and stare at the wall 🤷‍♀️

Thank you @Aroundtheworldin80moves That’s interesting as my 8yo daughter is like that too. She’s always active! I just can’t seem to find anything my ds is into to play with on his own 🤷‍♀️

My almost six year old doesn’t have access to an Xbox or switch so it really seems like a lot of screen time to me. He builds a lot with sellotape and cardboard, lots of Lego, lots of building dens in our super small garden.
We don’t live in an area where he could bike alone, I’m not sure even if we did I’d be too happy about him being out of my sight for too long. Mine is quite immature.

If your happy with his screen time then great, but if not you could reign it in a little? School should help.

Lego, trampoline, crafting, board games, out on his bike, playing with pets.

Lego, pretty much all day. With occasional forays into magformers or craft, and board games if he has someone to play with.

He also loves cutting up cardboard boxes and making a mess things, and he plays with his teddies sometimes too. If he has a basin of water he'll spend ages making boats out of paper, cardboard, Lego, or anything really, and then sailing them in it.

He kind of lost interest in tv about a year ago, and he's never had a Switch or XBox or anything. He does like watching a bit of YouTube or Netflix, but he gets bored after an hour or so (not that he generally gets to watch it that long).

My youngest DS would play video games or watch TV all day long if we let him... So we don't let him!
(Just like he would only eat sweets all day long if we let him... So we don't let him either)

Video games and telly are a treat in our house. Of course he moans he wants more, but when he's not playing, he builds dens, makes random craft with loo rolls and sellotape, designs lego models, digs holes in the garden looking for hidden treasures, reads books, plays with his older brother and/or his toys all kind of let's pretend games, climbs on the climbing frame in the local park, etc.

I have a 6.5 year old son.

If he’s on his own he will happily play games on his iPad but we restrict how much time he’s allowed on it: for example, he’s allowed it for 45 minutes and then we take it off him.

In terms of what he does on a day to day basis....

He plays Golf and so on top of his weekly lesson he goes to the golf course about three times a week to practice. My husband has been home for the last 5 months (furloughed) and he takes our two sons out about 4 times a week to go on nature trails during our local woods which takes them hours or takes them on bike rides.

My son isn’t really a TV watcher but on a Friday night he has a Movie Night with me and my husband where he stays up late and we watch a film whilst eating crisps and junk.

If I play with my son he is very engaging and we play so many different types of board games and card games, we get the dinosaurs out, his cars out, we play hide and seek around the house, we do puzzles, play Lego, read books, we play with play-doh, get the paints out etc. We have lots of fun together. We also spend a lot of time in the garden playing with footballs, having water gun fights and just generally chasing each other around.

I also have a 3 year old and the two boys can play together for hours - they keep each other well amused. I love playing with the boys and join in with most of what they are doing but they are happy to entertain each other if I’m busy doing something else.

It's so reassuring to hear that children are still having fun outside and playing games and crafts without screens all the time. I have two toddlers and intend to not allow computer games etc as 1. We can't afford them and 2. I don't want them fixated on them all day long. Love the idea of nature trails and dens in the garden!

DS loves to be outside with his bike/skates. He will come out with me with the dogs and when at home he would open our garden gates on both sides and just ride around the house for ages. He collects snails and bugs and keeps them in a bowl with grass for a bit, when he gets bored watching them he puts them back in the garden and tries to catch a new one
Inside he does lots of drawing and tries to make his own things. Like currently hes trying to make a little bee house with cardboard and paper rolls. Its obviously not gonna work, because it will just get ruined on the first rain, but it keeps him busy for hours. Last week he made his own confetti with a hole puncher. That kept me busy for a while when he dropped them all over the place. But he was actually busy for ages coloring paper first.
He loves card and board games. And he loves to build houses with cushions and blankets with his sister.
When i ask him to go play he always asks if he can have the ipad/watch tv. But he always finds something to do when i tell him no. Hes pretty low maintenance and great at entertaining himself.
Screens are his preference though, i think thats quite normal.

Lego
iPad
Swimming
Running
Cycling
Horse riding
Beavers
School work (by choice through the holidays)
Last week we did kayaking and Go Ape

More a question of "what doesn't he do?"!

My 6yo also loves computers and left to his own choice would play games all day. His school didn't open for Y1 so he's not been at school since Mar. He's had a lot more screen time than we'd ideally allow because we've both been working at home full time.

We limit computer games (Roblox and Wii) to 1.5 hours a day and telly, probably 1-2 hours depending on how busy work is! When screens are off, he STILL plays computer games, he makes characters out of bits of paper or card, keeps track of his scores in a notebook and runs around "punching bad guys".

He'll play board games, by himself, sometimes. Makes up his own rules. He's invented a couple of board games based on computer games.

He's never really been interested in toys, since he was a baby (so it's not just the allure of screens). His younger brother (4) will play with Lego, soft toys, cars etc. So what gets him away from screens is playing the same things in real life!

He MIGHT do colouring in or puzzle books, but loses interest quite quickly.

Five, so a bit younger

Tv time (30 minutes per day, however on friday he gets to watch a whole film of his choosing).

Lego
Kindle (30 minutes per day)
Being a dinosaur
Craft things
Indoor games like skittles, throwing a hoop on things etc
Puzzles
Treasure maps (we take turns to make them, the map is usually our building and we have to go and find X)
Checking all the house plants for water, this takes him ages as there are about 25.
Hiding game, few items on a tray and we take it turns to hide one and you have to work out what has been hidden.
He has recently taken an interest in our puppy so he plays nicely with him, gets him to give paw etc for treats.
Bike rides

Most of the time though we’re outside, we go to the park most days, in normal times we would go to the park most days after school. If we’re not at the park I normally have a specific outdoor actively or cheap day out organised. Today we’re going to a farm, having a picnic and heading to a nature reserve to walk around it, then we’ll go to a playground thats fairly close by before heading home. We have a British nature book so if we see an animal, certain plant etc we can tick it off. I also have a book of vehicles where you tick it off when you see it, that keeps him entertained in the car or he just sometimes sits on the balcony and does it.

Lego, jigsaws, magnetic block things, hot wheels, trampoline, dens, bike rides, walks, park, swimming, gymnastics, bakugan, board games, crafts...
But if we aloud it he would play iPad all day. If we let him have too much screen time he moans that he’s bored and is a pain in the neck for a while till he finds himself something to do.

@Topsy1980 I so needed to read this, mine, same age is EXACTLY the same!

@sanityisamyth are your Beavers back? We've had no comms whatsoever. DS loved Beavers

I wont have xbox etc in the house , he does enough of that at his dads . The ipad is a reward for him at the end of the day if hes been a good boy .
I guess it's easier for me as I have been on furlough, I take him out every day , just to the park or even to the shops or running errands.
He plays in the garden ( ignoring all his toys and opting for the broom-as-a- lightsabre)
He plays indoors with crafts and I will play board games with him. If he says he is bored I give him reading or spelling to do so he stops saying it !
I don't mind him watching tv if it is educational, Andy's adventures , wildlife docus etc.
He is also 6 and a half .

I forgot to say we have been meeting friends too as he us an only child he needs interaction

......are your Beavers back? We've had no comms whatsoever. DS loved Beavers

I’m in the Midlands area and my son’s Beaver Group emailed last week to say that as of November they will be resuming their sessions but they will be outdoors.

Just what we want over winter

Oh blimey @QueenofmyPrinces ! Oh well .. toughen them up a bit.

Think I'll email our leader now, thanks for the prompt.

RE Scouts... The Scout Association is due to update Guidance tomorrow, so many groups are waiting for that. Current guidance is small groups outdoors.

[quote yawnsvillex]@sanityisamyth are your Beavers back? We've had no comms whatsoever. DS loved Beavers [/quote]

Planning to start in some form on 9th September but likely to be virtual. We were doing Zoom meetings up until end of July.

I'm in Wales and only JUST got moved to Amber so much less notice than rest of UK to start F2F outdoors again but we can have larger groups and no masks/social distancing needed for Beavers or Cubs (although leaders will need to).

My memory is that my two still needed or liked to be supervised a lot at that age. Go on bike rides with him. Play footy with him. Build Lego alongside him. I'd make one thing and he'd make another. Gradually reduce the amount of attention he gets from you until he's doing stuff more or less unaided.
Put screens away/disable them and do some craft with him. My DC would spend hours doing the worst junk modelling I have ever seen. But it kept them happy. Reading stories together. Listening to songs together and singing along. 'Helping' cook or clean with me.