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?

Mine are allowed limited or almost no screen time. So they play in the garden- mainly imaginative games. They like bike riding, puzzles, making marble runs, reading and playing lots of board games. Think Fun makes a ton of board games that you can play solo and both my kids love those and the cooperative games from Peaceable Kingdom. My older son has recently become interested in science kits so I bought several during lockdown.

We have walkie talkies and send our nearly 10yo and 6yo out to the little green 20m away to play. They swing on the trees, ride their bikes, make up games. It's really sweet when they make contact with the walkie talkie, usually asking for updates on the lunch situation, over! Little bit of independence as we haven't introduced phones yet.

My ds is 12 now but when he was six he had no consoles or tablet... actually pretty much no tech. He had heaps of energy so I basically took him to the park every day come rain or shine. At home I bought him one of those rugs which has a town and roads printed on it and he'd play with that and his toy cars and superhero figures.

I'll be honest and say I think six is way too young for games consoles. He should be playing with toys and running round outside

My 5 and 9 year old boys like parks. Wooden train set : lego and colouring pictures

This is refreshing to read thank you! My little boy will be 5 in the winter and he doesn't entertain himself very well at all either.

He likes lots of things like vehicles, transformers, Octonauts, pretend games etc but always likes to have someone "playing" with him, even if all I'm doing is what he tells me in a pretend game or watching him do Lego. His little brother is 18 months so I look forward to when they can play properly together.

When we take him out (which we do at least once a day, on his bike etc) he will be happy for ages and we have to drag him home. Again if he meets a friend in the park they will entertain each other for ages. He's just not great at being alone.

He loves screens too, he has a kindle tablet which he is allowed in short bursts (10-20 minutes) for good behaviour, and loves to watch various crap on Netflix. I limit screens but it's crept up hugely since lockdown.

My boy is slightly younger and absolutely loves the Xbox. I don't see it as bad in itself, he's really engaged in the storylines, problem solving, etc. It's more that he would choose that over anything else and slightly loses interest in other activities unless I sit down specifically with him and encourage him to play, craft etc. None of his usual external activities have restarted yet so it is a bit harder to keep him busy and I am also trying to hold down a job WFH and look after his sibling.

A few of friends who have girls the same age are rather judgemental about my DS playing computer games at all, but each to their own. I don't see it as detrimental as long as there's some attempt to vary activities.

My little boy is 7 he doesnt have any computer/ tablet time we havnt introduced that yet but he does watch tv when he gets up in the morning. He is any only child so we do play with him lots when he plays on his own it's not for huge amounts of time. He likes train sets, lego , playmobil , wooden figures for role play ect. Will do art/ craft activities, make models ect. Help bake, read but prefers to be read too, activity books ect. He loves to be outside so we play in the garden and go out lots for walks, bug hunts , bike rides, park ect.

My 9 year old would be glued to screens if allowed but my 6 year old (both boys) loses interest.

They re allowed 30-60 minutes of switch per day depending on homework plus some tv in the evening. When school is back switch will only be at the weekends.

My 6 year old loves cycling, skateboarding, scooting, rollerskating and swimming.

Things he plays by himself or with his brother: duplo (he likes big toys), playmobil, various vehicles, cooking (pretend and real), wrestling, shooting baddies, building dens, anything to do with water, building things from cardboard.

Take away the screen time. At least limit it. If you let them, they would play all day! I believe it stops them from being creative etc. When we have no screen days he comes up with other things to do. We limit game playing to once or twice a week for an hour or two (causes a lot of whining, but I don't want him playing so much at this age). My ds is 6 and almost 7. He plays so well when he isn't thinking about playing games. When left to his own to play he will play with his cars, army men or other toy characters, mostly setting up battles. He will also jump rope, play lego, board games with his sister. He quite loves sticker books and transfer books (but pretty much have done all the transfer books I could find!). It is getting more difficult to get him outside to play unless he has a friend.

My children are all the same here too. They seem to have gotten worse over time too. One of the things that we have had to do is to limit the time that they use their devices. It is not that easy, though. They just seem to get bored and argue instead. But, if you can get past the first 30 minutes or so, they seem to pick something up and do something creative. Ine thing that I have found that can help is izkid/panel.com. It allows you to get a bit more control over phone usage and what they are doing etc.

Hope that helps a little.

My 6yo DS does loves tech, we have a family Switch and DH or I will play Mario games on it with him (he never uses it alone), and he has a kids’ Kindle tablet he uses maybe 1-2 times a week. He’s very into games and I have the feeling it’ll be a big interest of his as he gets older.

But he likes drawing (a lot), and reading - he will read non-fiction stuff like fact books or children’s encyclopaedias, he’s not really bothered about stories as much. He also has access to my old laptop, and (always supervised) uses Google or Wikipedia to find out about things he’s interested in - this is usually sea creatures or space-related. He also likes Carol Vorderman’s Maths Factor and will do some of that on the laptop. We don’t live anywhere safe enough for him to scoot/cycle alone but he likes to do that when we all go to the park.

We also have a 3yo DD so they often play together - imagination games, with Lego, or with their teddies. He was HUGELY into his wooden trains/Thomas stuff from the ages of 2 and 5 but interest in those have waned.

I don't restrict screen time, so my 6 year old does spend a lot of time on ipad/computer playing with his brother/friends (strict only chat with people we know in real life)

BUT, it also means that he never feels desperate for it, so he comes away when called for dinner/bed/time to go out/whatever with no fuss, and when he gets bored he brings himself down and asks to bake a cake (he can do everything but the oven, with no input from me), or play bey blades, or run around with his brother playing their bizarre games, or asks to play cards, or brush the cat, or any one of a load of things.

I do wish he would spend more time outside, but to be fair, we live in a cold and rainy place, so I can see why he wouldn't.

My 6 year old loves Lego and plays with it more or less everyday. He likes his bike, reading and nature trails. Games like Concept Animals, Battleships, Guess who and top trumps are very popular too. He likes doing junk modelling too. He's not particularly bothered about TV and we don't have any games consoles etc but he likes looking at Lego reviews on line and is allowed you tube at weekends.

Lego, Lego, Lego, riding his bike, more Lego, quick go on Minecraft, more Lego, playdoh, drawing, Lego, yet more Lego.

Football with DH in the garden
Playstation
Writes scripts
Listens and dances to music on Alexa
Reads Star Wars books
Plays with Buzz Lightyear
Plays shops - Loves adding stuff up on his toy till
Top Trumps
Loves measuring stuff with a tape measure

@SamsMumsCateracts Mine is lego mad too. When not actually building Lego (Lego Star Wars preferably) he's looking at his lego books, or gazing wistfully at sets he hasn't got on his tablet. Or watching Star Wars and deciding what sets he would design if he worked for Lego

My dc4 is 5. He enjoys it playing Lego, water table with dc5(3), playdoh, painting/drawing/chalk, helping me in the garden, playing with vehicles, building highly complicated train tracks for the 3yo that he then moans about them being played with, puzzles, board games (he'll happily play operation & buckaroo on his own or with the others). His 3 older siblings (10, 9, 7) all enjoy joining in with these games & activities too. I limit device time though.

My 6 year old doesn’t have xbox or switch or the like but does have lots of apps Disney +, Netflix etc but he doesn’t spend al day on the iPad it was his bday the other week so what he mainly plays with is his ben10 toys Harry Potter Lego and batman jail I’ve been thinking of buying him an Xbox but you’ve just made me more determined not to now I think you need to seriously limit screen time

My 7 year old is exactly the same. Where we have been home for so long it's been hard to get outside to do much or crafts etc as I've been working from home so stuck at a laptop most of the day.

He spends most of his time playing on the switch or PS4 as he links up with some of his friends. He will play football outside or do other stuff but only if we do it with him - obviously I can't do much when I'm working.

He started back at school today and his football teams are now training and playing matches again from next week, so I'm sure he will be on the computer a lot less.

It's been a strange 6 months so I wouldn't worry, most kids I know have been doing the same

Mine does a lot of imaginative play, usually involving his toy trains. He likes cards and various board games - if no one fancies playing with him, he plays against his imaginary friend.

He'll play quite a lot with Lego and Magformers, and he loves listening to audio books. He'll read, too, but needs a bit of encouragement. Sometimes he just bounces around on the sofa.

He likes TV and playing games on his Kindle Fire, but we limit those.

My son who is 7 is excatly the same! To the tee like footie or cycling only with us. Hasn't picked up a pencil since June either don't worry xx

I find it quite sad hearing about these six year olds spending so much time on screens.

I find it quite sad hearing about these six year olds spending so much time on screens

I agree. I'm no perfect parent but I think it's shocking that 5/6 year olds have games consoles. It's completely bizarre to me that parents buy them for their young children then moan that they are on them too long. What did you think would happen. Children that young should be playing with toys or running round outside.

I find it quite sad hearing about these six year olds spending so much time on screens.

You really needn't waste your energy on that. My beautiful, bright, thoughtful, articulate and engaging boy is quite happy with his Xbox time. As am I and his Dad. Hope that helps.

@HashtagMakingMemories how old is your ds? You say younger than the ops ds...so 4, 5? It wouldn't have occurred to me to get a console for such a young child. Just be honest, it makes your life easier. It will never be a better option than playing with toys, imaginative play, outside play or creative activities .