Playing - tunnels - 3yo

[shapes1]

My 3yo boy loves tunnels the pop up ones. That's his current favourite thing to do inside.. that's not too childish or is it? Meaning should he have grown out of that stage by now?

No thats fine and even if he 'should' who cares he enjoys it, its not harming anyone let him do what he finds fun and stop wishing his childhood away

No he shouldn't have grown out of it not for a good while if he likes it. Playing like this is brilliant and will do him the world of good on many different levels.

My DC loved draping blankets over tables and chairs, as did I as a kid, to use as tunnels and dens.

Imagination and play is so important for a child development

Ok was just checking and I do know how important imagination is and as it Happens he's not at all into pretend Play even tho we have a kitchen and tea set he's just not too fussed with it

He could be working on an enveloping schema, meaning that he's going through a developmental stage where he is enjoying exploring hiding. You could give him some more opportunities to play in this way by building dens and tents, providing cardboard boxes to play in, blankets and sleeping bags to hide in.

No way, my just turned 3 year old loves them and if I'm honest so do I...

Yes, what @NannyR said. My 3yr old went through this but I didn’t recognise it at first. He spent about 6-8 weeks doing very little else but wanting to be tucked into a blanket, over and over. I was starting to get worried until someone pointed out that it could be a schema. It eventually passed and he went back to his normal play.

Generally speaking, I know older kids who’d still quite like to play in a tunnel. It’s not doing any harm, he’s happy and burning energy safely. I say let him get on with it.

Thanks all. I mentioned it to my friend and she said that's a good toy to enjoy especially for my younger son who's nearly 1 so that's what mafe me think if he will enjoy it maybe it's too mature for a 3yo but obviously not going by the replies I've got ✔️

Also my older son is speech delayed and social communication delayed so isn't saying too much so I guess I worry if he spends so much time in the tunnel not engaging etc. Obviously I will go in there with him but I can just imagine him pushing me away so that he can repeatedly go through time and time again. It's arriving tomorrow I think

Ps he had a tunnel at nursery and pretends at home by going through our legs or the table etc so that's why tonight we have ordered a tunnel for at home

My 8 and 5 year old still use this. I hate the thing as it’s big but it is a regular feature of dens and obstacle courses. So you’ve got a few years left

I'm 39 and I get a bit of a thrill charging through the tunnels at softplay after my DC

nannyr What a good idea!

We take our preteens to an adventurous activity centre. One of the activities is a 'cave maze' and is very popular... basically crawling through wooden tunnels to get to get from one end of the maze to another. I've seen teenagers and adults enjoy it.
And of course, real caving is a hobby amongst adults.