Play ideas with 4 year old

[MumOfBoys16]

Hit me with your play ideas!

DS is 4 and we have newborn too, it's mainly the three of us during the summer holidays and our play is feeling very repetitive! We have loads of toys but DS is always saying he doesn't know what to play. We play together a lot, pretty much all day, he needs it since the baby arrived, so we get through a lot of playing in a day (we do get out too).

He likes
Diggers
Superheores (I never know how to play.. ideas please!)
Construction
Crafts

Thankyou:)

What about those wipe clean letter/number learning books?
Play doh
Painting
My 4 year old loves snakes and ladders
Building blocks
I sometimes give lots of recycling and they make something ( then secretly recycle it)
Snap
Dominos
Hot wheels

I look after a four year old and I set up an activity in the garden the other day that kept her occupied for a good hour with very little adult input. I got some cheap herbal tea bags - mint, fruit etc, ripped them open and tipped the tea into empty jars, gave her some old, out of date spices, some flowers, leaves etc from the garden, some pots and pans, spoons, whisks etc and lots of water and let her get on with making "potions". She loved it and I could sit in the garden with her and catch up on some reading, just pretending to taste her concoctions every now and then!

Thank you both.. I need to said the recycling, think he'll enjoy that!

I work in a preschool with 2-4 year olds. Honestly most of the time you just need to provide the stimulating activity and see where it goes. So superheroes are really popular with our boys, ive done things like cellotaping them to tables to be rescued, freezing them. Set these up with a 'bad guy' to defeat. Ice i used Elsa 😂 set up a doctors for the superheroes to visit, made obstacle courses for them. Pinterest is your friend here!

If you don't have one, see if you can get a tuff tray (or builders tray as they are also called). An invaluable resource and great to contain messy play. Or even things like chalking, water play or sand. Mother tuffa on Instagram is fantastic for ideas, or pinterest.

I like setting up all the components from a familiar story/theme. Or things like a doctors surgery. Twinkle is awesome for print outs to enhance this. I laminate for longevity too.

Have you any Orchard Games?
Super hero dress up - then get him to make up a story? May need prompts - who's the bad guy? Who needs rescuing? Invent and draw a bad guy?
Blackboard & chalks?

Oh fab, love these superhero/ bad guy ideas.

He loves the idea of superheroes but he's not watched any of them.. They seem too old for him. Are there any programmes I've missed that are suitable??

Something like Paw Patrol? Mine are older now so I'm probably not the one to ask! But he could come up with his own super hero and discover his own super powers? DS2 used to put pants over his head to be Pant Ninja ...

My DC like PJ Masks which is superhero's but suitable for young ones.

Agree with the potions idea. Also my 4yo loves water play in the garden (or on towels in the kitchen). Plenty of Tupperware and jugs and spoons etc plus water.

Colouring and stickers are a current favourite. Plus Lego.

Treasure hunt: hide e.g. 5 small toys around the house or garden

Hide and seek

Indoor or outdoor den building

I agree with PP about setting up play. Set up a scene with e.g lego or playmobil in the evening and let him discover it in the morning, make what he wants out of it.

Bash some balloons about (with hands or with table tennis bats)

Agree with PJ masks as an age-appropriate superhero programme, was very popular in our home!

PS could you find any local construction work to go out and have a look at the diggers? Then come home and do a picture of it.