Wholesome activities for six-year-old at home

[Parent1001]

Hi,
Basically as the title says please. I need some wholesome activities for my six-year-old at home. He seems to be stuck playing in the same way, whether it's with Lego or blocks or cars or anything, there always winds up being a good guy and a bad guy.
He doesn't watch lots of TV or have much access to video games, but when he does there seems to be a theme in everything of good guys and bad guys... Same old, same old.
When he was younger it was easier to play differently with him. Now, he isn't interested in playing shop, or with soft toys, or even board games.
It can be an effort for him to play something different. I suggested we do a puzzle last week and it was met with disgruntled noises, eventually he decided it was a good idea and then did it with me (it was a 'find it' style puzzle so he enjoyed that part after)
I hope all this makes sense. Summer holiday has already started for us and for the times we are at home I'm getting tired of good vs bad/crashing noises, and the lark...
I'd like him to play differently and for us to have things to do together, that aren't met with a 'no' or the disagreement you'd expect from a teenager.
Thanks for reading.

Baking

crafting in an area he’s interested in / painting cartoon models, building aircraft etc

2 randoms:
(maybe not 'wholesome', but definitely engaging).

Old school paper planes. Didn't think would interest cynical nephew (7) whatsoever, but was a real hit.

Seeing how many of these he could make alone within half an hour:
https://www.foldnfly.com/#/1-1-1-1-1-1-1-0-0
Launch races with me afterwards. Each design judged on aerodynamics/distance.

and

(Using wooden toothpicks instead of straws, and mini-marshmallows. Ensure plenty of both to hand). The marshmallow element apparently appealed way more than his regular construction kit! He was happily engrossed for ages. And then polished off the leftovers.

My 6yo enjoyed playing with diggers, dumper trucks etc… in his sandpit. He also enjoyed drawing pictures with chalks on our paving slabs, building dens with sheets and furniture, junk modelling and marble runs

So do you want to inspire a bit more imagination and creativity in the 'storylines' of roleplaying? Alongside coming up with completely different activities to do like crafting, art, writing a comic book, building marble runs, baking, designing an obstacle course, having a treasure hunt...

Could you try having a jar of characters and plot ideas - so perhaps using different colour scraps of paper, blue for characters and green for ideas, pink for setting maybe, whatever works. Then you get him to pick out one of each and he has to come up with a game around those concepts. So he might pick a cowboy who wants to find hidden treasure on the moon, or a celebrity youtuber who is lost in the jungle and wants to overcome their fear of the dark. If you google 'story dice' that's a similar sort of idea, designed to inspire written stories.

Story dice are really good for creative play. His stories might be based on good v bad, but yours can be broader. He’ll grow out of it in time.

Science experiments
making cartoons

From my understanding that's a completely normal developmental stage of play (good guys Vs bad guys) so nothing to worry about but yes It can be really boring to us and I understand wanting to broaden his imagination/story lines etc (although this was met with great resistance from my son who just wanted to play exactly how he wanted to play and was not at all open to any broadening no matter how I tried to disguise it! Lol)
We found it much easier/less resistance by doing some activities that couldn't really be swayed into that story line (no action figures/Lego etc) and did baking, nature walks, pond dipping, frisbee, building a fort, having a disco in the lounge, doing craft activities, playdoh etc
But the crucial part was we also still let him play goodies Vs baddies - I just wasn't going to play it with him for hours on end 😂

Find an activity that you actually want to do, and he'll come and join you!

Marble run 😁

Agree. I'd just let his play be, whilst perhaps keeping an eye on what he's consuming media-wise, making sure he is being exposed to other activities/books, tv etc, but his play at home id let that be his.

Teach him games played in the olden days. My kids thought out games were hilarious.

At that age mine loved science experiments, chess, cards, being out and about.