What is your 5/6 year old in to? Other than video games...

[wombpaloumbpa]

Apologies there are probably plenty of similar threads but I was hoping to get 'current' answers and ideas.

What is your 5 or 6 year old into other than video computer games. ??

Please be specific- what books, what games, what crafts

I have a boy who is becoming so obsessed with Minecraft and sonic. He does love Lego but it's waning and I am about to cut it down to 1 hour a day. Need lots of other 'tricks up my sleeve'! He also goes swimming, squirrels, scooting, im just looking for ideas for downtime at home.

Thank you for sharing

Sorry that doesn't read well. I'm not about to cut Lego down I'm about to cut the amount of screen time he gets down.

Not video games at that age.

A child that age shouldn’t get any computer games. If he likes minecraft / sonic get him toy / lego versions.

Uno card game
Aeroplanes
Minecraft card game
Toy vehicles - cars, planes, ambulances etc
Playmobil
The floor is lava game

Mine likes:
cuddly toys (into Ty Puffies and Squishmallows)
making chains out of beads
colouring
making cards
playing Lego/Duplo
his train set
magnetic tiles
funny little squishy toys (mochi)
Making dens (we have a special kit where there are massive cardboard tiles to fit together)

Books wise:
Supertato
Any Julia Donaldson
The ones about having a broken/cheeky/smelly bum
Mr Men/Little Miss

Hope that helps.

Oh yes. “The floor is lava in 10, 9, 8, 7 … “ is frequently bellowed in our house too!

Drawing- sometimes a bit obsessed by this. He is possibly going to get an ASD diagnosis some day…
Watching Nightmare before Christmas. I blame Halloween.
He enjoys baking with me.
He loves the garden and insects.
Trampoline bouncing.
Scooter.
He’s not great at playing by himself but if he does he will play with Pokémon figured, paw patrol sometimes with his little sister, dinosaurs, maga tiles and his marble run (he gets annoyed at this).

I think that 4 year olds are all so different.i had one who loved Polly pocket .arty stuff ,another who looked at books and another who loved playmobile…they are all so different.

Figures of sonic and co. Top trumps of Minecraft.

Foam swords, art projector thing so he can create their own comic and draw sonic etc. Sonic was massive here.

Stretchy guy, guess who? Yep Sonic.

Magic set and a junior Cluedo, Den building kit. Books, we got him loads of old comics, dandy, beno.

6 year old - roald Dahl books came in their own
Magnatiles
Drawing
Kinetic sand
Clay - big hit
Making obstacle courses
Treasure hunts
Writing/drawing his own stories - so got blank text books and he used to do pages and pages
Reptiles and animals big hit lots of books like animal encyclopedias he would just look at the pictures and read what he could
Maths and maze puzzle books

Uno No Mercy is a big hit with my six year old. He also loves the games Otrio (tick tac toe on steroids), and Labyrinth.

One other popped into my mind a farting pig game. It is still going strong five years later .

No video games at all. An hour a day on minecraft would be too much for my pre-teen.

My 6 year old plays with trucks and cars, currently in his pillow fort, loves Lego, bike riding and frankly just spends a lot of time outside pottering, on the swing, climbing a tree, digging in the mud. He watches tv as well but no gaming.

Mine is really into "real" tools. Which is fine if there's an adult around with infinite capacity to supervise, but not so practical if you want to leave them to play alone! I've found that a box of Meccano (might be worth removing the instruction book if it's for a specific model, as it's actually very complex and recommended for 8+) has been really good, just for letting him sit and use the various screwdrivers and spanners to "invent" things. It's nice because it's metal and fiddly, so feels more real than a big chunky plastic kids set.

As I say though, the models are quite complex to complete, and our son finds it frustrating if he can't get it just right, so we find he gets on better with it if we just give him a pile of bits and let him be creative.

Hours of quiet concentration!

Hama beads, with music on in the background

My 5 year old has never played video games. I don't know any children that age who have, wonder if it's a boy thing.

Mine is into crafts, drawing, Julia Donaldson books but any age appropriate ones would do (recently we've started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at bedtime). She's enjoying puzzles, Orchard board games and playing pretend games with Sylvanian families/similar toys.

She also has a tonie box which she loves and we listen to the daily podcast every day. I really recommend a Tonie box or yoto player to reduce screen time.

Also no video games here as he’s never played them. Yoto player, Magnetic tiles, role play stuff, puzzles, books (the Julia Donaldson short chapter books are good) but mainly being outdoors on his bike/scooter.

Lots of great suggestions are in this thread already.

My 7 year old has liked these for a year ish:

Geomags
Snap circuits (beginners sets from 5+)
Roald Dahl books from 6

When he was 5 his favourite books were interactive. The 'You Choose' books are great. (Nick Sharratt)

Yoto mini (definitely Yoto, not Tonies, at that age)
Magnatiles
Marble run
Short chapter books with lots of illustrations

Toys: Transformers, bakugan, any science type toys, robots, electrical circuit games.
Books: DS has loved dogman, cat kid, now Tom Gates.

My DS loves gaming too, loves a bit of Minecraft, sonic etc. he loved a series of books called super Rabbit boy. It's about a boy who loves gaming so a good crossover but gets off the screens.

Gator golf
mini arcade electric basketball
train set?
scalectrixs
books - get a way to display them so they can be seen and chosen easily
set up small games like put a line of masking tape down & throw soft balls/ beanbags into a bucket from there
if you can get the 5 minute mum book secondhand (often v cheap) or from the library theres loads of more active games suggestions that mine love

for crafts if he is not hugely interested, maybe get him a hobbycraft voucher and take him to choose something?

I've got a minecraft and sonic (switch) 6yo son. We don't have to limit screen time, much as he loves playing it (mostly with his dad or me), he loses interest after about an hour and we do something else instead. For shows, he's really enjoying 'fixies' at the moment, which is pretty educational as these things go.

Like the others on here, he loves magnatiles, marble runs, making dens, egg/pumpkin/yoshi egg hunts, etc. He's recently getting much more into drawing (huge paper roll from ikea, then gel pens, stamps, felt tips, etc) and he's a huge stem/maths/puzzle boy. To promote school work, I got the minecraft activity books for maths and English. He hates homework (pressure) but loves doing these. Hot wheels cars and tracks too of course, although scalectrix (even the mario set) is a bit of a dud, one hit pony. I made a huge ender portal chalkboard in his room (purple chalkboard paint) that we use daily to draw or practice words, spelling, etc. He loves teaching me phonics, and his little sister draws with us too.

Just to mention my youngest did use educational package Minecraft and coding from junior infants (reception) in school.

It is a great tool for a lot of child as the touch screen board can be more accessible to a child with dyslexia, motor coordination challenges etc.

He absolutely thrived at it and is now age 11 designing games to make maths fun. All screen time is not equal.

At home we kept screen time to weekend and with another person. So a game of mario, Minecraft etc . I think a lot of issues come from the line playing aspect as well as some of the content.

Another thing I had forgotten he had loved was the massive hot wheels building tracks that go along a wall. I think if it involves a problem solving element you are on to a winner because that's the skill that makes Minecraft and sonic games engaging.

Brio and cars soooo much.
Marble run.
Also drawing for hours on end- we'd buy a pack of printer paper and a suitcase of pens and let him have at it.

I have a girl so a bit different but card and board games, we've started playing charades at home, and we've just started reading harry potter. She's never played a video game.