Toys

[netmum23]

Just wondering what toys kids are into these days? Currently got an 8 year old girl and 7 year old son and struggling with Xmas ideas. They have a playroom just now but finding that they hardly use it and opt more to play outside or screen time. Unsure if it’s normal at this age for toys to not be of interest? Even when they have friends round the toys don’t get used much!

Mine is 7 nearly 8 and loves Barbies, squishmallows, squish alongs, arts and crafts. She's recently got into horses and is intending to ask Father Christmas for a schleich stable set for Christmas. She also loves all the minibrands sets so im going to get her the mini fill the fridge and a couple of extra suprise balls. Is there a gift for outside they could have as a present, like a trampoline or similar that they don't have yet?

Screens don't feature too much here yet, just occasionally, so she generally plays with the toys mentioned. Do yours also like reading? The Wings of Fire books by Tui T Sutherland and the racehorse books by Clare Balding are pretty engaging.

Both kids are neurodivergent.

DD will if in the right mindset sit and play with dolls/live Pets/role play but mostly plays with fidgets and will sit for hours and colour in. DS struggles, unless it’s a board game or a set up activity he just can’t play independently. He would play on the trampoline for hours or play outside with a football but on a rainy day he’s constantly bored unless I play with him.

iPads are scheduled into the day to help them regulate but the use is excessive, the TV is on during the day but tbh the lack of attention span means they don’t watch movies etc.

if given the choice they would sit on the iPad for hours but wouldn’t choose to play.

i wasn’t sure if it was an age thing, a neurodivergent thing or just maybe not having the type of toys they find “fun”.

Hi @netmum23 my lad is about to turn 7 and he's autistic. He plays loads but we can't really leave him for too long - so we play with him or leave him to crack on but are still nearby for encouragement or whatever. Popping in and out of the kitchen or in the same room doing our thing but he can show us what he's doing/ask us to help if you know what I mean.

He is Lego mad - he likes the sets but his favourite thing is to build his own stuff and mess with the figures - swapping the hair/bodies/accessories around and setting them up in structures or ships/vehicles he builds.

He also still loves his stuffed animals, he likes dressing them, making homes for them, having them in the bath etc.

Other than that he's got some figures (monsters, Playmobil etc) he likes to do games with and he likes dressing up as something creepy and going for a "spooky walk" with us (not just because it's almost Halloween, he was doing this in August 🤣🤦)

He likes dressing up and doing videos/taking photos (he's got my old digital camera) like he's in a film.

He loves being outdoors, trampoline or slide or mud kitchen in the garden, paddling pool/sprinkler in the summer.

He doesn't have a tablet or watch YouTube and isn't into gaming yet (because we've not introduced it yet) but he loves scooby doo and star wars and we get him the dvds which he absolutely loves.

Bits for drawing is always a hit too, sometimes paint and "craft bits" but tbh he's happy with a big box of pens and a pack of paper! Board games if he's in the mood.

And books, shorter ones for him to read and chapter ones for us to read to him.

Almost 7 year old. Some ideas I have for Christmas for him:

Giiker range of games. Either decoder or the slide puzzle. They are one player games than can travel easily also

New bike ( he needs next size)

kosmos - window marble run

kosmos - they also do a huge amount of experiment type things. Maybe something like that.

pokeman cards.

do yours have various outdoor sport things? Like mini skateboard, roller blades, basketball ball hoop, swing ball or similar?