What are your 9-11 yr old girls doing all weekend? At a loss with this age group :(

[noshiforever]

DD does one hour of dance on Sat morning but I/she struggle to fill the rest of the time and it's getting us both down. She's an avid reader and reads 7.30pm-9pm every day.

What are your 9-11 yr old girls doing all weekend?

Our younger DS is happy with parks, Lego, playing football all day in the garden. I feel DD has outgrown all the typical kid stuff and needs new ideas.

She does have a few friends and I will invite one of them for a few hours next weekend but I don't think this can be a regular thing as I get the impression most families do value their family time on the weekends.

I do let her play Minecraft for 45 mins/1 hr each day. I try to get her out for a walk but that is an absolute chore to her and I've given up with national trust and places like that is it holds zero interest for her. Obviously I take them to trampolining parks, crazy golf etc but days out like that are too expensive now for us to do often.

We don't have any family/extended family to see.

I feel she has done every craft project known to man over the last 9 years and now isn't interested.

Any ideas so welcome! Weekends have become a complete drag and often end in tears :(

[SethWho]

Starting a new hobby together- maybe something crafty? Walks to new places? Make up/pamper time?

[yellowdigsaur]

10 year old boy here but similar. Really noticing how he has outgrown all of his toys now.

Things we do....

• lots of computer time sadly. However, not online with friends so that's quite good.
• beach walks (not happy to do but will tolerate)
• Sunday afternoon Is family film time. Greater selection now he's older
• Fun swimming every Sunday morning
• music instrument practice
• board games - again more selection now older
• occasional surf lessons
• and then more gaming time....

Sorry - not very inspirational. He's not interested in toys / crafts / playing in the garden etc any more.

[yellowdigsaur]

*now online with friends 🤦🏼‍♀️

[AnUnlikelyCombination]

Mine is sporty and does football, tennis and swimming at the weekend. With some homework, music practice and her chores that keeps her fairly busy, especially if I need to fit in something like getting her a hair cut or a trip to get new shoes. I do allow more TV at the weekend, as she’s quite physically tired after a football match.

[SisforSarah]

Walk the dog (with an adult), horse riding, playing with pet rabbit, cycling, seeing a friend, music lesson, playing on the trampoline……

[pianolessons1]

Sports
Music practice
Homework

[HollyBollyBooBoo]

DD is 11 but I think probably a bit immature as she's still happy to be with her Mum! A typical weekend will be a mixture of this:

Food Shop
Dog walks
Family film time
Cook dinner together
She likes baking cakes on her own
She'll go into our little market town with one of her mates or have a friend over to the house for a couple of hours.
Still very much into crafting
Watches You Tube
Homework

[Comedycook]

My dd is ten. I agree play dates at a weekend are generally not happening. Most people are off doing family things.

My dd enjoys the following

Trip to supermarket to buy ingredients then home to cook/bake

She's currently into skateboarding so we might go to the skatepark

Clip and climb...£10 for an hour of climbing passes the time

Cinema

Local events...she enjoyed a trip to the fair ground this weekend

Trip to cafe for cake

Watching comedy shows...current faves are Friends, King Gary, Ghosts, Superstore

She is lucky to have local cousins so she sees them

Other ideas, swimming, bowling

[PluggingAway]

At that age I was doing things with my friends for a decent chunk of the weekend, even if it was just hanging around chatting and eating sweets at the local park, or having a friend over to play console games. It wasn't usually anything much more exciting than that.

It's a shame that her friends are usually tied up with family outings all weekend every weekend. Is that the norm these days? I would have hated that lol.

[jendifer]

Bike ride, swim, tennis as a family or occasionally with friends. Lots of hobby stuff - currently pottery. Dog walking for a neighbour sometimes. Church and usually seeing another family after the service on Sunday

[MythicalBiologicalFennel]

Long walks in nature
Days out as a family
Netflix series
Long chats with family abroad
Crafts (usually drawing, painting, colouring)
Helping around the house
Chess/ cards / board games, all the family
Silly games with younger sibling - playing tag, rolling on the grass giggling, getting soaked with the hose pipe
Exercising at home as a remnant of lockdown (things like Joe Wicks and Yoga with Adriene)
Park
Shopping
Reading (hours a day if she's into it)

[Guardup]

My daughter is in this age range and is exactly the same. I asked her to bake me a cake on her own, so every Saturday she now bakes more elaborate cakes. She then decorates them on the Sunday and we have tea and cake on Sunday night. It’s become a little ritual and she loves us. Baking and then cleaning up after herself kills a few hours and she has something to be very proud of afterwards.

[Joystir59]

Get out walking with her. Take her places, galleries, exhibitions, free stuff locally for kids.

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

Saturday... lego, painting, science experiments and reading if at home. We sometimes meet up with friends to do stuff, or go out for the day (watersports for example)

Sunday morning is Rugby practice.

Waiting to see how this term develops... DH is only home on weekends now, so they (DD8 and DD10) want to spend time with him on weekends.

[BikeRunSki]

Dd is 10 next month. This weekend
Saturday morning she had a swimming lesson
Saturday we all went canoeing

Sunday she had a cricket tournament. Last one of the season, but football starts in 2 weeks.

[TipseyTorvey]

Am noticing DS10 is definitely more lethargic at the weekend now then when he was younger. We've just agreed to charity shop all his lego, transformers and character toys. He too won't play in the garden, just swings on the hammock til he's allowed back in. We do swimming, football, hockey and playdates as often as possible I am a bit surprised pp saying no playdates at the weekends, surely not all their friends have family events all weekends? There's way too much screentime though. I like the idea of teaching him to cook more, might try and make that a thing.

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

@TipseyTorvey if his lego collection is big or has any rare sets, it could earn him some money to spend on something else... there are adults dropping hundreds of pounds on Leo sets regularly.

[Beecham]

11yo:
-Swimming lessons Saturday morning
-Then library
-Meets friend who lives nearby and they're allowed to walk to park and back
-Goes on a family bike ride or walk (whether she wants to or not)
-Bakes
-reads
-watches TV

[Bagelsandbrie]

Ds aged 9 likes lego but the “older” sets - lego architecture and technic ones. We get out and about a lot - visit new places and have picnics or lunch out somewhere. We liked playing online - Fortnite/ Xbox stuff etc but we have the console in the living room so we can hear what he’s up to - he only adds people he knows in real life from school etc. We don’t really restrict screen time as such but we make sure we try and “do” something every day so he isn’t on it non stop.

[Bagelsandbrie]

*he likes playing online

[AvocadoPlant]

At that age DD started going to a theatre group, 3 hours of dance, singing and acting with a show for parents twice a year. Opened up a whole new set of friends, and continued until she was 16.

[Bancha]

Definitely think cooking and baking is a natural next step for a kid who used to like crafting. It’s what I did when I grew out of things like that a bit (though then took up other crafting activities as I got older). She can choose a recipe from a book/online, make the list of things she needs, go to the shop to get the ingredients, bake/cook, clean up, and lots of praise for the fantastic result. It’ll take up more time than you think, and build really good life skills as well.

[EssentiallyDisorganised]

At that age mine would sleep in till about 11, then we'd usually go out somewhere as a family (shopping, walk etc). Sunday was swimming lesson, homework, craft, baking etc. She was very much into craft kits, sewing etc. Meeting friends tended to be after school, everyone always seemed to have family stuff or sport/drama etc going on at the weekends.

[lollipoprainbow]

Especially hard when your dd has ASD and no friends or family apart from me!! Luckily she likes simple things like being at home making things and going to the pier to do the 2p machines but I don't know how long this will go on for.

[TheTempest]

My DD has just turned 12, weekends she tends to have a bit of a lay in, then messes about on her phone. We go to the trampolining place occasionally, swimming most weeks and she has a drama group on a Sunday. She goes out and meets her friends and goes to the park, we go out for coffee together or wander round the shops if she has any pocket money left. I don’t really entertain her to be honest, but if she asks then we go and do something together. We have a nice mix of chill time and doing stuff time, what would your DD do if left to her own devices?