How does your 7 year old keep him/herself entertained?

[timetoask]

My boy has very poor attention, is hyperactive, and has poor play skills.
The only things he likes doing on his own are:
-Watching TV (we have iplayer and he switches from program to program, just cannot concentrate).

• Going to the kitchen, and either stuffing himself with whatever he finds, or pretend to cook by emptying all the four, oats, sugar, etc, etc into pans!!! my having to clean everything afterwards.
• Making a mess by getting all the covers and bedding from everywhere and making a "den".
• Looking at pictures on the iPad and playing a little game we downloaded for him.

I am fine with turning on the tv for a bit, but to me shame I am relying on it more and more because I have had enough of having to play with him or having to arrange the mess he always ends up doing all over the house.
My big worry is my other son, he has great play skills, can easily entertain himself but because the TV is on more often these days, he is becoming more lazy.

Please, can you give me some ideas of how I help my child with SN entertain himself? any good computer games that i could put in the iPad? any ideas welcome.

Sorry for the length of this post.

At the moment my DS is in a windy garden with a pair of small scissors and a broom. I have allotted him 3 large bushes/trees that need cutting back. He is my gardener He helps me usually and its also good muscle work as he is hyperactive and today being shut in for the last 2 days due to torrential rain has taken its toll lol

Also I removed carpets and laminated the run through from dining room to extention. He has roller skates, pogo sticks, wobble ball/boards and a JD Bug and he zooms up and down to his hearts content.

He plays darts too on his own board that I hang up in the garden. I also play with him as it helps with maths and motor aiming :)

Wii games I have are Just Dance as again its a good muscle work out and energy release.

The rest of the time I have bought a season ticket to a local attraction with a park outside of it and an indoor soft play so when the overload is high I zoom over there in my car and its also used as a reward if he lets me get my computer work done!

Dd1 goes on the pc, trampoline (when its dry), reads and writes short stories, oh and she says 'I'm bored' every 10 minutes or so .

thank you coffpot: I couldn't let DS lose with scissors on his own. He loves being outdoors and we spent lots of time out in the park, etc. I need ideas for indoors. We are renting so cannot do any changes to the house (all carpet).
There is no way he could play darts.
Maybe I should get a Wii!!

Marne: ds will jump on the trampoline for about 5 mins and then he will be indoors. He cannot read or write yet, I wish he could! He does like looking at books but it will last for about 2 minutes.

Feeling to depressed and fed up today. Anyone out there with a 7 year old that has very very poor attention, cannot read or write, and very bad coordination, does know how to play, , oh goodness, will my life be devoted for ever to entertain him? heeeelp

Leave it with me I will think of something :)

DS attention span is between 7 and 9 mins at the most so I can understand what you are going through x

However I am off to the soft play now lol as it is NEEDED!

Back later

Dd plays far too long on her ds, writes, draws and does craft activities, she reads obsessively, plays with her small figures and playsets, sings and dances. I'm no good at entertaining so she learnt early on to amuse herself.

I have a 6 year old who fits that description! He's currently examining 2 very similar pieces of lego. The drawers have been opened and closed several times now and all of his and DS1's socks paired up. I've been made to name the pictures on a set of flashcards he has about 3 times now and he's had them on the floor and been pointing at them and babbling at them. He's also collected all the brushes and combs and put them on one sofa cushion and a pile of lego windows and put them on another.

We had a lovely phase, last month, when he learnt how to do jigsaws. He's bored with them, now, though.

And that's the problem - he goes through such huge cycles of development and regression that what might keep him busy one week is just scattered on the floor the next. Sorry I can't be of any help other than to nod and sympathise!

My dd has ADHD she has a bow and arrow that she practises with in the house (rubber arrows), a rubber dart board, craft stuff, a robot, a ds, I give her sister and polish and get her to dust my room (her room is boring apparently) she loves hoovering, she will clean the kitchen, in the garden she will play with a catapult with bits of newspaper in it rolled up, a spud gun, I make treasure hunts round the house for her so she can find her lunch!

Thank you all, glad to know I'm not alone.
Ouryve, DS needs help with jigsaws. I would love to find games that he can play independently without help. He went through a phase if making traffic jams with toy cars which was so nice, but nothing else has caught his eye since.

Bless the soft play areas! They do save my sanity. DS is tall and I am already starting to wonder what we'll do when he isn't allowed in them anymore.

Chundle, DS loves the Hoover is fascinated with it and turns iron as soon as he wakes up! Ds2 has a bow and arrow but ds1 cannot get the hang of it, will try to find a rubber dart board, who knows.
Thanks all, feeling a little better now, but the idea of bing ds's personal entertainer for the rest of our lives is seriously depressing me at the moment.
Xx

Decathlon sports do an indoor trampoline for £29 (we don't have a garden).
www.decathlon.co.uk/mt-200-id_2630175.html

Computer activities - bbc website, mathletics, youtube videos on latest obsession.

Crafts - This set should get you started www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3844445/Trail/searchtext%3ECHAD+VALLEY+CRAFT.htm

The site craftycrocodiles have some nice cheap craft activities too.

Lego + plastic clothes pegs. For some reason DS adores making stuff out of plastic clothes pegs & I indulge him cos it doesn't make a mess.

This site has lots of outdoorsy activities for parks & gardens www.naturedetectives.org.uk/
Send em off hunting 5 types of ladybirds from of the illustrated pdf worksheets when you are out of inspiration You don't need to be a reader to do lots of them, yet they are still educational so you can be a worthy lazy arsed Mum Take the time to have a good look at the worksheets if you can, I've found them to be a real life saver in school holidays.

Give him a packet of baby wipes and ask him to wipe down all the surfaces he can reach such as skirting boards, tables, bottom 1/2 of doors etc.

Storynory.com has lots of free audio story lasting 15-20 mins. That's just enough time to get dinner out of the oven, or make an urgent phone call - so really handy at times. "Prince Berty" is a series, so can be used as a reward.

Our dog.

Just read back my posts, so sorry for all the typos!!!

Thank you bochead, that list sounds fantastic. I will definitely give them a go (except for lego, too difficult for ds without help). The storynory sound nice for my 5 year old, I don't think ds1 will sit for that long listening.

I hope I don't sound like a lazy mum... I will continue to play with him, I just really want to try and encourage more independence without me having to follow him around to make sure the house doesn't get trashed by pretend cook, pretend den, and all the rest.

I pet is a good idea, but we need the space, hopefully when we buy our own house we'll be able to do that.