Ideas for hobbies/activities for 10-year old boy?
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Anonymous
| We want to help our 10 year old son find some hobbies or activities that he can pursue, something that takes practice and that he'll get better at as he progresses, to help build up his self-confidence. He's a smart kid, but has high-functioning autism, which manifests itself in limited interests, and I think he's starting to become aware that he's challenged in ways that most kids aren't due to his autism (for example, our 7-year old DD is now starting to pursue interests in music and martial arts). He's not at all interested in sports or martial arts. He's done chess camp, lego robotics, music lessons etc. He likes them well-enough, but doesn't seem to want to spend time doing it outside of camp or lessons. When he's older, I assume he could join math clubs or the math olympiads, which is his strong suit. I firmly believe in letting the child take the lead in pursuing hobbies, but I feel like we've run through the obvious things and now he just doesn't even know what options are out there. I will suggest a rock climbing team, chess tournaments for kids, and orienteering, but any other suggestions? He'd probably be interested in coding or video game design, but I can't find any that are close to us (Alexandria). |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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My first thought was also programming. I don't have any VA suggestions for that, though.
Archery or fencing? They are both sort of sports for the non-sporty kid, and very analytical and historical, which appeals to the more cerebral kids. Also, what about boy scouts? |
Anonymous
| I've got the same kid. It's so hard to know how much to push. If it were up to him, he would do absolutely nothing outside the house. He loves to be at home, working on his own projects or playing video games. Organized stuff is very unappealing to him. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Yes, he does scouts and likes it, but it focuses on so many different things. I think he'd benefit from focusing on something specific that he can get better at. To the PP, what are the projects your kids does at home? Ours used to have projects that would consume him for weeks, even months, but even that has petered out as of the last few months. Now it's lots of laying around, complaining that he's board, and then bothering his sister (which never ends well). |
Anonymous
| opps. bored, not board. |
Anonymous
| Have you tried any of the at-home programming apps like scratch or tynker? There may be better ones, but those are the ones that my 10-year old (who is NT, I guess...although the jury is still sort of out on that) enjoys. |
Anonymous
| Parkour? |
Anonymous
| Disc golf! Dh's favorite hobby. Anyone can do it. You can easily go along. And the basics are cheap enough. Also he might get help from people he runs across. Lots of YouTube videos with tips and tutorials. |
Anonymous
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To find a course:
Dgcoursereview.com |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll suggest them to my DS and see how it goes. |
Anonymous
pokemon go! 
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Anonymous
| How about martial arts? Our kids do aikido and have benefited a great deal from it. It's not only a good physical workout but it really helps them to build up self-confidence. |
Anonymous
Sorry, just re-read your post and saw that he does not have any interest in martial arts 
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Anonymous
| dance, art class, programming, 3-D modeling, rocketry, more individual sports like tennis |