Roblox, Nerf guns, riding bikes and/or scooters outside.

Anonymous wrote:Legos, video games, Pokémon, anything with projectiles, maybe a made up game that involves destroying your house.

This. When the 8YO boys come to you asking for the vacuum… run!

Video games, soccer, football, nerf guns

Swing set damn

Laser tag

Hide and seek

Gummies

I guess I am old fashioned... but we have the typical building toys like Lego, Magnatiles and then we have good old fashioned board games. Connect 4, chess, checkers, Uno and some newer board games geared at elementary age.

Anonymous wrote:My 6YO boy: generally just running around the house yelling and laughing. Not "playing" anything really, just making messes and showing his friend every single toy we own. He does enjoy baking, though, and we've done a few "cupcake decorating" playdates.

My 8YO boy: football all day every day, or basketball. I do allow them to play video games for 30 minutes during a play date if the other kid(s) want to.

"My 6YO boy: generally just running around the house yelling and laughing. Not "playing" anything really, just making messes and showing his friend every single toy we own."

I feel so seen and validated right now!

Anonymous wrote:Just buy him a PlayStation. Why are you so intent on fighting this battle, when he's the one who will pay the price (socially)?

My husband got him a mini cube computer hooking up to an old TV, and had him coding using scratch from MIT. His theory is that if my son has to play video games, he'd at least learn some coding while at it. So far my son could code simple games as advanced as jumping up and down like mario. We borrow some books on scratch and he could follow it along and copy the code blocks from book to his computer. The creative part is try out different artworks in the game.

50% of the time he would play game written by other kids on scratch, like 2D simplified mario or minecraft. He also watch tons of game plays. So socially he's versed in the games we just thought keyboard computer is better than play station or nintendo.

He's only 1st grade, we talked about getting minecraft for him, but coding in minecraft is command-based instead of drag and drop like scratch. So that'll wait until he knows how to type, and more self-control.

Destroying the house, building forts, battles with whatever can be made into a weapon. Occasionally basketball. I don't have a great video game setup (game room doubles as office) but I think that would also be a top choice.

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor's boy, who is at the same grade as my son, won't come to our house after school because we don't have video games. He has an older brother and our boy is our first. So we haven't caved to buy him a video game yet. My son's cousin (same age) got one, and my son kept asking us to take him to the cousin's house. But when he plays he's so bad at it his cousin won't let him have the control.

We clearly failed our son. I buy him lots of pokemon cards, at least it's not video games, I tell myself.

Just buy him a PlayStation. Why are you so intent on fighting this battle, when he's the one who will pay the price (socially)?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this thread cracks me up, clearly my 8 year old is typical: legos, minecraft, projectiles, running around like an idiot, and destroying the house are his favorite things.

Video games, projectiles, running around like an idiot, and destroying the house are inclinations that some of DS’s friends have shown so far… which is fine when the weather is nice. But with the rainy season now that’s why I’m asking! I did recently pick up Jenga because that seems to be a hit.

running around like an idiot is my 8 year old's favorite activity, too! love how typical this is.

My 6YO boy: generally just running around the house yelling and laughing. Not "playing" anything really, just making messes and showing his friend every single toy we own. He does enjoy baking, though, and we've done a few "cupcake decorating" playdates.

My 8YO boy: football all day every day, or basketball. I do allow them to play video games for 30 minutes during a play date if the other kid(s) want to.

My neighbor's boy, who is at the same grade as my son, won't come to our house after school because we don't have video games. He has an older brother and our boy is our first. So we haven't caved to buy him a video game yet. My son's cousin (same age) got one, and my son kept asking us to take him to the cousin's house. But when he plays he's so bad at it his cousin won't let him have the control.

We clearly failed our son. I buy him lots of pokemon cards, at least it's not video games, I tell myself.

Hot wheels, monster trucks, modeling clay, Pokémon cards, laser tag, legos, nerf guns, Beyblades, Akedo warriors