My oldest (a boy) is 5 1/2 and "bored" with what we have to do around the house as far as toys/activities. I am curious what do little boys LOVE to play with? He likes to play with the MagnaTiles we have and Legos, however we have a lot more "little" kid toys and I feel like we need to get some things that he would like to play with but am unsure what exactly that is. If anyone has any suggestions or specific items their boys about this age like to do, I would love to hear from you!
Thanks!
Toy soldiers! He has an Alamo set, Civil War soldiers, and WWII sets. He combines them with some knights and his castle and sets up/executes battles that take days. Very imaginative and entertaining for him.
My 5 year old plays with Legos; his "Cars" cars; other cars, trucks, planes, motorcycles, etc; he likes board games; and he likes trains.
I have a 5/6 year old and 3 year old girl and they love to play with playmobil. They have great gender neutral sets. I am thinking about the school for them as a Christmas present. They will play with it for hours.
My son is 5 and he is really into imaginative play and science. For Christmas he asked for an ATM machine. Toys R Us sells a toy ATM machine but it takes/dispenses real money and comes with an "atm card". He loves to play store or restaurant so we have a cash register, Melissa & Doug food and play money. We even made him an Open/Closed sign! LOL.
He also asked for a volcano making kit (I personally can't wait to try it), a rock tumbler and Stinky the Trash Truck =-)
Oh and he LOVES board games (he has tons) so for Christmas we bought him the Curious George treasure hunt game and Leap Frog Go Fish.
Set him up at the computer.
Go to starfall.com, pbskids, funbrain playground... There are LOTS. You are doing two things, first you are strenghtening skills like spelling, reading and math. Second you are teaching computer skills like mouse handling, clicking, bookmarks, and even some safety like "don't EVER okay to download ANYTHING!" LOL You can even go to youtube and teach your son to create save bookmarks of favorite songs, stop motion or cartoons.
My boys are 4 and 5 1/2. They play fort (built with my couch cushions), thomas the train, match boxes, transformers, legos. We also have a toy called Zoob which is a building toy which is great... something called connectagons (building toy), and lots of various blocks for building stuff to drive their cars on, in, and around. We have a number of toys from Plan City which are wooden and very nice (Grandma buys them for them at x-mas - they are spendy). We do puzzles, or lots of coloring and drawing. My son is getting into making his own books by drawing the picture and writing text to go with it, so we have lots of scrap paper and markers available.
I'd skip the DS or games or computer at this point.. He'll get there on his own without your encouragement!
Good luck!
J.
My son loves playing legos, nerf guns (not sure about your views on play guns) He also loves the bass pro shops trucks, boats, camping toys since we are avid campers it lets him continue to camp while at home with his imagination and toys. They are really neat but every kid is different. Here is a link to the site look towards the bottom it has the trucks that pull the boats etc http://www.basspro.com/Outdoor-Kids-Toys-Games/_/N-1z11ck... He also likes the wild animals, bears, deer, etc just to make it more realistic. He likes Bey blades, backugan although he doesnt know how to play the game with them he likes how they act. kinexs any building toy. And he loves his ds
My five year old loves anything to do with art projects. I just go to a craft store and pick up googly eyes, glue, feathers, popsickle sticks etc... He also likes to draw, so we just got him a how to draw a dinosaur book like someone else mentioned. Board games are always a hit as well, even some of those cheap wooden ones with pegs he enjoys. He does have a sister, so they will just play sometimes...balls, puzzles (we like the large melissa & doug ones for that age group), legos. We do let him play some games on the computer on pbskids or nickjr sites, I don't see a problem in that since they already have computer class in Kindergarten at his school. We did get him a DS for Xmas, we will try to stick to some learning games for now.
Legos just keep on going, don't they?
My 5-1/2 year old boy loves his Legos, Bakugans, Lincoln logs, and puzzles. I have to help him with some of the puzzles.
I'm hesitant to start with computer or video games at this age. My husband got him a gameboy, but my son got immediately addicted (cried and whined when we took it away, which is out of character for him) so we took it away for when he's older. I think that it's more important that my son learn how to entertain himself constructively and MOVE.
He still spends a good amount of time throwing paper airplanes to see how far they go, playing with the cat, and bouncing Nerf balls up and down the hallway. He also loves making forts out of the couch cushions and brings his favorite toys in there and plays out stories.
if you want to make a homemade "volcano" just give him a small cups of baking soda (alkaline) and white vinegar (acid). Have him mix them up on a plate and see what happens. (This concoction unclogs drains, too. Safely!)
oh yeah...here's my mom's cure for "boredom": "If you're bored, go clean your room." Boredom disappears pretty quickly!
I just asked my almost 7 year old. His responses in order:
1. Legos
2. Nintendo DS
3. Wii
4. Trains (He still loves all of his Thomas stuff.)
He also likes to collect Bakugan, but he still doesn't know how to play the game. He also like Star Wars toys.
video games by far!
My son just turned 6. He loves playing board games...even games that are too old for him, like LIFE. Of course, we have to help him out a little with the harder games. He also has a keyboard that he likes to play with ($20 from Target). He likes to do artistic things like drawing and writing books so I have a lot of supplies available for that. I also pick up seasonal crafts for him to do from Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Sometimes he will play games on the computer...nickjr.com, disney.com, and his favorite website www.playagame.ws. We are getting a wii for Christmas and I'm sure he will love that!
My boys like there DS and Leapster. They also like to play computer games. They have their own computer and I have purchased age appropriate computer games from:
We also have 2 sets of Lincoln Logs, Legos, Matchbox type Cars, wooden and plastic train tracks, a rug with a city on it, and the whole Hot Wheels city collection. My boys love to mix it all together and turn my living room into a huge town.
If he likes Legos, Lego has come out with a couple of games in the past year or two, my son loves "Minotaurus" - he'll build mazes even without playing the actual game. I've also heard the Perplexus game is really fun. I think the hard part at this age is finding something that will engage him on his own, without requiring you to be involved (as in a game, or reading.) My son also loves hidden pictures book, and tangrams (shape puzzles.) He's also really enjoyed making patterns with his rubber band board (http://www.montessoriservices.com/store/index.php?main_pa...) Unfortunately, I think I'm finding that what my son wants most at this age is to play WITH somebody - a friend, or you. (Not that I don't love playing with my kid, I do, but somebody's got to make dinner, etc, and sometimes they need to be able to entertain themselves.)
If you want to get something computer/ or game related.. Webkinz is a great alternative to some of the other available games. Webkinz is wholesome and educational, helps teach responsibility, and its fun. You buy a stuft animal that comes with a card. You go to that website and "adopt" that animal, and proceed to care for it... So much to tell, too little space, check out this link. It's fun for all ages! "Take the Tour"
http://www.webkinz.com/us_en/index_w.html
My son loves Wii, and his bowling pins. He has dozens of them that he sets up in elaborate formations around the living room and knocks down. He likes basketball, building block towers, and has started getting into the imaginext sets like the batman one.
My son is 4, but is all about soccer, fishing, his new bicycle, and Spiderman. We tied it all together and he's got a Spiderman bike and helmet, a Spiderman fishing pole and tackle box, Spiderman baseball, and a red soccer ball. He plays ALL THE TIME with one of those things. Do you think getting outdoors and exploring or playing with the more old fashioned fun stuff (bikes/balls) would be good?
When my son was 6 he LOVED Thomas the Tank
my son just turned 7 but he is totally into those how to draw books. they are hard for him but he will spend hours trying to draw a dinosaur.
