Do your bigger boys play?

[kanga2roo]

This may not totally be a homeschool question, but since our kids are home and have lots more free time to play, I think it is. My seven year old son has great toys. Until he was about 6 he played with them- a lot. Now he just doesn't. We have several types of blocks, marble runs, hot wheels, a few games...He might really get into things once a week or so, but I'm wondering if I should be weeding out playmobil and some other stuff. Isn't playmobil FOR older kids? He is our only child, but has always loved his toys...? We've never really rotated toys as we have specific, organized spaces for everything- but when I point out something thats on the shelf it isn't like he's thrilled to see it.
What do your kids play with?

[eclipse]

My son was about you son's age when I noticed that he really cut down on the amount of time he spent playing with toys. Now that he's 9.5, the only toys he really plays with are his legos (and the wii). The rest of his time is spent read, bike riding, listening to music, playing his keyboard and guitar, writing stories, programming computer games, etc. The only time he really plays with other toys is when he's playing with my 4 year old.

[linclane]

My older ds is 6. He does play with our Playmobils ... but that's about it. I suggest many of his other toys and games, and he has no interest. There are times he just sits there, bored, saying he doesn't like anything we have. I think right now he's more interested in getting outside and running around than sitting to play with our toys. Maybe it's a seasonal thing? Maybe it's a getting older thing? I'm not sure.

[4evermom]

My ds always preferred legos to playmobil. There is so much more you can do with legos, designing and building as well as acting out scenarios with the little guys. Much of his solo playing is computer games. If he has friends over, he'll play with them more actively, have a nerf gun war, play spies, whatever. Our blocks and marble run do stay in their bins but that doesn't mean ds doesn't play. He's just moving on and mastering new things.

[zjande]

My 12 yo ds plays with K'Nex nearly every day. He still likes playdough. Besides those, he reads voraciously, & plays actively- bike riding, tag, hide & seek, that kind of thing.

[PGTlatte]

Our 7 yo likes best to do something involving a ball. He has a new domino race set that he enjoys, and I have a variety assortment of different shaped wooden objects from here:

http://www.caseyswood.com/

that he and DS2 spent about an hour playing with this morning. Once in a while he will play with some cars, or his Star Wars ships. But most of his non-ball play involves imaginative scenarios that he uses everyday or natural objects to create.

At this age, it seems that when he gets a new toy that has a specific thing it can do or role it can play, he loses interest in it pretty quickly; but when he gets (or finds or recycles) something that can be used in an open-ended way, it gets a lot more use. It's like that saying about losing interest in the toy in two days, but playing with the box it came in for two months. That's pretty much where he's at.

[MamaMonica]

Moved to The Childhood Years

[Drummer's Wife]

My 7 yo still plays with legos, and sometimes things like cars and trains (mainly with his two younger brothers). He does a lot more drawing, reading, and writing now that he is older over playing, playing. I mean, he LOVES to ride his bike, and does so daily. He also plays in the dirt and outside doing other things (like finding sticks, with water, etc.). So I'd say he still plays, just not so much solitary play with things like blocks or action figures - and I do wonder if he would play even less if he didn't have a 5 and 3 yr old brother...and a 9 yo sister - they actually play quite well together most of the time doing things like making a store, library, or restaurant or playing numerous card/board games. Oh, and he loves video games and plays the wii often as well as his DSi (not as often and mainly in the car).

[Alyantavid]

My 8 year old doesn't play with toys a whole lot. Mostly he'll play with Legos, cars, balls, Lincoln Logs. He mostly draws, reads, plays video games or plays outside.

[LynnS6]

Our ds is 9 and is shifting now more to sports and active play. But he'll still play with his stuffed animals -- it's just now they are doing sports. He spent a lot of time staging the Animal Olympics this winter.

I'd put some of them away, and bring them back out again in the fall. My suspicion is that in the fall they'll be novel again and the weather will be less conducive to being outside, and he'll go back to them.

[MtBikeLover]

My 7yo is the same way. He plays with his star wars action figures but most of his time is spent reading, playing Wii or iTouch, writing, and being outside.

If he has friends over, they will play, but not so much with the toys. They tend to just run around and play with balls, nerf guns, etc.

I wish I would have known this before I bought lots of toys that I thought were for his age group for Christmas last year that just sit on the shelves taking up space!!