Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion what do your kids play with?

DS 5 likes to make complicated pretend scenarios but they usually involve all members of the family. In fact, he does not like to play alone ever. He also likes Wii and the Leapster. His great love is games though. He loves Monopoly and recently we just got Blockus.We have not gotten him chess as we don't know how to play but he pretty much has always liked games since he was 2 (starting with memory and Candyland). He also loves mazes and connect the dots. When he gets into reading or doing workbooks he will do them for a long time and sees it as playing.

my four year old DD mostly engages in imaginative play all day using figurines, dolls, stuffed toys, random objects that she pretends are various things. She also makes amazing things with Playdough (usually animals who then engage in pretend play) and likes to draw and is beginning to write notes and stories. She also loves to sing and dance.

"Thinkfun" games are great. They are single player games that fit nicely in a purse for long waits at doctors offices and such. We have a multitude of them so we can rotate as they get bored with them. These are lifesavers whn I am unable to play with them.

Shari - what a great idea!

DS7 has never really played with toys. I was always concerned how he lined things up or put them in order, but didn't play with them. His imagination is huge, when he writes or draws, but it's very rare for him to pick up action figures and play (though he does moreso now than ever before). Now if I let him play on the computer or video games 24/7, he'd be in heaven.

DD5 loves toys much more than DS7. MUCH more.

ditto that. Also along those lines are rubiks sliders, rubiks twist, kanoodle and electronic yahtzee and an electronic word game thing we have. Fun little games that fit nicely in a purse.

I highly recommend the iPad -- relatively large workspace and portable. Biggest hits right now with our DS3 are quiz-type games and puzzles: Math bingo, Stack the states, stack the countries, traffic jam (puzzle), Simon Graham and the extraordinary timepiece (book/puzzle), penultimate (drawing & notebook creation).

IslandTime, I just downloaded the Stack the States lite app. I think both DC will enjoy that one. Thanks for posting.

EXACTLY like my daughter up until about two years ago, when she began to use the computer as a "social" toy. She has a stable of American girl dolls, a slew of legos, etc. etc. etc. As an only grandchild, she literally has more toys than MOST kids-- and plays with far fewer of them, IMO. Recently she used manicure scissors to cut up aluminum soda cans and rubber cemented them to a cereal box, stringing sections together to make a "robot costume" for an American Girl doll.


This is also true of my DD-- that's why she effectively still has all of those toys that she doesn't play with. <SIGH> She is a "collector" and that is the point, to her. She knows the identity of each and every one of her possessions, as impossible as it sometimes seems to us.

She has a thing for RPGs, but other than that, it's always been all about reading and 'making' stuff for her toys. We have to really keep her in check, since it's mostly about the novelty and the acquisition of the object-- not about enjoying the ownership.

Clothes from printer paper for her CareBear collection at ages 3-6? Check. Houses out of legos for her Littlest Pet Shop? Check. Fairy Houses out of rocks and sticks in the yard? Check.

Paper, staples, tape, and post-it notes. I have to HIDE many kinds of office supplies-- still.

Now she has graduated to making devices from cooking utensils, wire and duct-tape. I mean devices like miniature catapults.

She also uses her computer to make animated short films which she posts to YouTube.

She's not much for tactile/messy activities and never has been.

At five?

Tape, paper, cardboard, scissors... Playmobil; but unconventional use and LOADS of 'adult' interaction... she liked it best when my DH would make up stories about the roasting of the animals on spits, etc... it had to be FUNNY. And snarky. Books, books, books, books. She also liked writing music for a while.

She likes computer games. CoolMath is one of her favorite places on the web, and has been for years.

WEBKINZ. We finally had to shut that one off, however-- because she was clearly obsessed way beyond anything healthy, and she's sneaky as all get out, even with password protection, turning the router off, etc.

My boys (ages 7 and 5) also don't play with their toys very much, and I'm starting to think this is normal, at least for them! Because they are close enough in age (and not fighting ALL the time,) they spend most of their time just playing together--jumping on the trampoline, wrestling, having water balloon fights, throwing acorns at each other...

My oldest son (now 4) loves his computer - playing in Word, Paint, Chess and software like Reader Rabbit, JumpStart and I showed him Timez Attack a few days ago and currently that is ALL he wants to do when on the PC.

He got a Leapster Explorer for his birthday and is currently playing the Dora Game over and over and over again (as is my youngest son (2 years)

He also loves to collect stuff - esp books in a series and dvd's in a series.

Stationery and art supplies are also a firm favourite - including tape, stickers and different types of pens and papers. Painting in different ways and types of paint are also great for keeping them occupied for ages, as is play doh - as long as they have tons of different cutters, moulds and so forth to create actual things with.

They both love to play outside - in the sand, in the water, on his jungle gym - as long as his brother plays with him (or an adult) obeying his every command in his fantasy worlds.

Board games and card games are a firm favourite too.

Neither of them enjoy playing with regular toys - but they enjoy anything that they can manipulate into their own made up games - marbles now get combined with a little plastic crane that DS(2) got for his birthday to see how the marbles roll along the toy.

Read along books with CD's are great for them to look at together too.