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

My dds are 9 and 11. My younger plays with animals- she has tons of plastic animals that she has collected over the years. She builds elaborate zoos and parks, etc, in her room using blocks, legos, dominoes. Sometimes it is hard to find her bed!

My 11 year old loves books about the human body and models of the human body. Other than that she likes to draw, design, paint and read read read. She is also into sports...basketball, softball, soccer, etc.

I haven't read all the posts, but have seen some creative ideas, and thought I'd add a couple things DC have enjoyed.

When DSs were younger, I would occasionally buy a box of individual aluminum foil sheets at a big box store, and the boys would be in heaven for days. They made everything you could possibly think of with foil and/or masking tape. The only problems were 1) that there were foil "inventions" all over the house, 2)they didn't want to get rid of any of them, and 3) sometimes they wrapped things up in foil (like little toys or money) so I felt the need to unwrap everything before I disposed of it. One of the best gifts DSs ever received was a wooden masking tape holder that holds 8'ish rolls, and each is a different color. It's still something at ages 7 and 9 that gets used at least weekly.

DS7 also got a lap-loom for Christmas and really enjoys using it when he has some time.