Hi All,
Any toy/game suggestions for 5 year old boy? I am getting tired of him "playing" on my laptop, downloading music, and using my phone to text people in my address book!!!!!!!

What does he like? My 5 yo dd loves the Playmobil dragon and Egyptian sets, large car sets from Maisto, lots of Legos everyone steps on, the new Hotwheels that change color (lots of those in our fridge/freezer), making concoctions out of everything, games from ThinkFun, and of course, her Nintendo DS and Wii. Getting these kids their own pc is a must--dd has had one since she was 2. A DSi may make your son happy as he can download stuff and play games, record music, or draw. Oh, I forgot another favorite--the Magnext magnetic blocks with the extras that let the child build intricated machines. We have their rollercoaster as well, a great physics lesson, but even better fun.

He has an apple itouch.... he loves it, but the downloading is getting out of hand. He doesn't like lego's - I wish he did!! I will check out the ThinkFun games.. are Magnext like Magnatiles? Those are a hit too!

Hmmm.... My son is 6.5 but here are some current interests or ones from last year:

computer games (mazes, puzzles, contraptions, etc.)
science and electronic stuff (snap circuits, science experiments)
Reading (loves fiction and non-fiction if it's about science or math)
building (contraptions, k'nex, zome tools, wedgits, marble mazes, dado cubes...)
Puzzle games (think fun games, sodoku, perplexus, rubiks games, brainteasers)
MATH (anything math related. makes up number games, playing with dice)
Workbooks (sodoku, crosswords, word finds, codebreakers, logic links, etc)
Music (playing on piano, using his Ucreate music to mix stuff up)
Art (magnetic mosaics, intricate design coloring books, origami, painting things)

In spite of all this and lots of other stuff he has to do, sometimes he still doesn't know what to do. He isn't bored really...just not sure what to do and what will keep him interested. When he was 4 we created a list for him that we have posted on the fridge called "things to do when I don't know what to do" When is unsure what to do he is encouraged to look at his list and pick something off of it. It has like 60 things on it so surely he can think of something. And of course it keeps changing as his interests change.

I was just talking to my friend about how none of my kids really likes to play with toys, per se. Take, for instance, my DS7. He loves to play outside, he likes to stack things (anything and everything), he likes to read, he likes to play soccer, and he likes to play video games. He also really likes to sing to his new iPod. He likes building lego projects, but once he's done he doesn't actually play with them. He has plenty of toys, but most he virtually never plays with. For Christmas and his birthday he asked for a quilt/pillow, a diary with a key, a lego set, a feather pen, a Yoda pillow, and some fuzzy pajama pants.

Does he like to play outside? What about sodoku or word search or picture find books? What about a sketch pad or diary for him to draw in? What about paper-airplane kits? Kidzui as an internet browser that keeps kids on kid-friendly sites, so that might be an option. What about a camera? What about those premade wooden castles and treasure chests that he could paint and decorate? How about building a fort with blankets and chairs and boxes? Don't know if any of these are helpful suggestions or not. But, I hope it helps!

Oh, and there are a lot of really fun, mentally challenging games for the DS, like the Professor Layton series, Clue, Club House Games, Brain Age, Sodoku Ball Detective, Nancy Drew, etc.

At 5, I would definitely have to say Nintendo DS and PlayStation were big things. He also liked cards then (just got him some Periodic Table Playing Cards that would have been as big a hit back then), and math workbooks, and it was Christmas at 5 or 6 when I got him a load of office supplies -- paper, note cards, pencils, erasers, stapler, labels, etc.

I'm laughing, because when we were asked what to get him for the holiday's, I said, "just go to staples and get him paper and pens and markers and labels"!!!!
I loves reading and writing - so when he is on the computer, he is in word typing documents, or on itunes running up a bill for music....(i know, we have changed the password numerous times!!). He does love work books too.
all the suggestions are great.... I will investigate.
It is interesting to read others posts - it's all so familiar~

lol, Last year for Christmas DS6 (then 5) got a notebook of graph paper with mechanical pencils. It was a hit! He doesn't really play with toys or anything. If you gave him an action figure he would have no idea what to do with it. He might take it apart though and put it back together.

Did you/ do you worry about that? My DS, 5 next month, reads and makes up his own stories. It's actually pretty neat as he includes all the appropriate book stuff - he said or then they go into the room. But he rarely plays with any of his toys on his own. If I do legos with him, he will do it, for awhile, and today we did some of a science kit. And he will do all sorts of workbooks, if i get them out. And he plays with stuff at pre-k in center time. But all other play served as filler for his imagination. It's sort of the opposite of that creativity/structured time thread. We"ve already noted that he needs to be in more physical activities because he won't necessarily chose it on his own, even though he loves soccer and swimming.

I'm sure this sounds weird, he got all this great stuff for Xmas which he played with once or twice but the haul for the library is read over and over. I can't seem to find anything that absorbs him like knowledge or the worlds he creates. I'm not sure why I am worrying about this!!!!!

DeHe

My kids are older (8 and 11) but here's what they play with most of the time:

Indoors:
Dolls or action figures
Cardboard boxes and other empty containers which they use to build stuff for the dolls/action figures
Fabric scraps, yarn and buttons which they use to make clothes for action figures and dolls
Legos
Drawing/Painting/Clay
Each other (rolling/wrestling around/other physical play)

Outdoors:
Sticks, dirt, old hoola hoops, the neighbors' dogs, bikes and other ride-on cars, water.

I supply plenty of tape, glue, markers and other materials.

It is comforting to see that the general pattern is - our kids don't play with typical "toys"... always worry if this is sign of a problem (asperger's,,,) but it seems pretty average for gifted kids.
Do you all agree?
Right now my kid is texting from my cell to my husbands cell having a text message convo with himself.... I doubt that many 5 year olds would find this fun!!!

Mine totally would!!!

Mine had an old iPhone with no phone service but loaded with games and wifi email used by the gp's. He lost it. Or threw it away. He told me a monster ate it. I'm still mad. I don't want to talk about it. He changed his story to say a monster ate it then spit it in his hand and he took it and hid it from the monster and now he can't remember where. I don't see how. The only monsters are on tv. He says he has monsters in his room and showed me these tiny figurines of the incredible hulk and black spiderman. He mostly plays with cars. He has a huge collection he's been building for years from squishy baby tonkas to his latest a garbage truck. His truck shaped flashlight has rescued several cars with it's tractor beam. His ford truck has fed the cows. Today I saw him put his yellow 4 door international pick-up on a stool and announce, "this is the greatest and the best truck ever.". He's been watching monster trucks on the tv with his dad, you can tell. He wrecks his trucks, flips his trucks. Takes care of his trucks. It looks like they all have personalities. He lines them up side by side so they can all watch tv and leaves them there. He let's the tv babysit his trucks. That's not so bad. I don't like when he lines them up behind me to watch me work.
Ok, his life's not all cars. Although at the hubby's request we don't let the boy play with things that aren't his toys. Pots and pans, random stuff on the desk or kitchen table. He has a real drumset from the music store for up to 13 yr olds. He has a how to drum DVD that he asks for now and then. Since the drumset's in the corner of my living room he runs to it when there's a catchy song in a movie.

Oh yeah, I started this post to re-mention the common rule of thumbs for uncommon kid's. Forget the manufacturer's suggested age. I think a lot of the computer stuff the boy does is for 6 yr. Olds. He's also keeps playing with this Mozart music cube which is a block for babies that plays a different song and lights up depending on which side you touch. It's meant for six months olds. He loves the battery toys, hex bug battle bridge, looked like a boring one trick pony to me, but he loves it. He's got that blues clues animated dog furry robot thing. He sits against the wall and let's it walk into him. Looks like it tickles. It tickles him anyway.
On and on, Supermind magnetic, trio blocks, erector Jr, solo operation w/o batteries (he calls it playing doctor). We don't get out of the house much. An awesome convertible desk/easel with crayolas, markers, and tempra paint. I had the paint put up. It was by request only. One day he showed me a painting. I went and looked at the paint. The lid was on right. It was put away properly. There was no mess. I gave him the paints too. That reminds me to go post my Christmas tree story on the creativity thread. Ps I second kidzui. $7/ month, over 5,000 clean YouTube videos, disney, nick Jr, kid safe google, like a kid encyclopedia. Hard to install. Ask customer service for help. Other wise you might end up with a Lego looking failure screen. and starfall's already approved but stuff like Cernland you have to manually approve.

Not really...I thought it was different when he was younger I guess. But I saw his face light up when he does stuff he loves. I watched a couple years ago as people got him random toys like action figures for his birthday and he was polite, but totally disinterested. Someone got him a zhu zhu pet for a birthday and he said "Oh, I guess this one if for my little sister" and then gave it to her. He still plays with tons of stuff...but it not the typical toy stuff that other kids his age play with most of the time. He still has some of the same interests like building stuff...but he is more likely to search stuff on his computer, play games, send us random emails (yesterday one was about how he read that some people think the sun will explode in 5 million years). Today he was somehow fascinated with how the brain works. He still has a variety of interests in many different areas so I am not concerned at all. When he was 4 or 5 he told me "some people think ________ is fun, but to me fun is MATH!" and his whole face lit up. Honestly, I can't remember what the blank was but it was some toy that others were interested in. There are many other signs of aspergers that don't have to do with playing with toys at all, and my son doesn't fit those so it was not a concern for us. I did go through a time when he was around 3 that I wondered more about it...but lots has changed.

I have a five year-old: Chico loves costumes (actually, all three of my boys do). I think it's a really terrific investment to sew up some flexible costumes (by flexible, I mean things that can be multi-purpose, like capes, cloaks, tunics, scarves, hats, belts, etc., especially reversible ones) and throw in a little junk jewelry, maybe. These have had really lasting play value here, and the first thing the boys' friends head for when they come over is the tickle-trunk (anybody but me remember Mr Dressup?? :D).

The other main plaything here is cardboard--nothing gets recycled here until it has been repurposed and reused several times!

peace
minnie

shellymos
My DS would enjoy talking to your DS!! Thanks though, I've never been concerned about AS or anything like that, more of a nagging feeling about avoiding stuff, like drawing or writing because he isn't that good at it. But also that it seems in some way a bit limited - which is very odd thing to say about someone who imagines all the time!!! I think i am just concerned his needs aren't being met, that we just haven't found the right thing - although he is happy so I am sure this is about me!!!

DeHe

Ds 5 doesn't really play with toys either and never has. He likes to create/build and plan but doesn't play. Due to a hectic schedule during the weekdays he only has about 45 minutes to play and he usually chooses to watch Brainpop videos. He does like to play games like Monopoly etc. and he also likes his Leapster. He does however like to invent games and play them and most of the time they involve running around and going crazy though with rules and structure. Ds like math workbooks, being read to, and mazes as well.

Wow I thought my DD9 was the only one! She has so many boxes! She is really into Littlest Pet Shops, but she doesn't "play" with them she creates things for them like buildings...she even made a trampoline one time out of sticks and plastic wrap. She has been using hot glue guns for years now.
The day after Christmas she woke up...instead of playing with all her new toys she watched a documentary on the building of cathedrals during the Renaissance!

DS8 has never been much for toys. He has a huge collection of Bakugan, but he doesn't really play the game, he just collects them. His latest fascination is video editing. He got a video camera for Christmas and spend most of his free time filming us and then downloading and manipulating the film. I'm considering having him do next year's Christmas film. We send out a video every year to family in lieu of cards chronicaling our year.

He does love board games as long as there is an adult available to play with.

Our son mostly plays with puzzles, mazes, building toys, software, board games, his camera, and toy weapons.

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.

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.