I both see this and don't see this with DS3. He can totally get immersed in the ipad to the point that we cut down ipad time - usually an hour a day max seems to work well - its hard because some times he is really learning amazing things on it, and others, well, he is watching youtube videos of people making playdoh sandwiches or whatever, lol. We have the same time limit with tv, an hour max a day. (this one isnt really hard, he only watches two shows for the most part - Sid the Science Kid and The Cat in the Hat.)
As for 'playing'...it's complicated, I think. DS also went through a trains phase around 2yo - but generally now, his 'fun' is like 'school'. Math, mostly, but other number stuff, as well. He's not crazy about reading on his own, but likes to be read to, so we do that a lot , he likes playdoh and drawing - we play games...I guess he actually does play a lot - its just...not necessarily playing the stuff other kids his age would play with, you know? He likes chess, card games, bingo, art is always a big hit. Pretend play...not really. he can do it - we make up stories sometimes, we do the play kitchen sometimes, but like blackcat said...he's just not very into it. (though, when I picked him up from school yesterday, I found him and another kid playing with a dollhouse - DS showed me the "princess" he was playing with. It was adorable and very surprising, but in a good way.)
Anyway, suggestions...yes, first thing is limit the ipad time. I really think it helps. It's hard but it helps. Always, if he is restless, it might be that he needs a little more...structured play - offer suggestions - "now its time for [insert genre...reading time, art time, music time]" and then offer some examples - "do you want to dance around to music, play instruments, sing songs or talk about composers?" or game time, etc etc. "do you want to do a puzzle, play a card/board game, or invent your own game?" Sometimes I think it's hard for a kid (esp a gifted one) to know WHAT he wants to do - if he tells you without you giving him options, great. but if not, giving choices both narrows the focus, but allows your kid to still be in charge of what he wants to do. That seems to work for us, anyway. Lazy days don't work very well here - DS gets restless and starts misbehaving more - I think he gets bored, but clearly doesn't have the self-awareness to know he's bored, and so wanders around aimlessly rather than engaging in an activity. So I just try and help him along
(same thing with sleep. DS doesn't usually want to sleep even when he's really tired/whiny. So it's up to me to say, 'you are a mess, get your butt in bed.')
Last thing - outside. Does your DS like to play outside? Sometimes, I think kids go stir-crazy and just need to run around. The winter is hard in that way, but maybe he needs to let off some steam, even if its just 30 mins or whatever.
sorry for the long post - hoping things get better for you!
