Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Does your preschooler play?

I'm in the same living area with my kids all day. It doesn't seem to matter if I am enjoying the playdo or if DS1.5 is enjoying the playdo or whomever... DS3.5 has been there and done that. He just doesn't seem to get creative with that kind of activity. I guess he is more of a logic oriented kid, like someone else mentioned about their DD.

EmeraldCity, thanks for the book suggestion! DS does enjoy taking apart pens and soap dispensers and such. I'll check out the book for other suggestions.

Yes, DS2.25 spends most of his time either reading or role playing. He builds up elaborate fantasy scenarios and can sustain them for weeks. I've mentioned before his having adopted a bat persona for about 3 weeks recently. He was so true to the role that he referred to us as Baby Bat and Mummy Bat even in his sleep.

A large contributor to his imagination, I suspect, is the fact that we read widely and do a lot of funky excursions around town. It doesn't hurt that I am an overgrown 4 year old who loves to play. He creates the scenario and tells me what to do, and I do it happily.

A play-doh suggestion: DS3 loves doing numbers with his play-doh (and everything else). We have little alphabet and number stamps that came with some play-doh set He makes number lines, equations, etc. and from there the numbers can become number food, or number people...any way to bring some pretend play to my *very* literal child. Words/sentences are another option there. Maybe something a little more concrete would capture his attention?

I would cut the iPad & TV out completely! When he finally figures out it is really not an option any more, he will find something else to do. This will probably be harder on you then him (unfortunately) but I would be shocked if didn't have a positive impact.

Other thoughts...
How much time does he spend outside every day?
Have you thought about some unstructured, structured activities... like a Steiner playgroup for example.
When will he start (pre-)school? Mine tend to act up when they are under-stimulated.
Sports? (e.g. Swimming lessons)

When my daughter was ages 2-6ish, she was always more interested in setting things up than actually playing. Whether it was blocks or legos or a dollhouse, she mainly just arranged things, as opposed to actually playing, or what I thought of as playing. We didn't allow screen time at all, and she had a lot of Fisher Price sets, legos, blocks, etc, and she either manipulated those things all of the time, setting up elaborate configurations, or she wanted to be read to, until she could read herself. I wondered about her imagination/creativity, etc.

Since she turned 7 though, she's taken to writing very elaborate stories in different notebooks (each notebooks is about a different type of story) so now I know there's nothing wrong there.

That's assuming the child has intact play skills. A child on the autism spectrum, for example, may not play even if other options are taken away, or will "play" in unconventional ways. (This can include memorizing facts, making lists, lining or setting things up, repetitive games like solitaire...)

There are lots of great blogs out there with kids' tactile, outdoor, and art activities. At 3.5, my children also were playing board and card games. There are many good ones now that did not use to exist, even for nonreaders. They were also big into construction toys then. Both of them liked imagination play but it was not their main play mode. What about books on tape? This bought me many hours in the pre-reading years.

If you are home with him all day, and he is not in preschool, it may help to come up with a list of activities and a very loose daily schedule. I had times when I needed to do this and times when I didn't. OTOH, at that age, some kind of structured group activity MAY be a nice break for you and good for him. (I don't feel this is at all necessary for SAH kids before 3 or so, but at 3, I think it's a nice idea if the child might like it, and I think all kids should try it out before school if going to school.)

my older two had a harder time learning to play. dylan is really great at playing - possibly because of the unschooling group we have where the kids aged 3 - 12 all play together. So he hangs with them and does what they do.

When alone with his brothers he joins in their games or reverts to bugging all of us annoyingly when he seems to be seeking something - I can't explain it any more, it's like he is restlessly seeking.

He is much better at working in the garden than the older two even now, and he loves to play outside - much improved ball and sports skills over his brothers. Probably because he spends more time there and has had A LOT less screen time.

I try engage him in everyday activities (chores etc) and he loves these too. We sit and do a bit of maths and reading stuff at least every second day and his little board games etc as well.

So I don't have anything majorly impressive to add, but I can say that he plays more naturally and more easily. Sometimes you need to be creative in finding ways to engage them in play and sometimes you need to allow them enough frustration that they go and find something to do, making their own play things and games.