Guest taylene Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 I am looking for suggestions. Things like Sudoku or workbooks or ANYTHING really that will keep my son's brain occupied. He reads a lot, so I'm not looking for book suggestions, but anything else. He does like to build things or do puzzles, so if you know of anything great like that I would appreciate the help. He is 10 years old. I find when he is creating things, reading, or working on projects we have far less behavior problems. I just feel like I need some fresh new ideas. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Go to Sears, buy him his own toolkit. Get a big bin. Throw in stuff. Go to the thrift and find busted stuff for him to repair and make pretty again, or just figure out how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Got a junk yard nearby? Get that Sears tool kit, let him loose in the junk yard and build something. My dad once saw a bicycle and decided he wanted one. He scrounged parts together and built his very own bicycle....at age 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 LOL I was going to suggest the same thing as one*mom. If he has trouble finding things to do, you can offer challenges. I bet you can't earn $100 in a week by doing chores for the neighbors. Can you train the computer to talk? Plan a trip to the science museum for us that doesn't involve taking the car. Plan a trip to blank for less than blank amount of money. Write a cartoon every day. Learn to draw. (Once you learn to draw, there are lots of great colouring books for adults that are fun.) I bet you can't make a set of clothes for yourself. Can you write a song? Can you learn to play the pennywhistle? Can you teach youself enough Spanish to have a conversation with the neighbor? Many will be a flop but some might catch on. They are likely to be more appealing if they have clear end points, points at which the child succeeds or fails. The whole process of keeping a child occupied gets a whole lot easier if you don't demand that they do only safe, clean, neat, quiet, solitary things. Also, they may be better behaved when they are entertained and challenged (I totally understand that problem) but you have to be careful not to try so hard to keep them that way that they aren't ever bored enough to do anything interesting. Interesting ideas are often born out of boredom. This is not always a good thing, I grant you. Anyone who has received complaints from neighbors about their children shooting potato cannons at passing motor boats completely understands this lol. Quieter pursuits - a foreign language learning computer game, chess, building toys like lego robotics kits, computer programming, Dover coloring books, origami, dungeons and dragons or other role-playing games or those ones with a million little models and miles of rule books, paper airplanes, white wings, kites, and other things that play with aerodynamics, those little remote control helicopters, writing crossword puzzles for siblings, books of math puzzles, Draw Squad, marble tracks or domino races or other things like that that can be converted to Rube Goldburg like machines, magic tricks, musical instruments, write your own mad libs, write a book, make a manga book, make a stop motion movie, make up a language, map your property, sculpy, bead animals, pen pals, ... Some of these are more intellectual than others, but I think it is important to develop fine motor skills and creativity as well as problem solving skills. Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 computer programming and a robotics kit will keep him busy for a long time. Though, I love all the above suggestions as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Apart from the math stuff in my siggy and some of the things Nan listed above, I helped him start a blog. He won't do any assigned writing but he will write if it is for HIS blog. Go figure. Does your son play music? About 2 or 3x a year, I give him a musical challenge to play on the piano to me as a mother's day, birthday and Christmas gift. No pressure, doesn't have to be perfect. But I do let him know how much I would treasure it if he could at least try to learn the piece. I usually select a song we both like. I started this last year and to date he has added 4 or 5 more challenging pieces to his repertoire now, something he wouldn't have done otherwise and the side benefit is that it has also helped improve his playing overall. DH does a semi-annual project with DS, usually tied to what he is learning in science. DS has to do EVERYTHING, or at least as much as is possible with DH having final say on budget and also standing by for supervising the more dangerous projects. DS has to google for materials, do a price comparison and also read customer reviews and recommendations. I taught him to put the info in an Excel spreadsheet for easy comparison. One time, they made a Mindstorms project together and then "un-made" it and "re-made" it a different way using found materials. It was so much fun! DS was also put in charge of yard furniture and garden planning. DH again gives the budget, DS researches the plants. DH buys chair/ furniture kits, DS assembles them etc. They made a water feature together for the garden too and figured out how to safely wire it up so that we didn't have to call an expensive contractor in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 What is HE interested in? I can offer all kinds of things to one of my 2Es, but if he's not interested, and he's bored, I know I'm going to walk in and find something completely taken apart and bazillions of screws and tools all over the floor. Channel his interests. PS, remind him of basic safety rules before embarking on the goodwill thing. Some of the wires are coated in stuff that would not be good to ingest (ie no tinkering and snacking on crackers at the same time). PPS, if you teach him how to do maintenance on lawnmowers (replacing blades, motor tuneups, etc.) he could have a nice little side business if he's interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Great ideas so far. I have this 10 year old boy, and if he is not mentally busy, things can go south. He likes to cook so I will ask him to go through my recipe books and choose something that sounds good for us to make. We have to have the ingredients on hand. He did this before he was old enough to really cook, and now he is able to participate. He also wants to paint the hallway. I'm a little scared of that... He has access to the crafts bin, and mostly he does things like make t shirts for my dd's stuffed animals and glue together popsicle sticks for a wide variety of uses. Today he and his brother made tiny trellises for the edamame plants in the garden. When I see him in need of a "job", I will ask him to research something on the internet. How does one keep bees in the backyard? and such. He also has free reign of my toolkit (a small one but complete) and broken items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Those are suggestions. Are the sears toolkit child's version or adults? I have wanted to get the child's tool kit with all the tools but just miniature versions at lowes but they usually are out when I am there. Maybe I will try sears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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