Re: Age appropriate toys/games question

[Guest guest]

I personally think that any gaps that need to be filled need to be filled.  In

other words I believe that our children need to work their way up the ladder so

to speak.  When your son is 25 it won't matter that he played with young

children's toys until he was 10 or 12 all that will matter is that he reached

all of the developmental milestones.  Sheri

From: C. - Wonderwegian <carriecox@...>

Subject: Age appropriate toys/games question

" group " < >

Date: Monday, December 8, 2008, 2:13 PM

My 10 year old son (4th grade) has been with Dr. Goldberg for six years. He's

made a lot of inprovements but is still behind his peers. Educationally he's

one-two grades behind. (Reading Comprehension is his weakest point- he's doing

first grade work for that at school.) For social/expresive language skills he's

at about a 4 year old level.

I'm wondering if I should try to introduce him to more toys/games/movies that

are closer to being on target with his peers.

Is a gap in toys/entertainment verses age " normal " for our kids?

Will he become more age-appropriate with toys as he catches up in the other

areas he's behind in?

Right now he still loves Elmo/Sesame Street., Nick JR shows/characters, Barney,

the Tank Engine and watches them and plays on the websites and such.

He still plays with Little People, no action figures or cars.

He is good with building- block structures, Lincoln Logs, and the GeoTrax

tracks.

The most " mature " movies/characters he likes are Charlie Brown/Peanuts and

Kermit the Frog/Muppets.

Any ideas for toys/games/etc that might help bump him into a level of play that

is above preschool?

Or does it even matter what toys he's playing with and movies he's watching at

home?

Any ideas or stories to share?

Thanks!

- in Mobile, AL

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[Guest guest]

Your son sounds a lot like my 8 year old. His 10 year old and 6 year old

brothers are into Star Wars, Clones Wars and Ben 10. Noah still loves the

Tank Engine and the characters from Toy Story. He also likes his Little People

sets. I have a couple of different theories why we haven't seen his interests

change that much over the years (we have, however, seen a change in the way he

plays with these toys, and IMHO, that's the most important thing). It could be

that our kids find a lot of comfort in these familiar figures. They get their

ideas how to play with them by watching a video and reenacting a scene (we see

this a lot). It could be that toys like actions figures from Star Wars require a

little bit more imagination than what they are capable at in their current stage

of development. Noah's still very much in the imitation stage, which is ok

because at least he's playing.

 

I also think that sometimes I expect more because academically he's farther

along than he is developmentally, especially in the area of socialization. With

Noah, we're dealing with an expressive language age of about 3. It would be

really hard to a three year old to reenact a battle scene from Clone Wars.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Robyn

n Mon, 12/8/08, C. - Wonderwegian <carriecox@...> wrote:

From: C. - Wonderwegian <carriecox@...>

Subject: Age appropriate toys/games question

" group " < >

Date: Monday, December 8, 2008, 11:13 AM

My 10 year old son (4th grade) has been with Dr. Goldberg for six years. He's

made a lot of inprovements but is still behind his peers. Educationally he's

one-two grades behind. (Reading Comprehension is his weakest point- he's doing

first grade work for that at school.) For social/expresive language skills he's

at about a 4 year old level.

I'm wondering if I should try to introduce him to more toys/games/movies that

are closer to being on target with his peers.

Is a gap in toys/entertainment verses age " normal " for our kids?

Will he become more age-appropriate with toys as he catches up in the other

areas he's behind in?

Right now he still loves Elmo/Sesame Street., Nick JR shows/characters, Barney,

the Tank Engine and watches them and plays on the websites and such.

He still plays with Little People, no action figures or cars.

He is good with building- block structures, Lincoln Logs, and the GeoTrax

tracks.

The most " mature " movies/characters he likes are Charlie Brown/Peanuts and

Kermit the Frog/Muppets.

Any ideas for toys/games/etc that might help bump him into a level of play that

is above preschool?

Or does it even matter what toys he's playing with and movies he's watching at

home?

Any ideas or stories to share?

Thanks!

- in Mobile, AL

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[Guest guest]

,

My kids all loved Tomy Constructables... not sure if they would bump him up

a level but he might be pushed to try to build the ones in the pictures,

which builds reasoning skills. Right now they have a set for sale on Amazon

for about $15 including shipping (just do a search for ³Constructables²).

They¹re easier for kids with motor issues since they¹re chunky. They don¹t

stay together perfectly, but they are fun. They do require batteries, and

are a little noisy, but I think they¹re a great toy. I¹ll try to think of

some other ideas.

http://www.tomy-usa.com/products.php?c=13 & p=21

Caroline G.

[Guest guest]

I've been thinking along the same lines....'s 7, and has never

gotten really into any particular toy. Got him Magna Tiles last

Christmas, which he is now building into things (house, castle, etc).

He's also finally enjoying matchbox cars and just starting to show

interest in dinosaurs. I'm wondering if we should start to introduce

Pokemon, Power Rangers, etc, as he really just doesn't know what they

are. He goes to a YMCA afterschool program 3 days a week, and we're

thinking it will give him additional common ground with the other

kids.

Alaine

[Guest guest]

,

Another thing I just thought of is ³Snap Circuits². My 13 year old has

loved them for many years. He started out with a basic set and has added to

it every few years. There¹s a basic kit, the ³Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100².

http://www.elenco.com/SC-100.htm

You can look it up on Amazon and read the reviews to see if would be

something your son might like.

It looks more complex than it is. We have had to order some replacement

parts for things that have burned out, etc., but it has been a good toy.

It¹s a very ³engineery² toy.

To quote someone on Amazon, you can ³make lazer sounds, sirens, make songs

come out, or fans, a ufo spin off toy (launches in the air), several types

of games to play, a doorbell, a couple of computer part thingies, other

light blinkie things, even stuff your kid can only dream up. Has lots of

noisy sounds that will drive you nuts so send the kid somewhere else. LOL.²

I have no idea if if this would be appealing to your little guy... I always

had such a hard time figuring out what mine would like and half the time I

ended up being wrong.

The other thing I keep wondering about is Legos... they do make some Star

Wars kits. And last year the boys loved some Star Wars transformers they

got. Those things require reading and following directions.

Caroline

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the input and suggestions, everyone!

- in Mobile, AL

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