Advice needed on amusing an active 7 year old (and I won't have a car)

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
He is really hard to entertain as he is a wiz with all video equipment and can use it like a pro and his father (cough, Bart) very much spoils him. So he lives in electronics fantasy land and is also a very intelligent boy...with extra energy. I want to do things with him that he isn't used to, but that will still keep him occupied. It will be probably 90 degrees with humidity outside so outdoor activities with water are ok, but only with water...lol. I can barely stand Wisconsin summers!!! I do plan on cooking with him.

Junior is very creative and intellectually advanced for his age and gets bored quickly. I want to make this a good visit as he is TOO smart for his own good and knows from overhearing everything that is going on with his mother's plan to move him out of the school district (Bart is going to court soon on a motion to change residential custody as he is in the school district. He has already filed a motion to prevent ex from moving so she can't go anywhere yet). He has a good lawyer. Ex's lawyer that she used last time for the custody battle used Bart's lawyer of THIS round as his divorce attorney, which I think is a riot. He must respect Bart's attorney too. To date, ex has no attorney and not much money, but...her family has money. We'll see if they help out, but they won't help as much as Bart's father will.

But Junior has the nervous energy of me and my son. And he is aware that something is going on and is very nervous. Every time he has to leave Bart, he clings to him and cries and says, "Please get me after school. I want to go home with you."

We already have a weird type of hide and go seek and a pillow fight planned, which we did last time.I don't want to just sit and watch him play videogames.

Any suggestions? Board games that are current that I may not know about? Board games about videogame characters?

He is my little lovebug and I want him to know how much I love him. I'm going for five days next week and...ok, here's a vent.

Last time we went they canceled my train home. Canceled it. I had to leave early.

This time they canceled my train home again. Yep. Same thing. This is on the way back to Chicago. I have to get to the train station at 4:45 to board a bus to go to another city to board a train to get to the train station in Chicago just to board another train to get home to Mid-Wisconsin.

I just saw BuddhaBaby last week and now I get to see Junior next week.

Honestly, nothing says love like a Grand.
 

Scent of Cedar *

Well-Known Member
Yes!

Harmonica.

One of my grandsons in seven. I was trying to find something to distract him from their handheld video games. He loves it! Once I knew he really did think it was fun ~ not just that he was trying to make believe it was fun for my sake, we called up harmonica players on YouTube.

He slept with the harmonica under his pillow last night.

Cedar
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Egads I can't imagine listening to my grands play harmonica for hours. You are a better person than me.

I am thinking crafts plus get a lawn sprinkler and run through. You can also play with shave cream outside. Or DIY puff paint.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
thank you both. Ok, harmonica on my list for when we are outside...lol. Crafts is good. I'll get a kit. I love the shaving cream idea, but I think I'll buy some of that silly string.
You gals are lifesavers. Any other suggestions to put on my list?
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
When I was that age until age 11 or so I was transported by soil and what lived in it. I loved bugs and butterflies. I don't know if Bart has a yard, but you can buy insect habitats. Number one rated on Amazon is a butterfly garden habitat. They send you 10 larvae that hatch to caterpillars and then to butterflies. There is not enough time for that because it takes 10 days to receive the live larvae, after you receive the habitat.

But there are all kinds of things to support an interest in bugs. You could go to the library with Junior and get books. And go outside with him to see what he finds.

What about buying some seeds for flower pots (herbs are good), and buying a couple of already grown plants tomato plants in a pot for Junior to tend, so he can have his own window or patio garden if there is no yard?

There is always fishing. Buy each of you a starter pole. And go out in the early morning.

I lived outdoors as a kid and to me there is no better way to live.

This sounds fun.

PS I forgot Collage and Art Supplies. M does needlework. His Mom taught him to crochet, embroider and sew. We are going to learn to spin and weave together.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Copa, all good idea (except the bugs...haha), but I don't have a car so no place to fish or going to the library...everything is "in town" meaning you have to go on the expressway. There is nothing but houses in this subdivision. If I had a car, I'd take him to the zoo. I love animals. I'd go to a pool. Hey, it's HOT enough!!! I mean, I can barely take 80 degrees with humidity and it's much, much hotter than that in Missouri.

I like the planting idea. My son would probably not keep it up, but maybe his girlfriend would. She doesn't live there, but she is over almost every day and she likes to clean and cook...Bart has it good now. She likes to do it HERSELF too. So I'll add seeds to my list :) I don't know how long I can stand being outside in the sun (he doesn't have too many trees in his big large, but we can give it a go.

I wish I could afford to rent a car, but, even if I did, I am so bad at directions, I'd probably end up somewhere in Kentucky. Even a GPS can screw me up because they do make mistakes.
 

allusedup

Member
Hey SWOT, you gotta go to the "Dollar Tree" hope you have them in Wisconson. Get the sand art kit and get a piece of poster board and these huge stickers of dinosaurs, zoo animals (they are meant for the wall but will be great on the poster board). Also get some glitter markers for him to use too. I got some of the same for my nieces and nephew and they were a big hit. The great thing about the dollar tree is you can find enough to do a craft a day without going broke. Hope ya'll have fun!

by the way, the sand art kit is like the kids do at a fair or festival. I didnt say but you don't use it with the poster board, lol
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Thanks again, guys. There IS a very large yard. I like the sand art idea. I thought of a pool, but he's a very big boy and most of the pools are way too small f or him, but I'll look again. WE do have a Dollar Tree. He likes Lego-like building toys too, but he uses the ones for older kids...some are expensive and I'm visiting on a dime!

You're all helping me get the wheels turning. Thanks again.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Old fashioned hot-weather fun: running through the sprinkler. We used to do this for HOURS. Works best in a large yard - and helps to have a huge pile of towels, because that water is COLD :D

Get a book and materials on Macramé. It's the "sailor's craft" - initially not a feminine thing at all (I find some boys don't want to do "girl" stuff). It's an EASY craft - just knots, helps to have ideas and instructions for what you can make. Such as holders for hanging plants, for one...
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Thank you very much, IC!!!! I have a lot of shopping to do tomorrow to gather stuff to do before I leave. I am so excited. I love my little man so much! And I feel for him too. I want us to have a great time!
 

pasajes4

Well-Known Member
Public transportation and go on a city wide scavenger hunt. Meuseums and art galleries are great for this. There should be a university fsirly close. A visit to a city park.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
My son is in the burbs. Literally no public transportation. I am fine with public transportation. There is really no way to get into the city from there except by car. No parks close enough to walk to. It's pure suburbia, house after clean, identical new house. Not my taste in where to live, but not my house either...so we're stuck at home.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
He offered to do that, but this is a very cofusing area to navigate and I have NO sense of direction. I would probably end up in another state or an alien world with my grandson crying, "Grandma, you promised me go to the zoo!"
 
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