What are good indoor activities for 5 year old boys?

Question

My son hates being stuck inside during the rain, and would love some ideas for creative things to get into so its not all just tv watching, xbox playing or card playing. He loves and is good at computer games, xbox and has a good memory. We have been playing memory (cards) and snakes and ladders. He tried paper mache but wasn't impressed about the messiness of the glue (weird - i know). 

He's just learning the full alphabet at school, spelling out short words, learning to read. We read 1 book at least a day, plus reading out signs and things he sees, but I I don't want to force this on him as I prefer to do it when he's interested in reading and happy with it. He's proving to be good at colouring in as well.

What are some good things to get him into?

desmeran · Accepted Answer

my kids at that age would spend hours building things out of blocks, including elaborate marble tracks.  they liked to make forts out of blankets and pillows, do treasure hunts and scavenger hunts, have "dance parties", play board games (mexican train dominos was a hit at that age), make "secret potions" out of random kitchen ingredients (basil, cheerios, and food coloring, anyone?), try to make paper structures that float, make paper airplanes and have flying contests, fill the sink full of bubbles and wash all their plastic toys, make ramps and racetracks for the toy cars, try to spy on the grownups without being caught ....  probably more things i'm not thinking of right at the moment.

*and after reading the other answers i wholeheartedly agree that sending them out in the rain is a great option, too.

? · Answer

Games For 5 Year Old Boys

Anonymous · Answer

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RE:
What are good indoor activities for 5 year old boys?
My son hates being stuck inside during the rain, and would love some ideas for creative things to get into so its not all just tv watching, xbox playing or card playing. He loves and is good at computer games, xbox and has a good memory. We have been playing memory (cards) and snakes and ladders....

Anonymous · Answer

I think a track and field in the gym or outside (depending where you live). You can have races, shoot free throws for basketball, Frisbee throw (through hula hoops), hula hoop contest, broad jump, Obstacle course with orange cones, bean bag toss, jump rope the longest, A shoe pile race is a blast--kids take off one shoe and put it in one big pile, then they have a relay race between classes one at a time. One thing that I have seen done at my daughters school was to divide the kids into evenly leveled groups before the day. Set up stations and require that the teams move from station to station in a particular order. If they don't follow the instructions, they are disqualified. It works. You can make ribbons from construction paper like yellow for 3rd, Red for 2nd, and Blue for 1st. The kids enjoy winning. To those that did not win...give them a sticker. It does not have to be anything expensive or maybe even a little sticker star. Source(s):

Amaretta · Answer

My kids loved playing with playdoh, legos, building blocks, and doing arts & crafts.  Making cookies together is fun, too.  We also used to make up stories together and tape them on the tape recorder (or you could videotape him).  He's old enough at the age of five that he'd probably love some time just playing in the bathtub with bath toys.  You wouldn't have to be there with him -- you could be working in a nearby room -- but you would check on him often.

Jason (Is making enemies) · Answer

When I was little, I liked playing with toy cars and trucks. I liked Go Fish a lot too.

Rachel · Answer

cooking
lego
making cubbies out of furniture and sheets
cutting and glueing
art/craft kits
playing with his toys
play doh
cars
trains
put him gumboots and a raincoat and send him out to play. Kids love to play in the rain.

What are good indoor activities for 5 year old boys?

7 Answers