Playing with Cars

My son use to like to use blocks (and Legos - the Duplo size when he was 3) to build garages and fire stations (and even small towns) and then move the cars and little fire trucks through the town.
He'd stage accidents and have fire trucks, police cars and helicopters respond.
I enjoyed playing with him because when I was growing up - I liked toy cars/trucks better than baby dolls - I was ALWAYS playing with the neighborhoods boys toys.
For me, typical girls toys just seemed boring (I could not stand playing tea party!).

I could have written this identical post! My son makes "traffic" all day long! He always wants me to play, but then really doesn't want me to touch them. So other ideas hmmm. I made him a parking lot on construction paper and numbered the spots so he could practice numbers and parking the different cars in the spots.
He also thinks its fun to make color themed traffic so we've made the rainbow, or just certain colors and then we count them.
We play I spy and call out cars that way.
Making a road out of black construction paper pieces. You can make all different variations of road that way
Sorry my ideas aren't that exciting - I'm hoping for some great suggestions too! :)
In general when it comes to cars I usually play with him for a few mintues and then when he inevitebly (sp?) excludes me I do something else nearby - dishes and the like, and then when he wants to me look at what he's done I make myself available to cheer him on. Good luck!

Its his age.
At about this age, they start to line things up, group things by category/size/type etc.
My son did that too.
Then they will be off into other things.
Try videoing him as he does it and plays. It will make for a good memory and souvenir of his age now.

You said he really just wants you to watch him.
And tell you about them.
So let him. Meaning, he seems pretty good at playing by himself and pretend playing and thinking of ideas himself.
So let him play, you can be near by or sitting there, and him talking to you about it... and you can just, even lay down, read a magazine etc.
My son was like that.
Its cute. He'd also line up ALL his dinosaurs, of which there are about 40-50+.
And he'd tell me all about them, want me to watch, and he'd make up scenarios about it etc. So, I'd sit by him, tell him "Mommy is going to sit right here & watch you, but I also have to read this important magazine, okay?" And he'd say okay. He was just glad I was by him, and him lining up his dinosaur army.
And sometimes I would be right there next to him... but I'd tell him "Mommy is going to be by you, but I need this pillow to put under my head, as I lie down by you... Mommy is tired, but I am watching you... Okay?" And he'd be happy as a clam.
Then he'd do that with his Super Heroes.
And his Legos.
And his blocks
And his other play figures.
And on and on.
He's 5 years old now.
I blink, and only yesterday he was 3 years old.
Gosh.

ouch. i read your post and thought one thing and then i get to the responses and find i am sooo in the minority lol.

as a mom of a single my thought was, "why can't he play by himself?" i still feel like a little LESS undivided attention from you is probably a good thing. 3 1/2 is just the start, but he's coming into the age where it's really good for him to learn to play by himself. he has always had big brother, now he has you. it's time, imho, to start teaching him some skills of entertaining himself. nicely, of course! maybe set a timer and tell him, until the timer goes off he has to let mommy do the dishes, read a book, whatever. start at like 5 minutes then work your way up. i'm a full supporter of worshipful adoration of our kids (and am frequently guilty of it :)) but i'm also a firm believer of mom's rights to sanity, and a kid's right to learn to be self sufficient.

Our daughter sometimes, just wanted me around to "watch her play". Especially Barbies. She did epic fashion shows, but it took a long time to dress and undress them, then for her to pose them in crazy ways.

It gets old. I discovered this was a good time for me to read the paper or a book..she would show me the highlights, I would also ask her questions here and there.

Sometimes, I read aloud to her from her book collection..

FYI, be sure to take photos and video of him playing. It is best when he is not aware. You will love those photos and videos when he gets older..

Well, since it's nice and warm out, what about making a "car wash" in the yard? Then your 6 yr old can play outside with his friends, your 3yr old can play cars, and you can get some fresh air and sunshine. Sounds like a winner to me!

You can also get a car shaped block at a hobby/craft store and have him paint/sticker it.

Aw cute, same here.
I have found "some" things that work: a Matchbox car racetrack on clearance at Walgreens, a Matchbox 3 story racetrack/garage gift given to us.
-a rug that is a racetrack given to us. Love it.
-have bought several Matchbox cars on sale at Walgreen's, thrift stores even & Ross have the cars on sale.
- I buy these types of things when they are on sale as I am child's "best friend". Cute but difficult at times, I understand.

I divide my day up in sections: cook, play, clean, play, start dinner ect.
It is heavy on play.
Why?
Because life is short & my son won't always want to play w/me or be around me but I WILL ALWAYS HAVE LAUNDRY.

I don't even remember my mom doing house work but I know she did it because our house was always clean.

She worked her but off to make us happy, safe & gave us memorable childhoods which I am hoping I am passing down to my child.

Give him the time in short bursts, 15 mins, then say you have to go clean for a bit. Come back to him, play for 15 mins then say you have to make dinner etc. It can work if you can strike your own balance. Best of luck! :)

Edit: we use paper towel rolls for tunnels, gameboards for ramps, they fly off of couches, tabels, go in dirt, go in sandboxes, we take them to the park to go down the slides, I always have 2 in my purse for a restaurant diversion etc.

you're more patient than i, momma. i never did that stuff. i sort of admire parents who do, but not totally. i don't know that we're actually doing littles a favor by stifling yawns of boredom and setting them up to think that everyone else really is as fascinated by their play as they are.
i would encourage this little fellow to get totally immersed in his cars and enjoy them all by himself. no audience required.
khairete
S.

With both my son and my nephew, I've made "super ramps." All you need is some cardboard, some tape, and a coffee table (or something approx that height). Tape one end of the cardboard to the table and one end to the floor. Presto! Cars can race down a ramp. You can actually make it pretty scientific by making one ramp very steep and another very gradual. Let your son figure out for himself which kind of ramp makes the cars go faster.

That'll be new and interesting for an hour at least ;)

Good luck! You sound like a fantastic mom.

M., you made my day. I fully expected this post, at the start, to be about "how do I get him to leave me alone so I can do other stuff without him pestering me." I see a lot of posts on here where moms seem to be sick of their own kids' wanting their attention. Instead yours was about new and fresh ways to play with him. You have your priorities right and you sound very creative. Good for you.

If he would like to decorate his room with some cars, you probably can get car-shaped wooden cutouts at the craft store. He can help paint and decorate them, then you can put them together into a mobile with some wooden dowels and string; or you can put them on his wall or on his door; maybe. If he's into real cars, do outings where you let him put a mark on a pad for every red car he sees, every blue car, every silver car, every truck, etc. Good way to reinforce colors -- put a mark with each color at the top of a chart and have him do a check mark underneath the right column when he sees a car that color. You can even assign points to different colors, different types of vehicles (car, truck, van, etc.) and then help him count up the points after your outing and have a little prize or treat based on the points.

My son used to (and still does now when he's 8) - take sidewalk chalk and make all sorts of roads and highways on the sidewalk and then he used to move cars around on them.

Another thing would be to make parking garages, ferries etc with LEGOs to put his cars in.

If you don't have a toy car transporter - that's a good thing to get :)

Another thing is a road mat (its like a rug with roads drawn on it and a bunch of buildings/places). We got ours at IKEA for under $20 - I think it was 14.99 if I'm not mistaken. That keeps them happy for a while. When they get bored - roll it up put it away and pull it out on a rainy day.

If he has those pull back cars, then have him set up a race between 2 cars at a time - or my son used to set up markers using lego bricks along the wall and see which one of those pull back cars would go the farthest.

I used to cut up old shoe boxes and make "garages" or "houses" out of them - sometime we'd even decorate them and then he can park cars or use them to make a city with different buildings.

Good luck and enjoy.

My grandson also loves to play with cars. I have watched him while his mom and dad were at work since he has been a baby. He is now 7 years old. He would play for hours and hours with his cars. I also would sit by his side like he wanted me to and play but he would always be in charge and not really let me play. I would try but I would end up observing and watching him be creative. I did suggest things now and then to break the monotony. He had a special blanket, which he still has, that was plush. He would use that as his base for his cars. The cars would leave tracks where they were going. So he would make his own little city on the blanket. I also have throw blankets with different designs. He liked one that had the map of Ireland with castles and water and his journey would begin. I would put the blanket over my coffee table and he could play and I could be comfortable on my couch. Now that he is older he still uses the throws but he creates his own transports out of legos. So I would say all these years of sometimes being very bored with watching him play instead of letting me particiapte that much has made him very creative and very independent.

My kids made cars as a craft at school once. They used candy and gum. A 5 pack of wrigley's for the car body, individual life savers for the wheels, (or maybe it was peppermints?), toothpicks stuck thru for the axels, etc...

You could also use modeling clay to build a car, and use a Qtip or toothpick to attach the wheels. It might not roll, but it could dry hard and be something he could keep.

You could use carrots as the cars' body and grapes as the wheels. Or use celery as the body of the car, fill it with peanut butter and put raisins (or whatever) inside as the people. That way he can build them, play with them, then eat them!

If you're into baking, make gingerbread cars. (Do a Google search for ideas.) That would keep him busy for a while!

Good luck hon!

I am a 10 year vet. Of teaching 3 year olds and I have place numbers and letters on the cars for identification and placing them in order. Sorting them by color, placing shapes on top and sorting by shape. Every time a new child wants to join/leave the children playing with cars, we have a subtraction/addition lesson so that everyone has an equal number of cars.I have even introduced multiplication and division to the children also. Just the basics. I use the large butcher paper or poster board and I draw a main road and then the children add the side roads, houses, stores, etc...
There are so many concepts that you can intoduce and teach without them knowing that they are having "school time" while they are playing.

What about making ramps? My girls and I use the couch cushions with pillows underneath to support the cushion. You can try to get the car to end up in a bucket or laundry basket too if you want. You can make car shaped pancakes and probably sandwiches too (with olives or a bunch of raisins for the wheels). Have fun!

If it hasn't already been suggested, maybe schedule a playdate for your 3yo one day, and the next a playdate for 6yo. Or if's not too much trouble, let them each have a friend over the same day (that way the 3yo won't be pestering the 6yos to play with him).

For some of the more imaginative play stuff that 6yos do, see if he can bring that into the play with the 3yo.