Bored 11 yo with broken arm

Our boy broke his arm last Friday and is bored out of his skull. He is in a splint and won't get a hard cast until Wednesday. We are trying to keep him somewhat under wraps, no running and jumping with our other boys
Any thoughts on activities to keep him occupied? I hate to stick him front of a video game day after day.
Yesterday he colored, it will be six months before he will want to do that again. We have made snow cones, played chess, set up a mini golf course, played Planet Earth...bottom line, I have to get my own work done.

Any thoughts on activities to keep him occupied? His elbow is stuck in the bent position, he is left handed and that is the one he broke, he can't get wet

It would be a lot easier if he had his hard cast already. That's a long time to wait!
My 11 yr old son would be watching Discovery and the military channel and playing video games. I'm sure your son as already done enough of both. I'm sorry I don't have any suggestions.

How did he break it?
My neighbor's on just broke his collarbone playing lacrosse the other day.

Is he too old for the eye spy books? They take up huge amounts of time when one gets into them. My wife just took a small pile of them North to visit the Grandbabies. We troll the thrift stores looking for them.

Sorry to hear about your son.

Sign him up with his own SoWal name. Lurking can be fun and before you know it hours have gone by!

Do you think he'd like to go hiking on some of the trails in SoWal? The one over in Cassine Garden is short and ends up by the lake. There's even a picnic table.

Is he too old for the eye spy books? They take up huge amounts of time when one gets into them. My wife just took a small pile of them North to visit the Grandbabies. We troll the thrift stores looking for them.

When my son was 11 he loved maze books. There are some really hard, more intricate ones at the better book stores or libraries.

(and he's broken the same arm 3 times already! )
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Thanks for the suggestions, right now he is laying upside down on the couch, that'll keep him busy for 10 minutes.
He fell off the teeter totter, put his hand down to stop himself and broke both of the bones in his arm. Something so minor caused some major stuff. The doc put a rod in each bone to stabilize it while it heals Apparently this is SOP, not like when we were kids and they set it and if it grew back a little crooked, oh well. By the way, the docs and nurses at Sacred Heart are absolutely wonderful!!!!!

Legos, jigsaw puzzles, board games, and comic books/books kept us occupied as kids.

Seriously, I'd just go to Perpetual Imagination and drop some $ - worth it for educational toys and peace of mind IMO.

When Brody broke his arm the Dr. put a cast on him that could get wet. He swam and surfed with his Dad everyday! You might wanna ask the Dr. about it. Otherwise (if you live here) Perpetual Imagination is great! lots of science toys i.e. digging for fossils, growing crystals, all can be done with one hand. So sorry to hear about the little guy.

Legos, jigsaw puzzles, board games, and comic books/books kept us occupied as kids.

Seriously, I'd just go to Perpetual Imagination and drop some $ - worth it for educational toys and peace of mind IMO.

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE!! too funny.

He definitely can't get wet until the incisions heal. My 13 yo broke his elbow years ago and still took tennis lessons. He was riding his bike the next day. The no hard cast thing is killing us!!! And Walton schools are closed so he doesn't even have classes and homework to distract him.
In the past week he has blown through all of the legos, puzzles, games....I think he is now having a good time tormenting me, that has become his "something to do"

Time to whoop him at chess again and then play the Planet Earth game.
You guys should check this game out, it is an interactive DVD game, like Scene It, and it is based on the planet earth series.
Did you know that only 3% of the earth's water is fresh???

Thanks for the suggestions, right now he is laying upside down on the couch, that'll keep him busy for 10 minutes.
He fell off the teeter totter, put his hand down to stop himself and broke both of the bones in his arm. Something so minor caused some major stuff. The doc put a rod in each bone to stabilize it while it heals Apparently this is SOP, not like when we were kids and they set it and if it grew back a little crooked, oh well. By the way, the docs and nurses at Sacred Heart are absolutely wonderful!!!!!

Actually, I forgot. My son has broken his arm 4 times! Because the ortho decided that after xraying it when it was time to remove the cast, it was slightly crooked. He just took that little skinny arm and snapped it. And then put another cast on.

I'm sorry to say but my son probably played lots and lots of Playstation to keep him from going crazy.

Nothing wrong with hours and hours of the video games when it is warranted. I just caved on the World of Warcraft deal. He will be busy for hours.

Nothing wrong with hours and hours of the video games when it is warranted. I just caved on the World of Warcraft deal. He will be busy for hours.

OMG. What is it about WOW? My son is obsessed with it. And he's 17. :roll:

Sorry to hear about your son.

Sign him up with his own SoWal name. Lurking can be fun and before you know it hours have gone by!

That's what happens to me at work. Warning he needs to stay away from SWGB's birthday thread. He'll also learn all the names for hoo haa's on Punzeys thread. You can't buy education like this!

Bad memories, Our 13 year old broke both arms at once snowboarding this time last year. One hard cast up to elbow, the other up to the shoulder. Once the hard casts were on the Doctor wanted him to keep them moving as much as possible. Fyi, they have great water tight cast covers at the drug stores that will slip right on and off for showering(even some pool time). No more trash bags and duct tape. Also, they have bendable utensils that work great for eating. It seemed like a disaster at the time. But 6-8 weeks after the casts were off, no activities were off limits. He actually had a pretty incredible football and basketball season this past year with no problems from the breaks.

Good Luck!!!!! It will go fast.....

OMG. What is it about WOW? My son is obsessed with it. And he's 17. :roll:

One of 35 yo friends is obsessed too. He says that WOW is great, kids can learn all about supply and demand, economics, planning, critical thinking, team work . This is all true to some extent but all I see is a big dude running through the woods being chased by various critters.

My favorite WOW interaction: "Honey, what are you doing."
"I lost my body and I can't find it, I just have to wander until I find my body." I don't get it

One of 35 yo friends is obsessed too. He says that WOW is great, kids can learn all about supply and demand, economics, planning, critical thinking, team work . This is all true to some extent but all I see is a big dude running through the woods being chased by various critters.

My favorite WOW interaction: "Honey, what are you doing."
"I lost my body and I can't find it, I just have to wander until I find my body." I don't get it

I even lurked on his computer when he was at school & saw where he is now a MODERATOR on WOW!! I mean, that's just too far into it.
(I guess there are worse things... )

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That's what happens to me at work. Warning he needs to stay away from SWGB's birthday thread. He'll also learn all the names for hoo haa's on Punzeys thread. You can't buy education like this!

Sam asks me every now and then if she can join and I keep putting her off.

One of 35 yo friends is obsessed too. He says that WOW is great, kids can learn all about supply and demand, economics, planning, critical thinking, team work . This is all true to some extent but all I see is a big dude running through the woods being chased by various critters.

My favorite WOW interaction: "Honey, what are you doing."
"I lost my body and I can't find it, I just have to wander until I find my body." I don't get it

Too funny.

Bad memories, Our 13 year old broke both arms at once snowboarding this time last year. One hard cast up to elbow, the other up to the shoulder. Once the hard casts were on the Doctor wanted him to keep them moving as much as possible. Fyi, they have great water tight cast covers at the drug stores that will slip right on and off for showering(even some pool time). No more trash bags and duct tape. Also, they have bendable utensils that work great for eating. It seemed like a disaster at the time. But 6-8 weeks after the casts were off, no activities were off limits. He actually had a pretty incredible football and basketball season this past year with no problems from the breaks.

Good Luck!!!!! It will go fast.....

wow. :shock:

It is amazing how pliable those bones are at a young age. Even with this arm broken 4 times, my son still plays his cello just fine today. Even when he had the casts on.
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wow. :shock:

It is amazing how pliable those bones are at a young age. Even with this arm broken 4 times, my son still plays his cello just fine today. Even when he had the casts on.
.

"Doctor, when the cast comes off will I be able to play the cello?"
"Of course."
"That's amazing, I couldn't play it before."
Sorry

Our boy broke his arm last Friday and is bored out of his skull. He is in a splint and won't get a hard cast until Wednesday. We are trying to keep him somewhat under wraps, no running and jumping with our other boys
Any thoughts on activities to keep him occupied? I hate to stick him front of a video game day after day.
Yesterday he colored, it will be six months before he will want to do that again. We have made snow cones, played chess, set up a mini golf course, played Planet Earth...bottom line, I have to get my own work done.


Any thoughts on activities to keep him occupied? His elbow is stuck in the bent position, he is left handed and that is the one he broke, he can't get wet

The Eye Spy books are a great suggestion! If he's been through the jigsaw puzzles, how about Tangrams? Getting all of the different configurations should take a while! I bet they probably have those at Perpetual Imagination too. Maybe a trip to the library would be a good thing - new books and all....

Nothing wrong with hours and hours of the video games when it is warranted. I just caved on the World of Warcraft deal. He will be busy for hours.

My almost 15 year old son and all of his friends are so addicted to this game. Last night my son had a friend over to spend the night. They both came in the living room with "that look". You know the one that you know they want something? Well, he said to me, "Mom, we can win $200,000 playing in a WOW tournament. You just have to loan us $20 bucks each. I said "loan", you don't have a job how will I be repaid? He looked at me with those big baby blues and said "I will do anything you ask me to do around here" please mom. If I win, I will buy you a beach house. I said "ok, where do I sign up". Not that $200,000 would buy much of a beach house, but I bet I could get a condo. Anyway, I am a gambler at heart, and needless to say I caved. So, in six weeks I will let you all know if I get to buy a condo at the beach.

I will tell you this, I have kids over here every weekend, and all they do is play WOW. I would much rather them be here than running the streets.

I am so sorry about your sons arm. Wishing him well.

Man the soft cast time is kind of the worst but not as itchy. Each time I brake something I spend most of my time in front of the computer. What pain pills is he on? If its anything lora he is still in pain and probably agitated. Best thing to him will be keeping him comfortable specially bed time and showers. Give him foods he likes but don't piss him off by doing things he can't do like use a knife! Get out places like go get ice cream go to mall to keep his mind wondering. Oh and friends are a good thing. That will keep his mind going and he will begin to feel allot better because he will begin to forget about his arm. Above all let him get out and about.

I broke my shoulder 3 times in a row. Within having cast off each time in less then a week re broke it, 6months of healing time. So believe me the most stressful thing is not going out and its easy to get depressed on long term breaks when no friends come over or you don't go hang out.