What are your girls into at 8 and 9 years old?

[Phoebe]

I need to channel my daughter into something and find something interesting for her this holiday season. She loves books, but doesn't read on her own that much. She is more of a collector of things than actually playing with stuff. i.e., American Girl, Webkinz, Smencils and Japanese erasers. She likes doing crafts, also. I can't motivate her away from her afterschool routine of TV, computer games and her Nintendo DS. She is constantly reaching for something electronic. We have the typical girl stuff like Barbies, The Littlest Pet Shop, etc. We often play games, but it seems like there should be more she should be interested in.

When I put the kabash on those things she mopes around saying she is bored and doesn't know what to do. She can't stand her younger sisters and is too shy to invite new friends over, although she loves the kids at school. She is in gymnastics and brownies during the week so she is busy. Our neighborhood doesn't have any girls her age to play with at this time.

[Flynn]

Our 7 year old loves her whiteboard in her room. She draws, writes stories, plays school by herself....it's the gift that keeps on giving.

The other side is a place where she can draw and has a roll of paper.

[Rapunzel]

I'd feed her craft impulses. Maybe you could involve her in making dinner in the evenings (teaching her how to cook)? An eight year old really gets a kick out of getting to make things others will actually eat. With all of the craft options I'd be inclined to go that route because she could have endless variety. There's painting (watercolors, oil, even finger), modeling and baking clay (the grown-up version of play-do that you can even make into little beads for jewelry), cooking, crocheting (it's totally doable for an eight or nine year old), etc. For some reason girls really DO seem to gravitate towards the things we regard as 'domestic' (such as the cooking, knitting, etc. kind of stuff). And, if she likes that then I'd feed it. Maybe she'll end up being really talented at one of those things! Maybe she'll get so good at cooking that you can just have HER cook dinner! One could wish....

[Rapunzel]

I thought I'd add:

For my twins' ninth birthday they each got small kitchen appliances...and LOVED their gifts. One of them got an ice cream maker and the other one got a bread maker. These are REAL appliances. But, at nine they were completely able to read and understand the directions. They still are so thrilled to make things that people like to eat. It keeps them busy, it's productive, it feeds a desire they have to create, it helps them develop talents, and they are much happier when all of the above conditions are met!

[DCJenn]

If the cooking thing seems to be working, Sur La Table has a really cool set of kid knives. They're built so that they can't cut their fingers if they hold the knife properly. Rachel Ray has a kid knife that also comes with a glove to protect the other hand but I'm afraid that will foster bad habits and then when the glove i off, the fingers are cut anyway!

Jenn

[MrsK]

I was going to say that my friends' soon to be 10-year-old asked for an American Girl Doll for her birthday. I was surprised as she's not really into dolls but she's excited about the clothes and accessories. She's also into Littlest Pet Shop, Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, and wii.

[fluffhead]

Hate hate hate the american girl dolls. we currently have 2, plus a miniature one, and lots of accessories. It's how the inlaws woo my soon to be 8YO DD.
and it works.

I think the cooking is a neat idea. If she likes it, you could give her a kid's cookbook for Christmas.

My 9 yo was interested in knitting and weaving over the summer. Does she have a potholder loom like this:
http://www.magiccabin.com/product.as...dex=&pcode=164

She hasn't been as into the knitting lately. She was pretty happy just knitting rows (it was destined to be a scarf). We found a kid's book of knitting instruction but I found this wiki to be more helpful in getting started:
http://www.wikihow.com/Knit

eta: just remembered that the camp which sparked her interest in knitting used a circle loom to make a knit hat. I'm sure the knitters around here would have a lot more to add. I think the circle loom was something like this:
http://www.allcraftsupplies.com/p-65...cle-looms.html

I just got back from Michaels (took all three kids, WHAT was I thinking?) with a bunch of beading stuff. I wish I had paid more attention to the bead size and string width. Assuming I had, it could be a great activity. Downside is that little sibs have a hard time keeping out of beads and if they spill...

I was going to say Wii Fit but re-read your post and saw that you want to get away from computer games.

[houseelf]

I love expanding on the craft idea.

My DD is a bit younger, but we do lots of puzzles and Sponge Bob sticker sodoku.

DD is nuts about Lego kits. At first, she needed help getting started and motivated. I don't think little girls eyes light up when they see them on the shelf. Nonetheless, with her first kit, her big brother showed her how to sort the Legos and read the diagrams. I will admit that Lego kits can be difficult with younger siblings around AND there are very few kits marketed for girls.

We have done all the Sponge Bob kits, which tend to have low number counts and are good first projects. The Belville line is marketed to girls but tend to be hard to find AND super expensive. Ebay and Craigs list have some of the retired kits. Her favorite Lego kit ever is the Belville Sunshine Home. She still plays with it and rebuilds it long after the kit has been finished. She has completed a few kits of the Lego City line, specifically the Farm kits. Santa is bringing her the City Corner and the entire family is getting the Medieval village.

For quality girl toys, we have borrowed heavily from the toys marketed to boys. DD likes playing with her brother's Havoc Heli, Stomp Rocket, Circuit breaker kit, Pop Bottle Science, and Nerf guns. She does have an AG doll, but we buy Target's knock off clothes and accessories. (Seriously, who buys a $300 armoire for a doll?)

I couldn't agree more that so many of the toys marketed to girls are less engaging.

Kelly

[L.Jane]

Its an expensive hobby, but photography with scrap booking for a creative craft loving girl is a fun way to spend time. Also, it gets all your pictures from the year organized

[Sheherezade]

My 10 year old is a crafty girl too. She wants the circle loom and the straight looms for knitting this year. She has made a bunch of "finger" scarfs with the eyelash yarn and would like to move on to bigger projects. Somehow, she manages to knit by tieing the knots around her fingers. Amazing, considering I can't do it with knitting tools.

Second GREAT craft for her lately has been soap making. Easy to buy the supplies at Michaels and it has instant gratification. The soap blocks take about 1 minute to melt in the microwave, then you mix in colors and scents and mold them in to shapes with soap molds. You can also emboss them with stamps. They cool enough to pop out of the molds in a few minutes. She has gotten a big kick this weekend because her grandparents asked where we got all the cute soaps.....ahem.....from your GRANDDAUGHTER, the master soapmaker! She is so proud.

She is also in to clothes, nail products and hair stuff. She goofs off in the bathroom and also likes bath stuff.

She loved the cheaper digital camera we gave her for her big gift last year. We taught her how to print photos on the printer and how to upload the pictures to the computer. That might be a way to use the computer without gaming. Just a thought if your daughter is very techie.

What else? A fish tank? Ours keeps a betta in her room and is able to keep up with the responsibility.

[Pollyanna]

I think the craft stuff would be tons of fun, especially if you tie in scrapbooking with an inexpensive digital camera. I will also say that I don't think spending time on the computer/DS is a bad thing and would likely include a new DS game and something fun for the computer (I say this as our 4 oldest are playing Mario Party together on the Wii having a COMPLETE blast and I am spending downtime on iMSN).

[MDPhDWife]

I think the craft stuff would be tons of fun, especially if you tie in scrapbooking with an inexpensive digital camera. I will also say that I don't think spending time on the computer/DS is a bad thing and would likely include a new DS game and something fun for the computer (I say this as our 4 oldest are playing Mario Party together on the Wii having a COMPLETE blast and I am spending downtime on iMSN).

What she said. Our DD8 got a digital camera for her birthday this year and this keeps her busy for hours. I will say she's an electronics junkie, but I don't mind so much since she really prefers the active games like Wii Fit and EA active. I figure if she likes exercising, go for it!

She's also into Littlest Pet Shop and Build a Bear Workshop.

On the craft front:

I lent my 8 year old DD some punches, paper, cardstock, and glue, and she went to town making "all-occasion cards" with just different strips of paper and rows of punches, etc... and we've been using them as thank you cards and all sorts of things since. Papercrafting is just plain fun and I bet she'd love it if you get her started.

DD also is enjoying these things call Wikki Stix (there are other names for them too) which are basically long skinny waxy sticks that stick to each other or on the table or wherever, and you can make 3-D creatures or write your name or build a house for a small lego doll or anything. Colorful giant pipe cleaners, same idea...

Seasonal/holiday decorations for the windows- we've had a bunch of Halloween things, and now we took down the turkeys and she'll be making tree ornaments out of balls covered in colorful napkins and tied with strings... She likes to make things that actually have a purpose or get used.

(Also, on the domestic front, my girls sometimes like to help sort and fold laundry, which is "fun and helpful"-- go figure! that's not a gift idea, but maybe a way to keep her busy and useful when she has an attack of "I'm bored"...)

Maybe that helps??

Jenn