Hobby for 8 year old girl?

Question

What hobbies are good for an 8 year old girl? This is her personality: she will do something until it gets a little too difficult or requires her to practice, then she quits. She constantly complains of being bored and always wants someone to play with her (only child). She won't stick with anything that requires effort from her.

Painting. She didn't paint well the first few times, so that was over.

Making bracelets. She couldn't automatically braid, so that was over.

Collecting squished pennies. She loves buying things (great habit her grandma got her in), but the pennies are all over the house. Not actually a collection, she just likes putting the quarters in the machine.

Drawing, quit when she couldn't draw people well.

I don't LET her quit these things, she gets pushed and made to try over and practice again, but eventually I can't force her to do any more. Her constant need for attention is really draining me. Please make ANY suggestions.

Answer 1

How about taking her to Michael's or some other type of craft store and let her pick out a few things.  

I also got my niece into pottery.  I bought her a kid's pottery wheel from Amazon.com and she LOVES it!

Maybe you could buy her a camera and let her get into photography.  She could learn how to download the pictures and use a simple software program to create frames and print them.  I know the Barbie camera has this type of software, although the camera is useless.

Are there any kinds of lessons she could get into?  When I was 8, I took horse riding lessons for one summer and I loved it!

Have her start a small container garden of flowers, tomatoes or some other veggie/fruit for summer.

Answer 2

have you ever seen the barbie doll magazines. i am older now but i still love the collector barbie magazine. my sister and i used to cut out our favorite barbies and glue them down as a collage. they are very diverse looking and look nothing like anything you can find at a toystore

Answer 3

Let her pick something to do. Suggest to her some things that maybe she'd llike:

Gymnastics

Learning an instrument

Joining a chorus

Pottery

and let her pick.

Maybe if she went to a class with other kids she'd enjoy it more, and then she could hang out with the kids outside of class.

Answer 4

all star cheerleading is great! i am 12 yrs old and i started when i was 7 or 8! it does require effort,but u have a TON of fun!!!! and you get to go to competitons and compete with other teams and i guarantee she will luv it!!!

Answer 5

Have you ever try sculpting?

you could give her a piece of clay and she can mush it or anything she wants to do!

that what i played with when i was 8-10

good luck =]

Answer 6

Im sorry if I offend, that is not my intention.

Do you not think that it's the being pushed and forced into activities may be why she doesn't enjoy them? If she doesnt have the confidence in herself to improve then she wont want to - maybe she is a perfectionist in the making? Are you or her father a perfectionist? - as this is a learned behaviour as opposed to an inherited one.

I have a daughter who always wants to do something; it is frustrating and tiring, especially with a toddler to tend to, being 6 months pregnant and a house and life to maintain. But when she is bored of her activity I let her stop (unless it is homework) - after all they are just children who bore far quickeer than you or I!

My daughter has a ballet lesson after school once a week, I try to take her to a friends house at least once a week so she can let off steam - the rest of the time I dont give her set things to do, she plays with different toys and uses her imagination to make it more fun.

Good luck, I hope you find something that your daughter thoroughly enjoys!! Just try to be easier on her when she does get bored, and supportive when she gets frustrated.

Answer 7

Does she have problems like that at school too? She might have mild ADHD. What you describe sounds like it might e that. You might ask her doctor about it.

About drawing... I draw. I had a problem with people when I was young. I got a book about how to draw cartoon characters and followed that. Now people are pretty much what I do best.  My daughter likes to draw. We watched some videos about how to draw cartoon characters. She learned a lot from the first one even though it was just a few minutes on Mr. Rogers. Now when she doesn't have anything to do, she draws constantly.

Lately when I shut off the TV she acts out little plays with Barbie dolls and Little Ponies. 8 might be too old for that. I don't know. My daughter is 4.

Your daughter may not have enough experience to know what she might want to do. She may need to explore by trying out different activities until she finds what she likes. You might try to arrange play dates with other kids her age. They might find a common interest.

Girl Scouts or Brownie Scouts might be something to try. Or Daycamp or Vacation Bible School. My siblings and I were all in scouts and church youth group. That kept us pretty busy.

Good luck.

Answer 8

You need to tell her to not give up. There are all kinds of fun things she could do but she can't give up. But if she keeps giving up she could try Sewing,Swimming,Katate,growing plants. I hope this helped.

-Tara

Answer 9

1. Go to the library.  Play computer games on the computer at home or at the library and help her with it.  

2. Call a friend from school and have a playdate.  My 7 year old is always bored on Sundays and calls her friend over or goes over there.  

3. Enroll her in a park district class.  Maybe swim lessons?  

4. Have a movie afternoon at home once a week and watch 2 or 3 movies that day and eat popcorn.  

5.  Go to the park.  My daughter usually finds someone there to run around with.

6.  Go to the mall and walk around (try not to buy anything or maybe something small) and eat lunch there too.  That could be a 1x a week thing.  

7.  Go to the nature center if you have one nearby.  

If she bores easily, right down a bunch of things to do around the house (play a game, draw, etc.) and put in a jar.  Have her pick from the jar.  If she balks at the idea, tell her she can either do it, or find something to do.  She's 8 years old, and should be able entertain herself for awhile.  She is an only child - so I think most importantly is that she have playdates with friends.

It sounds as if you're a stay at home mom, so it's important to have somewhat of a structured day, so you're both not bored out of your mind all summer.

Answer 10

How about things that are easier to do, or you can redo easily if you mess up.

activity books with mazes, etc.

coloring with markers where you have a velvet covered type drawing and all you do is color in the lines. Other drawing coloring projects where you just color in lines.

toys where you make pictures with tiny colored magnets, and then when you are done just remove and start over.

a sprinkler to play in.

colored chalk to write with outside.

a big jar of bubbles, that can keep kids busy for a while.

a magna doodle, you can wipe it out and start over.

dolls you dress up and can play with, preferably not teenage dolls such as bratz.

Maybe get her in a Sunday school or vacation Bible school program.

Answer 11

well, what are some things that shes good at? what are things she's interested in? take her swimming. any sports shes good at? computer games?

Answer 12

what about watching movies and calling you on your cell phone

taking pictures with camera when you take her outside