So,obviously being on this forum i already ride bikes. i’ve also got a camper van which gets used a fair bit.

I’ve got a wife, 4 year old boy and another baby on the way and i’m looking for a hobby that i can do with the 4 year old. Basically something that we can do together in the evenings/ weekends but deosnt take up too much time.

Any recommendations other than the usual (football and so on)?

Blimey..suprised you will have time. Nothing wrong with getting the playdough out or drawing/painting.

Bit of gardening? Grow some veg or something? Chuck in a small pond if you’ve got space and do some nature bothering. Ponds rock.

Kung Fu

EDIT : Just seen you’ve excluded cycling so discount this

http://www.redhillcc.co.uk/page/redhill-raiders

Can you narrow it down a bit? Some indoor crafty thing (airfix, lego, etc.) Or outdoorsy (bit of light bushcraft maybe?) Or something sporty (climbing, swimming, etc.)?

Edit… shed experiments , backyard ballistics?

Coding.

Glue sniffing?

skateboarding?

Olly, I tried pond chucking, it didn’t go down well with the toddler or the mother… (It was my child)

Papier-mâché fort would be fun if you have space?

Astronomy – excuse for camping trips and buying stuff. Its what i’ll be doing with my little boy when he’s older.

Whilst out camping you can get in to your bushcrafts and also photography.

To cap it off it will give you an excuse to get in to amateur radio so you can a) contact people in an emergency and b) do the SOTA challenge.

For outdoors
My little one loves gardening and watching things grow.
Geocaching.

For indoors, how about model making?

Kites? Remote control cars? Planes?

I think the biggest problem you’re going to find with a 4 year old is attention span..or lack of.

try out various sports, see what the wee man seems to enjoy/has a natural affinity for and stick at that? might be a bit on the young side for that mind.

Martial arts

wow, i didnt expect so many responses that quickly. Some awesome ideas there.
We’ve already got a pond in the garden so thats already been done.

Winning ideas so far are the growing stuff in the garden, kites and both the ideas from Mr Blobby.

He cant do martial arts until he’s 5 in June so that’ll be next.

thanks guys.

Chickens. Fence off a bit of the garden and you and your son can enjoy their company, bit of cleaning out and feeding and the eggs of course. Really very easy to look after as long as you have an automatic door opener/closer.

Growing easy stuff like sunflowers courgettes is another enjoyable thing for you both.

Sailing or kayaking? You could even build your own boat together:
Mirror dinghy….

Depending on finances you can cheat and get ready made sheets of ply:
Mirror kit….

Oli.

nature bothering

LOLz. My wife will happily spend 30 minutes at a time looking for newts in our pond. It’s great. 🙂

Realistically, Xbox, start with the lego series.

My youngest started judo at 3 and a half. She’s a baby ninja, worlds most lethal 5 yr old, mostly down to her temper.

Scooting, get so e micro scooters…..

Guatemalan Blob Fish Juggler

Walking and lecking about outdoors – get a tarp, some bushcrafty fire starting stuff, and go let kids be kids outdoors. (while you crack on with the burgers…)
Our lot (including the super secret camp near our house.. ;))
[url=https://flic.kr/p/mAUPEW]IMG_1046[/url] by matt_outandabout, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/mATn3t]IMG_1043[/url] by matt_outandabout, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/mAUG5f]IMG_1044[/url] by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

Another STW forumite
[url=https://flic.kr/p/mTEPjT]Lubnaig canoe and walk[/url] by matt_outandabout, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/mTFmzB]Lubnaig canoe and walk[/url] by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

Is he too young for a spot of birdwatching..

For evenings in make your own play dough two cups of flour glug of vegetable oil and about one cup of water, add in vanilla extract and glitter and a bit of food colouring.

papier mache fond memories of making a Viking hat wrapping a balloon with newspaper and adding horns.

building blocks and small world figures, let your imagination run wild.

washing the car or anything using a bucket and sponge.

marbling, oil inks and water beautiful results even for the most cack handed child.

yoga.

stories.

cooking.

just for starters.

Internet arguing! 😈

yoga.

I was going to suggest that – seems ideal for the evenings, calming down before bed etc.

A 4yr old doing Yoga. Brilliant.

Try a spot of guitar playing, I bought my son one when he was 4, he’s played about a bit with it but wants to get a bit more into it now (he’s 6 now) He’ll be miles better than I’ll ever be if he keeps it up as he’s had a 15 year headstart on me. We “jam” for half an hour every couple of days combined with a few exercises from his book.

As above, Lego’s always a good one 🙂

Indoor climbing.
I can’t wait to start with mini-chojin!
A shame he’s only 3 months old 🙂

A 4yr old doing Yoga. Brilliant.

Quite popular I believe.

But you’re right, it’s not as good as your suggestion. Oh, hang on….

Slot Machines? Betting Shops? Horse Racing? Tattoos?

So much to do.

What about swimming? It’s a great form exercise, a useful skill to learn at that age (if not already a swimmer) and you can just go and have fun.

I think 4 is a little too young for any martial art, we get a lot of kids between 4-6 start and they don’t tend to last too long as I think they find it quite hard to learn. The kids that start at 8+ they seem to enjoy it a lot more.
If you do fancy that though be careful to chose your club wisely, there are a lot of clubs out there that push the kids through gradings and you’ll be constantly paying out fees.

A 4yr old doing Yoga. Brilliant.

My niece loves it. She hardly ever stays still for more than 2 minutes but my OH taught her some simple Yoga and she does it for half an hour easily.

The longest she’s ever been quiet 🙂