He hardly has any Lego at BF's place - it's all at other houses... We asked him if he'd "like to bring some Lego over to be able to build at Dad's too?" and he seemed unenthused "I like to build but I don't want to just do more Legos"
That's why we're thinking K'Nex - anyone know of other similar toys that we could take a look at?

I thought of the knex too... but it did not keep the attention the way I thought it would. I think I thought it was cooler than they did. The legos have the same thing.. small amounts of attention grabbing BIG mess.

As far as the mp3 player ... I have found periodically mp3 players for as little as 15 - 20 bucks which makes it much less steep. I would try and find one like that and go with the earning it with chores. But, I would make it extra chores.. things outside of what he normally should be doing. Like if he doesnt take out the trash or sweep the floor or clean the bathroom...even cleaning the car. To me, chores are part of being apart of the family so everyone does their share...it's when you do the extra stuff that earns you things.

and there are always the crafty things like making wax leaves, decorating pine cones, finger painting is a good outdoor activity (at least for me since I don't like the mess on the hard wood floor), we also have done random things like go to the store and bought material to make costumes for like star wars... the girls were leia and then we had luke and obi wan.

and there is always a holiday to make things for like valentines day coming up and easter... there are websites for teachers and people like that that have a million ideas.. just search creative kids and creative holiday crafts and there are about a million different websites.

as far as drawing stencils and stickers are a good starting point for them... make a place for barbie sticker to stick ie big castle is drawn with fairies to bring her cupcakes and so on. or dinosaur is sleeping in its nest with eggs blah blah blah it works fairly well.

Ooh - I like the stickers idea... He likes to draw backgrounds, but seems to think he doesn't draw well enough to draw the main thing in the picture... Maybe I'll look for some stickers of things he likes - dinosaurs, spaceships, bugs (but not spiders because he hates them), medieval weaponry, soccer players, fantasy creatures like orks and ogres - and then he can draw a scene to put the sticker in.

Did you have a book of K'nex projects? That sort of thing seems to really get A__ excited - he likes the Lego kits that make a specific car or monster better than freestyle building. So we thought we'd get a book along with it.
Hmm, thinking of it now - I wonder if he would like model cars or airplanes and that sort of thing. Maybe we should ask him or get an inexpensive one to try out.

We thought he might like egg decorating at Easter... And we'll keep outdoor finger painting in mind for summer!

I'll keep my eyes peeled for a cheap mp3 player.... The thing I'm torn on though - if he earns the mp3 player by doing extra chores at BF's, it is reasonable to say "This stays HERE" for something that technically belongs to him? I know asking this might be a can of worms in this crowd...

When I was young, my dad got me a model rocket to build with him, and then you can take it to an open field somewhere and blast it off. At first I was thinking, "Did he want another boy?" But it turned out to be great fun, and we ended up making several of them, and it's just my opinion, but it was way more fun than model cars!!

(Definitely an adult-supervised project though, since model rockets are set off with mild explosives!!)

as far as the knex and legos (we did the same thing with those) I think it was too much detail for em... oh well

i think this was brought up along with the clothes... but toys bought by us stay at our house..including ss ipod and their cd players and such. At least until they get older and I can make them more responsible for the stuff without any sort of parental supervision... and even then when it gets left behind 'someone' else ends up messing with it and it gets broken or lost so... right now what we buy stays at our house... it sucks but there just isnt another way in our situation until they are all older.

"The thing I'm torn on though - if he earns the mp3 player by doing extra chores at BF's, it is reasonable to say "This stays HERE" for something that technically belongs to him? I know asking this might be a can of worms in this crowd..."

How about BF gets an inexpensive MP3 player for 'himself' that A_ can earn the right to use by doing small things around the house? That way, the 'rental' payment tasks are small and continuous, and ownership isn't in question, making MP3 residence and care your rightful domain.

Wow, Sweeby is soooo smart!! I would have never thought up the rental idea for the ipod!! I'm going to try that with our children in regards to easily lost or broken, yet more expensive items!!

I have 2 boys (1ss and 1bioson) that have lots of energy. Neither has been diagnosed with adhd, but we really have been thinking that the older boy may have adhd based on a lot of his behaviors at school. Anyways, because they are both so active we have had to think of different activities to keep them busy.

I forget how old A is, but my boys love playing with Magnetix! We got them for them for Christmas and they loved them! We got a good deal on one of the after Thanksgiving sales, I am not sure where to find them inexpensive regularly.

Also, my son got a kit a few years back for a model car that was already put together but there were mini screwdrivers and different wheels and doors that he could change on the car.

We recently got the monopoly game that comes with the calculator machine and credit cards instead of the money. Our boys love playing that because now they do not have to be "banker".