What did you like when you were child

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I am the parent of a 4 year old with classic autism (almost non verbal for now). I am always trying to keep my son amused and play games for fun. So far we play lots of tickle games. He likes loud noises as a surprise. He loves acting silly but I sometimes run out of ideas.

Does anyone remember anything that from childhood that stood out as a lot of fun. Preferably something that they would do with their parents?

I'm sorry, but I've never understood questions like this. I used to be asked the same when I worked in a record shop. Parents would come in and ask "what sort of music would my son like?". Obviously, I had no idea... he was their son and not mine. When I was a child I hated loud noises, surprises (why the hell people like unexpected events beats the hell out of me) and tickling left me with years of misery and nightmares. In other words, we're all different. It would be like asking me "what sort of hobby should I take up?". Yes, I may get lucky and suggest something suitable. On the other hand I may suggest something that you really hate and upsets you.

I have two children. My NT daughter used to like playing dress-up with makeup and everything and my AS son was quite happy left to their own devices to draw, paint and read. As for myself, I don't remember much from when I was really young, but I do know that I was very much like my son and I enjoyed being left alone.

If your son likes noise and surprises have you though about taking him to a football match? I would have hated it but he my like it.

Personally, I loved sitting in a tent.

I don't have classic autism, but as a child I remember loving to play traditional games with my mum like Scrabble, creating the words never seemed the main point back then, I remember I just loved it because I could shake the letter bag for the noise.

Have you tried taking him to a toy store, or watching what he likes at a daycare? My parents avoided me as much as possible, but my imagination had been fired by my mother's reading of "The Ship that Flew" so I soon turned into a reader like my mother. They were both terrible teachers, unaware of stages of normal child development, but I watched my father make things and tried to imitate him, although the mirror neurons were not very active, so I only knew that the beginning and end were linked by something. I also spent a lot of time with Meccano, and would have loved more battery powered toys if rechargeables had been available. I started kindergarten late in my fourth year, and my only other recall from the pre-literate era was making "cake batter" from sawdust and mud, and asking my mother to bake it for supper. She chased me out of the kitchen, but it turned out fine. Oh, yes, I'd also made a rather good model of a paddle wheel steamer from a raisin box. I became the family gift-wrapper and brass polisher quite early.
I started "reading" the newspaper when I could only understand the funny pictures, and to this day, I wonder why Albert the Alligator in Pogo was carrying an alarm clock on his head. When finally learning to read, I was rather slow until one day when we were reading aloud by turns, and I got stuck trying to pronounce a soft "c" on "can." Maybe the embarrassment spurred more focus, but after that, I required, and got, very little notice from the teachers, either.

Two things were a constant in my life: books and animals, especially cats. Music has always been big in my life since I could remember as well.

Special interests have always been my STRONGEST autistic trait. Today it's exotic animal veterinary medicine; but my special interests have ALWAYS been animal related. I've never had a special interest that wasn't animal related.

I loved camping out with my family, and also video games, just like I am today.

I wasn't diagnosed until adulthood (40's) but I loved maps. I would look at maps for hours. Also, the phone book.

I liked it when my dad brought me old bits of machines. I had a little box of tools and would try taking the things apart and putting them back together. My own son, who is 9 and also on the spectrum, loves anything Lego.

At that age I liked playing with toy trucks, tractors, etc. Either on the floor, on a bedspread, or outside in dirt or sand. And it was better when someone older, a big brother in my case, did it with me.

I have classic autism and was diagnosed before I turned 3. I have always liked my dad taking me places. I've always liked having stories read to me. Ive always liked that he has always chatted with me in ordinary way like I was an regular person, even though I'm withdrawn and nonvnonverbal. Like most little kids, especially autistic ones, I loved repetition. Still do. Mostly though I have always liked doing stuff by myself.

My son loved books, still does. We have about 200 kids books. I would read to him constantly. He likes to go to the library too. He likes trucks of all sorts. For a while he liked watching YouTube videos of people playing with toys. Then he would play the same way. But he became very materialistic so I quit letting him watch those. He likes movies. Maybe these things are beyond your child, idk. My son is 6 now and high functioning. He can read and talk, etc but I think most kids like being read to.

Does he like the park? Swings?
Maybe mixing a cake mix or making cookies. My son likes to cook with me. Focus on what he can do. Sing songs and make everything you do fun.

At the age of 4 I loved being tickled, playing my own imaginative games, daydreaming and going exploring. I also loved being read to, and I was preoccupied with vehicles, particularly cars, boats and trains since I saw them the most, and I was very excited when an ambulance chopper landed nearby. I liked jumping with helium balloons (pretending I flew with them) and play fighting. My toys (plushies, cars, some dolls) and picture books were important to me.

Ahh, yes. Memory returns. I also liked sandbox roadways, and would have liked a lever-operated mechanical shovel very much. I was fascinated with a toy roller coaster, but never asked for one. I liked my pedal car, even though I had no pavement for it. I used to disassemble and re-assemble my pressed steel toy cars 'till the tabs broke off. Overall, I disassembled more things than I re-assembled. Breaking things is how I learned how to not break things as I worked on them later. My first plastic toy car lasted one afternoon.

I used to run, I liked to play video games and watching movies