4 year old obsessed with plugs and fans

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I have a 4 year old on the spectrum who is super into playing with and looking at fans and plugs. During the week, he goes to school and therapy, so he plays with them less. But the weekend is full of plugging and unplugging for hours at a time. We have made some effort to introduce circuit boards and airplane engines, in an effort to help focus this interest - with a little success.

I am hoping for your thoughts as a community about whether or not I'm approaching this the best way. What are your thoughts?

TiA!

Well he is 4 circuit boards and airplane engines may be a little advanced for him. Maybe something a little simpler that is related would work better. That said I don't see how it hurts anything if that is what entertains him, also its possible even without any intervention he'll get a bit burnt out on that and move to other activities as well.

Playing with plugs, and electrical outlets may not be totally safe for a four year old.

I like the idea of weaning him from electrical fans to propeller airplanes. I dug planes when I was a kid, and could get mesmerized by their spinning props.

You might get him interesting in building models of vintage propeller airplanes. Like from WWII.

Get him to dig airplanes first, before introducing him to plane engines.

Will he watch videos or does he need the experience of spinning/unplugging himself? If videos will work, I would make videos of spinning and plugging/unplugging stuff. If he need the actual experience, you can probably find kid safe toys with propellers and wheels and the like. The plugging/unplugging may be trickier to find.

When I was a little boy, I bent a thick wire into U shape and stuck it into the two holes of a power outlet. It was a different country and somehow the fuse/circuit breaker system did not work. I caused a short-circuit. It felt like an explosion... sparks and smoke came out, leaving a visible black trail on the wall where the wires melted. I basically could have burned down the house. Startled as I was, I nonetheless develop a huge interest about electricity and electronics. I built my own radio transmitter around age 10 and operated my own underground radio station, also handled all the corrosive chemicals for printed circuit boards (which I hand drew). I later got an Electrical Engineering degree plus a PhD in physics.

I vowed not to let the same accident happen to my children. I can't tell you how I did it, as most people obviously are not familiar with working with circuit components. But, I spent over $100 US dollars to build a device with plugs, with voltage designed to cause shock but no harm/trauma to little children. My children learned about the danger of electricity early on. (I did have to give them a "refresher" training when they were a bit older, ha ha). I won't reply to any inquiries on this matter, as this is obviously not the recommended path for other parents. Your best bet is still to child-proof all your outlets.

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I started with snap circuit sets for my children very early, I guess my daughter was 5 and my son was 3. However, my son was not able to understand the idea of electronic circuits. So, for a long time he didn't really play with circuits. What made a change was his interest in elevators. He started to get fascinated with elevators. So I started to take him out for elevator rides. Also, I found some dirt-cheap pushbutton switches in an electronic store. (Amazon also carries them). My son loved to press those buttons, so I glued pushbutton switches to small pieces of cardboards, and mounted them next to doors. This way, my son could pretend-play elevator rides at home. Once he understood the pushbutton switches, he then quickly devloped interest in snap circuits. I have also made more traditional breadboard-mounted circuits for him, and made a few animation video clips for him as well. https://youtu.be/EvZ1KeG2UvQ

My suggestion is to introduce elevators to your son. Look up DieselDucy on the web or YouTube. You can teach your son tons of skills from there. For instance, you can convert any of your doors or closets into elevators for pretend playing. When my son pressed the dummy fake button in the walk-in closet, I would slide the door closed, and then lift him up with my arms to simulate elevator motion. My father-in-law built a toy model home with an elevator for my son, which had a pulley system so you could actually move the elevator up and down. My son is now 8 years old, but I still go out with him to elevator rides. My son learned to talk, to write, to draw, to type, to do math (see https://youtu.be/VxIJAxlsfYY) to play with building block toys, to assemble electronic circuits, to write computer programs, to eliminate some sensory and rigidity issues, to start conversation with strangers, and even to write some Chinese characters... all that, from elevators. In my experience, over 50% of autistic children are obsessed with elevators. And it's not just boys. I also knew a little girl (super-smart) that loved elevators. Elevator rides are also good for gross motor skills: at the peak of my son's obsession, he could spent 2~3 hours running in shopping malls checking out every single elevator.

Thanks for everyone's perspective - really helpful!

Take care!!

Have you thought about introducing a bicycle?
Or, as has been said, toy prop planes?
Maybe a small fan powered by a couple of AA batteries.
I had a small solar panel kit when I was young, would power a little lightbulb or a small electric motor, like for a toy car.