Bored is good. Downtime is good. It inspires creativity and imagination and lowers kids’ expectations of being constantly amused. As grown-ups, our job is not to be the entertainment committee. We can say, “Wow. I wonder how you are going to handle being bored.”
There are whiteboard ideas making their way around Facebook and Pinterest. When kids say, “I’m bored,” these lists ask them--
Have you . . .
Been outside?
Opened a book?
Ridden your bike?
Exercised?
Done something helpful?
If they cruise through that list in an hour, here are 16 other ideas to share with kids. Don’t offer them all at once, though. Suggest one or two, then always make the third option a chore to pitch in around the house. (If they don’t like any option, being bored has then become their choice. It’s their problem, not yours.)
1. Write a letter or put together a care package for someone in the military.
2. Make a collage from this past year. (Let them print out photos and hang the finished products in their rooms.)
3. See how many unusual items can be made into percussion instruments. (Search YouTube for STOMP to get their creative juices flowing. Then listen to their concert.)
4. Create an elaborate scavenger hunt. (Then take ten minutes to go do it with them.)
5. Carve something out of inexpensive bars of soap. (As a bonus, they might be more willing to use soap in the bath later that day.)
6. Write a joke book.
7. Get some boxes and build a fort.
8. Write Grandma or Grandpa a letter.
9. Be creative with fabric paint or markers and inexpensive T-shirts.
10. Create a photo album. Take pictures of clouds, flowers, blades of grass, rocks, bugs, a playground.
11. Open a “restaurant” in your kitchen. Create a menu and serve a meal.
12. Write down five things you love about each person in your family and exchange lists.
13. Put shaving cream on an outdoor table and design with it.
14. Create your own board game.
15. Take a walk.
16. Create a bucket list.
