The Bored Box {Ideas for Curing Summer Boredom}

Now that summer break is more than half over, most kids are probably running out of things to do every day. If you're committed to keeping the t.v. off, like I am, you need to have a plan when you hear your kids whine, "I'm bo-ored!"

One quick and easy way to help your kids stop complaining is to create a Bored Box.

Have the kids sit down with some notecards and write one activity on each card that they like to do. Help them come up with as many ideas as possible, writing down everything that they do on their own, with siblings, with friends and with the whole family. Think about things to do inside, outside, places to go that are nearby and some that require some planning. Put them all in there to draw from later.

Then, next time you hear, "I'm bored," direct the kids to the Bored Box.

Some ideas from our {Pre-School} Bored Box include:

- board games (not to be confused with bored games)
- puzzles
- hide and seek
- duck, duck goose
- freeze tag
- building a fort
- tea parties
- play house
- play school
- dress up
- indoor dance party (or freeze dance)
- build a race track
- color
- paint
- play doh
- Mr. Potato Head
- Princess color forms
- bake with Mom
- swim/run through the sprinklers
- sidewalk chalk
- blow bubbles
- jumping rope
- hoola hoops
- sidewalk painting with water (all you need is a bucket and a brush)
- go to the park
- feed the ducks at a nearby pond
- ride bikes
- kick around the soccer ball
- play at the mall play place
- visit the animals at the pet store

My type-A personality wants to take it a step further and separate the ideas into categories like "rainy day activities," "backyard activites," things like that...but I haven't done that. Yet. Actually, I guess I did that when I wrote the all-inclusive Pre-school Activities post, when I was anticipating Jason's arrival. Check that out for even more tv-free fun.

Another idea is to scour the clearance bins at craft stores. This is something I just started doing. I'm going to keep a stash of craft kits available for "rainy day" activities.

I recently found a set of two ceramic figurines with paint and a brush for $.49. I picked up a couple of them (I wish I would have grabbed more) and they occupied my kids for over an hour last week.


What are some things that would be in your Bored Box???