It's summer here. Aside from the 90F temps, it's been raining every day this week. We've been doing kid crafts and other indoor activities. Can you say cabin fever? Can you say stir crazy? How many more days until school starts? We needed some boredom busters - STAT! The kids are constantly telling me that they are bored. I finally heard that little statement enough and fixed them with "I'm Bored Jars". What do you do to entertain the kids when they are bored? I am open for any and all suggestions!
Ha - I'm a nasty mom! I tell my kids that is a "you" problem and not an "us" problem and that I'm not an entertainment director. Then I say if they can't find anything to do I'll give them stuff to do - weeding, mowing the grass, cleaning the playroom, putting away the laundry, etc. They always find something else to do, lol!
I'm with Lori, but my kids are much older (12 and 15). Rachel Young posted this on FB and I thought it was cute... http://princesspinkygirl.com/backyard-hacks/
Yeah, I am also like Lori, when they say they are bored, I always tell them I am sorry, but I have lots of activities that they are welcome to do if they can't find anything else to do. (i.e. scrubbing baseboards, pulling weeds, etc.) I like Lori's "that's a 'you' problem and not an 'us' problem" phrase too!
Ooh, I'm going to have to use that one!! I've got 4 and I love them dearly, but next week three of the four are leaving for summer camp and the other is working and going to school anyway...so it's almost kids-free for a whole week! It's going to be bliss around here... they will have a blast and for me the perfect amount of quiet to recharge and miss them
Nothing like a good recharge! My kids and hubby have been gone for two days, leaving later to meet up with them, but it's been soooo nice to have this break.
Mean mom award! I have stacks of timed math sheets 100 problems on each page. My 5 year old, he has mastered his +1s, +2s and almost on +3s...bhhahah
Trista - that is such a fun blog post!! Love everyone else's suggestions too - I found a sheet that uses an acronym for bored for something for them to go do: B - Be creative O - Outside play R - Read a book E - Exercise D - Do something helpful
Yep, totally put mine to work when they say they're bored. However, sometimes giving them a solid chunk of your attention resets their own creativity. I also read out loud to my kids (even though they're 7 and 10), we play Board games, they write a paragraph summary very time they finish a book, they're both enrolled in an online summer math program, we do the $1 summer movies. Summer can be long!
I love all of these ideas! I've made this chalk sidewalk paint recipe with my kids. Easy to make and fun to use. It's always a hit.
My children are still at the age that a little supervision is needed when it comes to entertainment and activities. I do throw in chores when the I'm bored starts getting tossed around. Danielle, I like the acronym idea. All of those activities are in their jars. That sure is a clever use of the name of the jar. Laura, the chalk paint is pinned on our board and on our to do list for next week. My kids are chalkies, and our driveway is their canvas, so this should be a hit.
LOVE that acronym for Bored. I'm so going to use that!!! Also, I think it's okay for them to be bored and then get creative with how they're going to solve that problem for themselves. I homeschool, so they're technically with me all the time, but the time we take off in the summer gets hard because it's unstructured and I'm not working too hard on making it structured because I need a break myself. We're trying to do some playdates with friends, trips to get frozen yogurt, summer movies, etc. I just made this using Just Jaimee's Storyteller 2014...thanks for the idea!
another vote for the acronym, lol. I have asked my kids repeatedly if they've read or played outside if they tell me they are bored! They are all 10+ though!
Haha, this is fun! I have not yet heard this phrase, yay! Mine are 5 and 3 and they keep each other busy (and me). Keep filling this thread please, I'll be watching and taking notes!
That acronym is awesome! I'm glad I'm not the only "mean" mom. My kids are generally really good about entertaining themselves but they also learned early on that I don't believe in being bored. They never liked my suggestions LOL
That's no fun! Stuck inside on break, boo. Mine is 7 and I do the whole "I will find something for you to do and you will not like it" bit. She happily cleaned last time she came complaining of being bored! She must have been genuinely bored to *want* to dust and pick up toys LOL. Inside activities she likes...hmm, building forts is at the top of the list. Coloring, drawing, play doh and helping me bake are some other things we do. I love this quote from Louis CK on boredom for my teenager, not so applicable to the young kids. “I’m bored’ is a useless thing to say. I mean, you live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen none percent of. Even the inside of your own mind is endless; it goes on forever, inwardly, do you understand? The fact that you’re alive is amazing, so you don’t get to say ‘I’m bored.”
Mine are little, but I feel like we've constantly got something going on. I wish we were bored, lol!! The library is a fun free activity if you've got cabin fever. Mine are 2 and 7 and currently they're gymnastics obsessed! We've been taking full advantage of the open gym times at our gym. It's a reduced price and an unstructured time they can bounce themselves silly on trampolines! You might see if there's something like that near you.
Hahaha...I tell my kids that only boring kids get bored. I'm with the "go read a book, go play outside" crowd. We just moved to a new neighbourhood, so I told them that they had to go outside and make new friends. But my kiddos are gone with their dad for the summer...7 1/2 weeks without them. It's a long long time...gonna miss them so much!!