It’s Sunday morning at 10:15 a.m. and a Mom’s favorite sentence comes out of your child’s mouth, “Mom, I’m bored. There’s nothing to do.” This is when you mentally calculate the number of hours left in the day and realize it’s time to rally, dig into your bag of mom tricks and present some options. If your kids are like mine, saying “how about you find a toy to play with or a book to read” won’t cut it when they’ve come to you with the “b-word.” They’re looking for you to have a fabulous idea.
Here are 10 of my go-to boredom busters:
How to Beat Boredom: 10 Fun Activities for Kids
- A roll of butcher block paper. Unroll as many feet as you want, put some markers out and creative art will happen for hours.
- Water beads – if you don’t know what they are, look them up! My kids will play with them endlessly.
- Make an obstacle course – either inside or out.
- Drawing with dry erase markers on a full length mirror is never-ending fun.
- Play dress up. We keep a few outfits upstairs, but the bulk of our dress-up items I keep in the basement and are met with excitement every time I bring them up.
- Have a dance party. Find some dance tunes on Pandora and turn it UP.
- Fill the sink with soapy water and let them wash their toys.
- Go for a walk around the block – or simply go outside. For my kids, a change of scenery usually changes their moods.
- With two sleeves of plastic cups, your kids can build castles and towers and more.
- Play a hiding game. Our favorite is to cut out 20 hearts. Then we take turns hiding them all around the house for the other person to find. This is an activity that works for all ages – just change how easy or difficult they are to spot.
