When the weather cools off or the rain sets in, you’ll be inundated with that infamous chorus of, “We’re bored!” Thanks to CJ, JumpStart’s imaginative and adventurous amphibian, your house can become an exciting estate where the indoor adventures never end. Even on what seem like the dullest of days, CJ can come to the rescue with adventures that are bound to bust your kids’ boredom. Let his ideas transform your home into the world’s best adventure playground.
To kick things off, help your kids decorate an old shoe box to serve as your “Bored Box.” Whenever you come across an adventurous idea, jot it down on a slip of paper and place it in the Bored Box. When you sense the boredom blues are setting in, just send the kids running to the box to select a cure. Use CJ’s suggestions to get your collection of fun activity ideas started!
1. Carpet Hopscotch
Using masking tape on your carpet (or chalk on your concrete basement floor), help your kids create an indoor hopscotch course. Use a bean bag as a place marker and hop your way out of boredom.
2. Indoor Picnic
Add a new flavor to lunchtime with a picnic in the living room! Pack up your picnic basket, spread out your red-checkered blanket, have a seat, and enjoy an out of the ordinary lunch. Spice up lunch even more by using cookie cutters to cut sandwiches into fun shapes or serve summer favorites like ants on a log (celery topped with peanut butter and raisins).
3. No Sand SandBox
Too cold or wet for the sandbox? Bring sandbox fun inside with this not-so-sandy substitute. Start with a large plastic storage tub with a lid. Fill the tub halfway with rice, flax seed, or oats. Place the tub on a surface that is easy to sweep. Outfit the kids with large spoons, measuring cups and other kitchen items and let them scoop, shovel and stir their way out of boredom. Clean up is a cinch, simply close up the tub and sweep. No sandy shoes, hair, or pockets.
Hint: Flax seed can be purchased at a health food store in large 20 pound bags. Rice, however, is half the price. Oatmeal is fun, but a bit messier and may cause your floor to get a bit slippery. Rotate the filling now and then, to add to the exploration and keep things sanitary.
4. Tin Can Stilts
Transform old tin cans like coffee cans or tuna cans into stellar stilts for hours of entertainment. Prepare the can stilts for your kids. Turn the cans upside down so that the open end is touching the ground. Then, use a drill or awl to make two holes in each can, one on each side. String a piece of rope through the holes, and tie off the ends inside the can. This will create a loop for your kids to hold onto. Now your kids can climb up and give them a try.
Hint: The rope loop may need to be adjusted to fit your child. Waist-height usually works best. For more fun, encourage your kids to customize the stilts with stickers or other decorations.
5. What’s in the Bag?
Often, it’s easy to forget we have five senses because we rely mostly on sight and sound to make it through day-to-day life. It’s important to develop all five of your child’s senses. Start this with a simple cloth sack or an old (make sure it’s clean) tube sock, and add a variety of common household items (nothing with sharp edges!). Have your kids work together to guess what’s in the bag without looking. As they reach into the mysterious bag, kids will build vocabulary and language development by describing the object’s texture and shape and asking questions. How many objects can be identified without peeking inside?
6. Creature Creation
Have your kids draw three crazy monsters on three separate pieces of paper. Be sure each creature fills the entire page, lengthwise. After making the character or animal brilliant with color, cut the animals up into three segments (head, body, and legs/tail) each. Now, trade pieces between kids and you’ve created a completely new creature. Your kids can name their creature and then rearrange body parts for even more creature possibilities.
7. Obstacle Course
Over the blanket, and through the hula hoop, to the finish line they’ll go! Using toys and other items around the house, your kids can easily create an obstacle course to burn off energy and blast away boredom. Racing one another or beating the clock, there’s no wrong way to create a course!
8. Homemade Bubbles
Bubbles can blast away boredom in no time, especially when you and your kids can work together to make them in your own kitchen.
You’ll Need:
- A shallow pan
- « cup Liquid dishwashing Soap (Dawn or Joy work best)
- 2 cups of water
- 3 tsp Glycerin (available at pharmacies) or corn syrup
- Pipe cleaners or wire coat hanger
Combine the glycerin and water. Pour in the dishwashing soap. The best bubbles come after the solution sits for at least four hours. Store it in covered jars. When you’re ready for bubble time, pour the solution into shallow pans for easy dipping. Bubble wands can be made by twisting pipe cleaners and coat hangers into circles, squares or any closed shape. Don’t forget the handle! You can also use cookie cutters or other kitchen items to build your bubble blowers. Simply dip the wand into the solution and gently wave your arm through the air. The bigger the wand opening, the bigger the bubble will be. Be sure to bend sharp edges of the wand back so they do not make contact with the opening. Have a blast and keep the kitchen clean with this soapy solution for fun!
9. Not-So-Badminton
Create an indoor badminton court by arranging cereal boxes in a line across the center of your kitchen table. Next, make rackets by taping a pencil securely to the back of a paper plate. Have one player sit on either side of the table and take turns serving a ping-pong ball by hitting it over the cereal “net”. The object is to hit the ball back and forth over the “net” without allowing it to touch the table. If the ball hits your side of the table, you lose the point. If you cannot reach the ball without standing up, it is out of bounds and you win the point.
10. Indoor Camping
Never underestimate the power of a few blankets for a surefire way to delete dreary days. Build your kids’ imaginations while building a fort out of furniture and a few blankets or sheets. Your kids will be so engrossed in exploring their new land, they’ll forget all about the tiresome boredom blues.
Encouraging your kids to entertain themselves is not always an easy task. However, with CJ’s simple and easy cures for the boredom blues, you may never hear the words “I’m bored” again!
Filed under: Learning Tips Tagged: | crafts, family activities, fighting boredom, food
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