Summer Boredom Busters

It’s one of those days; you’ve already been to the park, the pool and the library this week. Now you just want a day at home. But within the hour, the kids come to you with the age-old complaint that tries parents’ souls: “I’m bored!” Be ready with these ideas when the inevitable happens.

Have sidewalk chalk fun

Draw a winding path with sidewalk chalk on the driveway, sidewalk or patio with arrows drawn in to point the way. At every few feet, draw in a cage or habitat and add a stuffed animal. Have kids walk, ride a scooter or trike along the path, stopping at each habitat and acting out the animal inside. For example, at the Teddy Bear: do a bear walk, at the stuffed rabbit: hop like a bunny, at the lion: roar!

Get out the sidewalk chalk and create a masterpiece! Help the kids choose a theme and then work together to draw a scene on the sidewalk. Try a jungle, ocean or garden theme. Go big and cover a large area. Be sure to snap a picture when it is finished to preserve the memory. Note: If children are drawing on a driveway or other area which is shared with cars, be sure to keep a close eye on the kids and keep them safe from cars.

Blow some bubbles

Pick up various types of bubble-blowing paraphernalia at the local dollar or drug store. If your children are too young to blow bubbles, then a battery operated bubble blower can give a tired parent a break. Turn the kids loose in the backyard to make bubbles of all different sizes. Be ready to stand by with refills by mixing up a batch of homemade bubble solution.

Mommy’s Magic Bubbles

• 1/2  cup liquid dish soap
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon liquid glycerin (available at pharmacies)

The bubble recipe will work without the glycerin, but it gives the bubbles strength.

Make a cereal box city

This project can be done inside or out. Build a city from the contents of your recycle bin. Take clean boxes and cans and cover them with construction paper. Then, let the kids draw doors, windows and other details onto the buildings with markers. Add character to your city by cutting  out pictures of people from old magazines and glue onto the windows of the buildings with a glue stick. Then set up your city, and play in it with dolls, cars, or stuffed animals.

Construct a scrapbook

Gather a few pictures of a family event such as a vacation or trip to the zoo. Take several pieces of colored construction paper, and using a three-hole-punch, make holes along the left, vertical side. Give kids safety scissors and a glue stick and let them paste photos onto the paper to tell a story in pictures about the event. They can embellish their pages with whatever you have on hand, such as stickers, glitter, markers or crayons. When they finish with the scrapbook, stack the pages so that the holes line up and tie ribbon or yarn through the holes to make a little book.

Do a backyard scavenger hunt

Give each kid a small paper bag and a list of things to find outside. For example: a pinecone, a leaf, and other things they can find in the backyard.

Put on a sock puppet show

Grab a few old socks and let the kids make sock puppets. The puppets can be as elaborate or as basic as you like. You could just let the kids draw features on the socks with markers or go big and add yarn for hair, button eyes, and even clothes made of felt. Once the puppets are created, put on a puppet show. Drape a big blanket or sheet over a card table so that the sheet covers the table completely and touches the floor in the front. The kids can then crouch  down behind  the table, using the underneath as a staging area, and holding the puppets up above the tabletop to put on a show in their makeshift puppet theater.

Build a fort city

Gather the dining room chairs in an open area and drape with lots of blankets and sheets to make one giant fort or several smaller ones. Bring in flashlights and play a game of Go Fish or have story time inside your creation.