wanna share boredom busters?

[elizawill]

today my kids have been arguing a little bit and i'm a little stir crazy myself. my husband has the car (we left my car at church sunday & i'm regretting that) & well....we're poor until payday so i was trying to think of something fun for us to do. i decided to make a huge batch of silly putty (borax, water, elmer's glue). they've been playing with it in harmony now for almost an hour. i'd love to get more boredom buster ideas for my kids. i'd love it if you'd share some inexpensive or free boredom busters that you love. i'm not talking about summer movies for a dollar, library book club...i know about that stuff. i'd more-so like some fun craft & game ideas please! thanks so much!

[momtokea]

Right now my son is playing with Goop. Cornstarch and water mixed together. You can also add a bit of food coloring to tint it if you want (but not too much!) I recommend doing this one outside as it can get a bit messy.

[LuxPerpetua]

We do the same as above but call it "EWWW Yuck" and we often do it in our bathroom sink.

We have a chin-up bar on our doorframe that's a hit. Today, dd made a swing out of yarn for it. She loves to climb and swing on it.

Have you ever done wet-on-wet painting? It's a Waldorf technique and is very fun, especially if you come up with a story while painting.

Popsicle puppets. Print out pictures from the internet, cut out, laminate with packing tape. Glue onto popsicle sticks and throw a blanket over a table and, voila, puppet show.

Lots of acrylic felt, scissors, and hotglue for making finger puppets, play food, hand puppets . . . whatever you can think of.

Flashlight hide-and-seek.

Bake something or come up with your own recipes.

Skate in the bathtub on shaving cream.

Sprinkler or some sort of tub water play outside (I've used Rubbermaid plastic bins for this). Pretend you're going to the beach and have a picnic lunch, too.

[Savoir Faire]

Well...it was 110 degrees here today. No outside time.

I fell asleep due to the heat and my children entertained themselves by finding all the leftover chocolate and marshmallows from camping and eating them.

Does that count?

[meetoo]

We made a play the other day then almost got to the puppets to act it out but it ended in a ER trip.....Would have been a lot of fun. I typed up the play from the kids dictation. this would be very cool if you video tape it. My kids love when I tape them doing things then you can pop popcorn and kill time watching it too.

My oldest is very into Draw write now books or the Ed Emberly how to draw books. She got some craft kits for her birthday that have been hits too. (are you seeing a theme here?

Baths are always a huge hit here when they are bored.

I used to have the funniest link about Lazy moms boredom busters... something like that, it was a riot.

Give them chores to do every time they tell you they are bored/fight
send them to the neighbors.....

[Theoretica]

One of our favorites is a squirt of paint into an empty playdough can, 3 squirts of hand soap, a paintbrush, naked child, and a bathtub.

Works like a charm

[Jenelle]

Originally Posted by Savoir Faire

Well...it was 110 degrees here today. No outside time.

I fell asleep due to the heat and my children entertained themselves by finding all the leftover chocolate and marshmallows from camping and eating them.

Does that count?

I'll have to try that one!

[AAK]

Anything messy!

Actually, that is kinda true--if I let them hang a sheet outside or (if you have an unfinished room) and put diluted paint in spray bottles . . . or let them put the sheet on the ground and have paint pans there too and let them make a foot print creation--that is good messy stuff.

Recently though, I went to Michaels and bought a bunch of random art stuff that I normally don't have at home (you could probably fair as well with a scavenger hunt around the house). I bought some of the containers to decorate that are a buck, some cloth hats (one baseball, the other bucket style) and will let them paint with fabric paint, Some wooden girl/boy shapes that are connected to a stick. (like unfinished stick puppets). I plan on using that box of stuff when all else fails.

We also LOVE to paint/decorate rocks. Go find a rock, wash, and paint. I let them use acryilics for this since the rocks decorate our garden/porch/yard afterwards. Sometimes they make them into ladybugs or bumble bees, but often, they are just creative masterpieces.

My kids also do plays--but that is more of a daily thing. That and turning on some classical music (our digital piano has several songs built in) and making dances to them. Some were created years ago and they still perform them the same way (one is called the butterfly dance).

Another fun occasional one is with clay or playdoh. Before you give it to them, make a ball of clay/dough for each child and hide beads in them. Let them have a treasure hunt in the playdough and then use the bead to make a bracelet. (You don't have to use beads--anything small will work)

A measurement scavenger hunt (I like to send them hunting). Give child a ruler. Have a list of measurements. Like 1 inch, 4 inches, 8 inches, 2 feet, whatever. Have them find things around the house to put next to each listed measure. So they might find a calcuator that is 4 inches long.

Make those "find it" games yourself. Put rice or other grain in a clear container and hide lots of small objects in there too. Give the list and have them twist and turn the container until they find them.

Amy

[elizawill]

these are great ideas! thanks everyone. I'll definitely be doing the body painting at bathtime tonight; my kids will love that!!! today i am going to finger knit with them & i'm making a list of all your ideas to pull out for the weeks to come! thanks again!

[zeldamomma]

We just found Tinmanpress.com They've got interesting, downloadable worksheets and other activities for a reasonable cost. My kids love the "Listen Up" and "Takeaways" sheets they've done, and I'm thinking of getting the "WakerUppers" next. I think my kids might enjoy having them for times when they're stuck hanging out while a sibling is in class or whatever.

[bluebirdiemama]

great ideas!

the only one I can think of right now is letting them mix things together. I'll give my ds a big bowl, and measuring cups/spoons and some rice, beans, noodles, and other random things to mix together. Eventually water will get mixed into it, and that's interesting, letting it sit for a couple days and checking every so often to see if the items have changed being in the water.

Sometimes we do this with a little flour, brown sugar, flax seeds, raisins, etc.

[Carhootel]

well I have a younger kid - 16mo and this morning we found a cure for boredom by dumping a bunch of cheerios into a bowl and a muffin pan and letting him sort them/eat them/feed the dog

[dubatatamama]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but my kids love to fingerpaint with chocolate pudding! We also like to make puffy paint with glue and shaving cream-made some beautiful shamrocks last St. Patty's Day! Sometimes I let them pull a chair up to the kitchen sink and wash their plastic dishes. I'm sure I'll think of more later...

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by Theoretica

One of our favorites is a squirt of paint into an empty playdough can, 3 squirts of hand soap, a paintbrush, naked child, and a bathtub.

Works like a charm

oh my gosh... we did this today & LOVED it! i took a little dawn, paint & water and mixed it all together in paint cups. instead of taking a bath though, i put them outside in their bathing suits with paint brushes. i had the hose nearby if/when needed, lol. they painted their bodies & had a blast! (i just said no faces since the dawn would hurt their eyes). i also took AAK's advice and laid a huge white sheet on the grass. they tie dyed it with the paints. i plan to let them do the bottom sheet and pillow cases too tomorrow. my son also did a t-shirt! they had so much fun! i wish i had my camera here to share!!

anyway, thanks for the awesome ideas. i can't wait to try more of them!

[SundayCrepes]

I let them play outside with a can of shaving cream.

Applesauce and food coloring "paints."

This thread really makes me appreciate my son. He has never said he is bored. I guess mainly because he's such a bookworm that if he can't find something else to do he reads.