Summertime Boredom Busters

I have to say that I always look forward to summer. It’s my absolute FAVORITE time of year. What’s not to love about warmer weather, going to the pool, beach trips, relaxed schedules and MORE? Seriously, summer rocks my world.

But, along with summer comes the inevitable — summer boredom creeps in on our kids. Frankly, this baffles me to the point of me thinking it’s a phenomenon because HOW can these children today be bored with three hundred thousand (give or take) things to do around our houses. Do they not realize that when we were kids, we were playing outside except for meals and sleep times? We won’t clue them in that we got bored too. We’ll just remind them of the fact that we had far less “stuff” and forget that we played hours of Super Mario on our sweet Nintendos.

So, when summer boredom inevitably strikes at your house, what do you do? I recently posted on Facebook that the two phrases I have come to dread the most this summer are “I’m telling” and “I’m bored.” I’m working on the tattling business – in other words, don’t tattle unless you are bleeding or on fire – and I have some creative ideas for the boredom issue. I’m happy to share some ideas and I’d love to get your ideas too. Please comment with your best boredom busters.

SUMMERTIME BOREDOM BUSTERS

• CHORES — The other day, our 7 year old complained to me that she was bored. Guess what? She learned to scrub toilets. No kidding. I put the “stuff” in the bowl and she scrubbed all three toilets in this house. Was she a fan? No. But, she learned a valuable life skill. Then, I kid y’all not, the little goober told me she was STILL bored. (insert jaw-dropping here) Are you kidding me? Okay. On to more chores. Guess what she learned to do next? She learned to clean baseboards. I gave her a spray bottle of cleaner and a rag and showed her how to clean the baseboards on the main level of our house. Another life skill learned. Check. Guess who wasn’t bored anymore? You know it was that sweet and sassy 7 year old. So, here’s the deal — don’t tell your kids, but create a list of chores they can do when they complain of being bored. Scrub toilets, clean baseboards, scoop kitty litter, sweep the deck, empty trash cans, fold towels, scrub the bath tub. I mean, the list is endless, let’s be honest.
• Make Oobleck – I had never heard of “oobleck” in my life until recently when a friend posted about it on Facebook. So, I got on Google and discovered what it was and how to make it. So, what is it? It’s a concoction of 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water. How do you make it? Mix the two together. I did 1 cup of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water. The wonder of oobleck is that it’s a solid when it’s in the container and when you hold it with any pressure. BUT, if you let it just sit in your hands, it gets liquidy. The girls’ minds were blown. This is some good fun, but it’s not very clean. So, do what I didn’t do and have them play with it outside. And, by all means, don’t put it down your drain unless you just want to put a plumber to work on your drains.
• Shaving Cream “War” –  Our girls recently had friends (who are sisters that are their ages) over for a play date and I let them have a shaving cream “war” on our trampoline AND we had the sprinkler going underneath the trampoline. I gave them each a can of good ole Barbasol and let them have at it. The only big rule was that no one could put shaving cream above anyone else’s shoulders. They were a little bit timid at first, but before long there were four girls giggling and covered in shaving cream. Good, clean fun that didn’t cost much at all.
• Crafts Bin – We have a craft bin at our house that has all sorts of things from Perler bead sets to markers to felt sheets to googly eyes to pipe cleaners and MORE. This is great to have, especially on rainy days.
• Geocaching – This is an activity that can be fun for the whole family. We got the official app and even though it was more than I would normally shell out for an app, I’ll be the first to say it was worth it. We’ve done one “big” family geocach and had a blast. We spent a Saturday going around our area looking for caches and at the end of the day the girls turned them in for prize packs. Geocaching opportunities are available all over the world, so check out the site and the app to see what’s in your area.

Of course, we have other activities to battle boredom too. We go to the pool, we go out for fro-yo, we have play dates and sleepovers, we hit up local parks and so forth. What are YOUR favorite ways to combat boredom?

Have a great summer,  y’all…
Kelly