Summer. When school ends, the long days stretch before you full of endless possibilities for excitement and adventure. By mid-July, however, the excitement begins to wear off and you are already tired of hearing your kids say, “I’m bored.” Beat summer boredom, and help your kids stay active and entertained this summer with these tips and boredom busters.
Importance of Staying Active
Regular outdoor activity provides numerous benefits for kids, including helping maintain a healthy weight, reducing stress and boosting bone health and immunity. Childhood obesity is a growing problem, but encouraging kids to be active is part of the solution. Children need at least 60 minutes of vigorous and active play daily to stay healthy, and playing outside is a great way to meet this goal. Getting your whole family involved makes it more fun, and lets all of you take advantage of the benefits. It also helps your children learn to view physical activity as something fun, not as a chore, which encourages them to be more active. Here are a few ways to be active together as a family:
- Swim, play tag, toss a ball, dance or jump rope
- Go on a bike ride, walk the dog, go to the park or go on a jog
- Make your celebrations active by going on a hike, playing Frisbee or organizing a volleyball or soccer game
- Walk instead of driving to close destinations, or park at the far end of the parking lot and walk to the store
- Train together for a charity run or walk
Benefits of Boredom
Although it’s no fun to hear complaints about being bored all summer, there actually are benefits to letting kids be bored. Constantly having structured activities can be tiring and overwhelming, but unstructured time provides an opportunity to relax. In addition, boredom:
- Lets kids be kids
- Can inspire creativity
- Helps kids learn to do things themselves and become self-sufficient adults
- Helps children learn who they are and what they love to do
Beating Summer Boredom
Boredom has benefits, but helping your kids learn to beat boredom and have fun is also important. Creating a list of boredom busters is a great way to be ready for the mid-summer slump. Ask your children what activities they would like to do over the summer and see how many of them you can cross off their list. Or create a list of parent-approved activities for the kids to choose from. One fun way to do this is to write your boredom busters on color-coded popsicle sticks and place them in a jar. Then your kids can pull out a stick when they are bored.
Separate ideas into categories with your color-coded sticks like free, activities involving water, outdoors, easy, messy, activities involving food, family outings and activities requiring no parent supervision. Use the color-coding to limit the type of activities your children can choose depending on what you have going on and how much you are able to be involved in the activity.
Boredom Busters
To help you get started on your summer boredom busters list, we have gathered a number of activity ideas in a range of categories. You can personalize the list according to the age of your children, the needs of your family and your own preferences, but these ideas are a great place to begin!
Outdoor Activities
- Play in the sprinklers
- Wash the car
- Draw with chalk
- Have a water fight
- Jump rope
- Squirt gun battle
- Walk around the block
- Have a water balloon toss
- Plant a garden
- Make mud pies
- Learn new street games with friends
- Catch bugs and outdoor critters
- Play golf or croquet with balls and cups
- Make your dolls a mini zipline
Indoor Activities
- Bake cookies
- Make s’mores in the oven or microwave
- Have a bubble gum blowing contest
- Taste test new recipes
- Play a board game
- Make donuts
- Build a fort out of blankets and pillows
- Learn origami
- Make bracelets out of beads or buttons
- Read a book
- Make a time capsule
- Play hide and seek, charades or sardines
- Turn old t-shirts into necklaces or bracelets
- Make a movie with your phone or tablet
- Write a letter
- Play with Legos
- Build a skeleton out of popsicle sticks
- Paint faces
- Chess or checkers
- Interview your grandparents
- Learn to do new things
- Make a children’s book into a play
- Draw or color
- Plan and prepare a meal together
Free Outings
- Go to the library
- Walk or drive to the park
- Organize a photo scavenger hunt
- Go on a picnic
- Learn plant names and admire plants at a nursery
- Volunteer with a charitable organization
Inexpensive Outings
- Bowling
- Get ice cream cones
- Go roller skating
- Factory tours
- Shop at a bead shop, then make necklaces or bracelets
- Go berry picking
- Batting cages
- Zoo
- Aquarium
- Planetarium
- Visit the top tourist attractions in your town like a sightseer
Summer is a great time to relax and enjoy some unstructured play time. Give your kids the opportunity to get bored, but have some ideas handy to help your family stay active and have fun all summer long.
