Whether it’s the cold weather keeping you in or that lack of funds to go out and spend – these days it can be difficult to entertain yourself at home and not feel like you’re missing out on something! The reality is there are so many great opportunities to create memories or simply just increase your enjoyment within your home without breaking the bank and/or stepping outside your front door. Below are some really great ideas that you should add to a checklist and have you and/or your family mark them off! Ready, set, BUST THAT BOREDOM!
Boredom Busting for Children:
Art/Creativity Box
Gather all sorts of art supplies and stock up a basket for your children to explore different textiles and art supplies. This will allow their imagination to run wild as they glue, cut, color, and create their own masterpieces! A great way to keep these boxes exciting is to periodically add in new items from your local dollar store such as holiday themed stickers, a new stamp, or even just a new set of markers. Even if you normally have these supplies around the house, it’s fun for children to know this Creativity Box is just for them. Let them put it somewhere special and hype it up!
Indoor Scavenger Hunt
Another great way to switch things up is to create your own games! One of my favorites is to create an indoor scavenger hunt. Think ‘I Spy” but in flashcard form. There are many ways of doing this but here is a simple version: create one pile of flashcards with a color listed on it and one pile with a room on it (such as living room). Players will then draw a color, as well as a room selection, and they have 30 seconds to run to that room, find something in that room of the color they drew, and come back to ‘home base’ to report what they found. This game is great for the reason that it gets everyone up and moving around, as well as, allows your kids to create the game with you as a craft project (bonus!).
Create a Bordedom Jar
The minute you hear the dreaded whine of “Moooommmm I’m Bored…” your knee-jerk reaction can be to dip into the jar of boredom busters you, and your family, have written down and stuffed into your “Boredom Busting Jar.” You can choose from hundreds of lists on Pinterest such as “build a fort,” “have a dance party,” and so on. This is a great way to switch things up and get those creative juices flowing!
A few ideas to get you going:
- Read a book
- Watch a movie
- Make a gift for someone
- Make homemade bubbles
- Have a bubble bath
Make No-Bakes
Kids typically love to be in the kitchen. It’s a place that is usually run by the grownups and children are typically asked to stay out during cooking sessions. When the opportunity to enter the kitchen arises, your children will be thrilled to roll up their sleeves and get to mixing! I chose no-bakes as a great starter because they typically have only a few ingredients and no oven is required. An added bonus is that you can have your children work on counting out scoops or measurements/fractions depending on their age! Get into the culinary spirit by creating chef’s hats out of construction paper for some added fun.
Oaty Cereal Bars: No Bake
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup honey
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 3 cups toasted oat cereal
- 1 cup salted peanuts (Optional)
Grease a 9×13 inch pan. In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar and honey. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter until well blended. Stir in the cereal and if desired, stir in the salted peanuts. Press into the prepared pan. Allow to cool until firm, then cut into bars.
Become an Expert
Have your children choose something they’d like to learn more about. Whether it’s a specific animal, part of the world, or even a time in history. Once you’ve decided on the subject matter search youtube for some kid-friendly videos to kick off your research. Have the kids sit down with notebooks and encourage them to write down some key points they picked up on while watching the videos. If they are too young to write you can simply quiz them after the video and write these items down or draw pictures together as part of their research journaling. After that – look up a craft on Pinterest that can be done simply and let their creativity run wild!
Create an Indoor Obstacle Course
Use masking tape and items around your home to create an easy obstacle course that gets kids to practice their gross motor skills and get their blood pumping! You can even have them set up their own courses and have the other members of the family try and complete each obstacle.
Sensory Play
Depending on age there are tons of options when it comes to sensory play and exploration. For the younger children, you could fill a baking ban or plastic bin with different sensory items such as water beads, dried beans, water, rice or kinetic sand. Provide them with cups, measuring spoons, ladles or other tools to play with. For the older children, you could make playdough or have them create castles with kinetic sand.
Plan a Movie Night
Make a Friday night a little more special by planning a family movie night! Stop by the dollar store and pick out some boxes of candy, pop some popcorn, and throw some pillows on the floor for a special movie night as a family. This will not only shake things up but will increase family bonding and create a great memory.
Play Charades
This one is an oldie but a goodie! You know how it goes; write down some things to act out such as animals, actions, or emotions, tear them out into strips, and place those strips into a jar. Everyone takes turns choosing a paper from the jar and has to silently act out their selection while being timed. Happy acting!
Boredom Busting for Teens and Adults:
Journal
Journaling not only helps pass the time but also helps write down thoughts and feelings that will decrease anxiety and increase self-awareness. Whether you write down your day-to-day, try and express emotions you are currently feeling, or even just do a ‘brain dump’ with to-do lists etc. keeping a journal can be an incredibly impactful tool and a great way to shake things up!
Create a Bucket List
Daydreaming and thinking about the future can be fun! Not to mention, productive. Whether this bucket list is short-term or long – writing down goals and ambitions is a great way to prioritize your life, education, and savings.
Get to Know Yourself
Who doesn’t love taking a quiz and finding out information about their personality, natural tendencies, and character traits? The internet is chalked full of great options such as an enneagram test, love language quiz, and many more!
Find a New Hobby
This one can be easier said than done as the list of hobbies out there is never-ending. The best way to start is to pick an interest. Do you like cooking? Dancing? Doing your makeup? What are the things you are searching for? What is in your YouTube search history or what does your Pinterest account look like? After you’ve determined your hidden passions, pick a hobby based on that! For example: if you find you love cooking, start dedicating time throughout the week to watching cooking videos and pick a new recipe each week to try out! If it’s beauty and makeup – do some youtube research and learn some new beauty tricks! The possibilities are endless and you can start and stop new hobbies as often as you desire. The more hobbies you have the more interesting your life can be!
Do Some Spring Cleaning
Pick an area in your home to declutter and organize. Hot-Spots are junk drawers, garages, closets, and storage rooms. There is something incredibly freeing and relaxing about taking time to focus on just one room or one area and giving it all the time and effort you can give it. Maybe choose one area per week or month and get them knocked out! Not only will this keep you busy but will increase your quality of life.
Plan a Trip
Whether this trip be far in the future or just your next family summer vacation, get to planning! Research reviews, where to stay, and lists of great local hot-spots online. Start compiling a list of places you’d like to visit or even start nailing down the exact hotels, restaurants, and activities you will visit and do while on your trip.
Try an At-Home Workout
Research shows that raising your heart rate for 30 min per day can not only increase your physical health but also does a HUGE improvement to your mental health, as well. There are endless Youtube videos of great workouts for beginners that require no equipment or skill.
Pick a Podcast or Audiobook
Listening to a podcast or audiobook can not only bust that boredom but can also increase your knowledge on a subject or a passion of yours. Whether the theme is “self-help,” historical, comical, or fiction – listening to a story and/or topic can be incredibly thrilling. The best part about it being audio is that you can do other things as you listen, such as cleaning, driving, or even taking a bubble bath!
