How To

How to beat the "I'm bored" home from school blues

I'm bored

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By FUSILLI1OF4
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Isn't it funny that the kids just can't wait for time off from school whether it is summer, spring or winter break? They anticipate not having to go to school and even count the days. We all remember those happy school day memories being filled with anticipation and then finally ... the last day of school for a while, ah the relief. Now what? Sure you take the kids on a nice 2 week family vacation, the beach, a museum, a park but let's face it sometimes we can not fill and entertain our children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! (Nor can we afford to!) So follow these easy steps to help the infamous outburst ..." I'm bored" and give the kids something fun and educational to do that you can do together or alone.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Old/New Magazines
Patience
Misc. craft supplies such as: glitter, glue, paint, paintbrushes,felt tip markers, crayons, safety scissors etc...
Empty Shoe box with lid

Step 1

Decorate with your child the shoe box to become the "I'm bored" box.

Have your child glue or draw pictures or paint it or decorate any way that they want. This is going to be their box full of fun!

Have them make an "I'm bored" label or picture and put onto the box.
Step 2

Ask friends, family and neighbors if they have any old magazines they want to get rid of and to save them for you for the future. (You would be so surprised how happy people are to give them away because they are just collecting dust).
Step 3

Now take your collection of magazines home and go through with your child looking for fun.

Look for fun craft projects or recipes they may think look good and clip these articles with the safety scissors and save them. Folding them neatly and put into the "I'm bored" box. (I told you this was going to be a box full of fun).
Step 4

Now the next time your child is whining to you the infamous "I'm bored", you can go through the box together to find something fun to do. This is also educational and helps allow your child to find their creativity and have fun too!

Tips & Warnings

Allow your child to be involved in looking for the craft projects, recipes, ideas. If they are interested and eager to try these ideas these will be projects they look forward to doing and not leaving them feeling like they "have to".
Go to the library or book store for books on children's craft projects, painting, children's recipes etc..
Type "children's crafts" into your search engine and lots of web sites will pop up. You can always print them out so you can put them into the "I'm bored" box.
Doing the projects together is a great "quality time".
Never allow children to use a stove top range or oven unsupervised by an adult.

Resources

Photo Credit

www.Photobucket.com

Comments

Susancnw said

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on 11/21/2008 Good ideas, but we also encourage our kids to entertain themselves. They didn't have a gaming console when little and computer games were limited to 30 minutes...they had enough toys and books to find their own things to do. They were allowed one "I'm bored" per week...after that, I found things for them to do...sort/fold laundry/ clean windows and bathroom countertops, empty trashes, dust the baseboards. They usually weren't bored.