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I'm bored! Ever heard that before? The CJKidz put together a "boredom busters list" to keep kids busy and out of trouble! See some ideas below or click to see Rainy Day Ideas
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Be Creative - Make Something!
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| Decorate a T-shirt, pillowcase, or tote bag with fabric paint markers or tye-dye Shirt/Pillowcase products | |
Paint rocks or seashells Creativity for Kids Deluxe Rock-A-Doddle Painted Rocks | |
| Decorate a wooden or acrylic picture frame with paint markers, stickers or buttons/accessories Picture Frame Products | |
| Write a poem | |
| Write a short story or book. Make a cover, draw pictures, write the story. Create your own story | |
| Bake cookies, brownies, cake, or make puppy chow or Elmer's Tasty Treats Activity Kit | |
| Make your own popsicles out of fruit juice or chocolate milk, sno cones, ice cream, cotton candy Products to make your own treats | |
| Paint a porcelain piece, use a pottery wheel, or decorate a flower pot Porcelain & Pottery | |
| Create things with play-doh, clay, silly putty or slime Playdoh/silly putty/clay/slime | |
| Use trash from your house (or that you find in the neighborhood), glue pasta shells or a ball of string to make a piece of art. | |
| Decorate a roll of paper with stamps, markers, stickers for fun or to be used for gift wrap. Decorate brown lunch bags too. Paper Roll/Stamps/Stickers | |
| Make a homemade pizza | |
| Work on a Paint a paint by number painting Paint-by-number | |
| Latch hook a rug or make a pillow Rugs & Pillowcase kits | |
| Start a journal or diary Journal/Diary | |
| String necklaces or bracelets using thin licorice, string, or plastic string. Add candy pieces (Life -Savers, Fruity Cheerios or anything with a whole in the middle) or use beaded jewelry Bead Jewelry Kits | |
| Paint or color a picture to match the colors or theme in your room. | |
| Make homemade candy | |
| Make your own soap, lip balm, perfume Soap, lip balm, perfume | |
| Make candles Candle making | |
| Make a scrapbook, poster or college "All about me". Cut out pictures and words from magazines, the newspaper or print from your computer. Put it together to describe yourself (favorite food, color, age, hobbies, music, clothes, dislikes too). You could make one for your family, vacation, best friend, pet or anything you want. Scrapbook about me | |
| Use sticks, pennies, buttons, paperclips, rubber bands, pieces of torn paper, candy, glitter, rhinestones, stickers to spell out your name on a paper. Glue it and frame it for your room. You can include a baby picture or a picture of you now. | |
| Make shrinky dinks Shrinky Dinks | |
| Make your own cards for your friends or family's birthday Make your own cards | |
| Cut out pictures from a magazine of items you want for Christmas or your birthday to make a wish list. | |
| Make a mosaic Mosaic | |
| Learn about photography and then take pictures of family and friends. Put the photos in a scrapbook (see above) or make a collage for your room. Camera & Photography Books | |
| Make a pot holder Pot holder | |
| Knit, Crochet or Cross Stitch and Lacing Cards | |
| Burn a "Keep Out" Sign or your name on wood to hang in your room Wood burning kits | |
| Build a model airplane or car Model Airplane, Car | |
| Build a birdhouse, ship, car out of wood Building, Carpentry Kit | |
Games & Challenges | |
| Build something with legos, lincoln logs or blocks. Have a contest with friends. Set a timer and see who can build something in a short period of time. When the timer goes off, stop. Legos, construction blocks | |
| Play board games Family & Friends Games | |
| Have two people challenge each other to see who can blow (using a straw) a piece of cotton across the floor to a finish line (players will need to lay down on the floor). This can be a relay race and played as a team. | |
| Play with conversation cards Conversation Cards | |
| Put together a puzzle. Start by setting up a table where you can leave the puzzle. Each day, add a more to the puzzle until it is done. You could also challenge your friends. Get two puzzles with the same number of pieces. See who can get further in a short period of time, or who can complete their puzzle first. Puzzles | |
| Play cards (Slap Jack, Crazy 8s, Old Maid, Black and Red) Card Games | |
| Play tic tac toe Tic tac toe | |
| Play seek and find | |
| Play hangman 50 states hangman 50 Countries Hangman | |
| Play hide the shoe (or toy). Someone hides an object in one room of the house and another child finds it. | |
| Start a story and part way through pause to let someone else take over the story. After that person has added to the story, they pause, and let the next person takeover until everyone has added to the story. If there are only a few people, go around twice. It's fun to see how the story changes as each person adds. Go fast! | |
| Play no giggle game. One person sits in the middle of the circle. Others tell jokes, make silly faces or act silly to make that person laugh or smile. You cannot tickle or touch the other person. The other person tries to not smile or giggle. Take turns trying to make players laugh. You can use a stop watch or clock to see who can go the longest keeping a straight face. | |
| See how many people you can make smile without talking. You can try this by just smiling or waiving to others. To help you, you could just send the message by wearing a shirt that has a funny message, or a be happy shirt See boy and girls CJKidz "Bee Happy" shirts. Do it in competition with a friend to see who can get more people to smile without saying a word. | |
Invite friends over to play giggles games from this book Games and Giggles Just for Girls (American Girl Library) | |
Sit on the steps, have your friend hide a penny in his/her hand. Try to guess which hand it is in. Move up one step each time you guess correctly. If you have two players, see which one gets to the top of the steps first! Penny Games (Chicken Socks) | |
| Put several toys or household items on a tray. One person shows it to other players. Then, remove one item without other players looking. Players then must guess which piece was removed. Or, use the items on the tray, have the players look at the tray for 30 seconds. Then ask them to write down what was on the tray. The player that remembers the most items, wins! | |
| Have a race with your stuffed animals or plastic horses or dinosaurs. Lay out pieces of paper on the floor. Roll a dice with friends to have the horses, stuffed animals move depending on what is rolled on the dice. The first one to get to the finish line wins! | |
| Guess Who I am. One person thinks of an animal or cartoon character. The other players have to ask questions that can be answered only by yes or no answers. (i.e. for an animal- you could ask, do I have wings, do I swim, am I brown. For a cartoon character, you could ask, am I boy or girl, do I have red hair, am I funny etc.). Keep asking questions until they figure out who or what they are (or give up!). | |
| Put a bean bag on top of your feet or shoes. Race another player to a finish line without letting the bean bag fall. If it falls off, you have to go back to start and begin again. See more games with Bean Bags and Bean Bag Toss Games | |
Pretend Play - Use Your Imagination | |
| Set up a room to look like a school room. Play school. Take turns with a friend to be the teacher. Play school | |
| Play with horses, cars, barbie, dinosaurs, stuffed animals | |
| Use tools and read construction books to build something or learn about building Tools and Construction Books | |
| Cars and Trucks Race cars using a large piece of cardboard or box leaning on a sofa. Drive cars on a car mat. Use trucks to dig in sand or dirt. | |
| Play beauty shop with your dolls or stuffed animals. Clean them up, wash them or their clothes, brush or fix their hair. | |
Play pet hotel. Get out your stuffed animals and have them check into your hotel. Check them in, pretend feed them, wash them, eat at your hotel restaurant, care for them, take them for a walk. To give you ideas, watch Hotel for Dogs (Widescreen Edition) or Hotel for Dogs (Full Screen Edition) | |
| Play dress up or fashion show with friends See Fancy Nancy to get ideas | |
| Invite a friend to play pirates or astronauts Astronaut (also check out the NASA kids web site below) Pirate | |
| Put on a swimming suit, fill a large tub with bubbles. Use bowls, spoons, measuring cooks, water can, funnels and pretend cook with the bubbles. Or, get out the bath toys and fun soaps and play. Put down towels around the tub as this can get messy. Bath bubbles/Toys/Soaps CJKidz Soaps | |
| Fill a big plastic tub with flour or sand. Use little rolling pins and cups to smooth or build up the flour or sand. This can be messy so take outside or put a tablecloth or bedsheet underneath the area of play. | |
| Play grocery store. Get a cash register,pennies or play money. Use several items from the pantry. Shop, check out, bag the groceries. Grocery Store | |
| Pretend that you are a Mad Scientist and try an experiment Mad Scientist & Experiments | |
| Invite over friends, grandma or aunts and have a tea party. Dress up and host the party yourself. Tea Party Supplies | |
| Pull out the dinosaurs, dig up their bones or play with them in a sandbox, dirt or play mat Dinosaurs | |
Show Your Talents - Put on a Show! | |
| Practice and put on a puppet show for friends Puppet Show | |
| Learn several magic tricks and put on a magic show Magic Tricks | |
| Read a book and then act it out or put on a play for family and friends | |
| Put on your dancing shoes and perform a dance recital with music. Dress up in costumes, sing, dance and put on a show. Dance Music, Games, Costumes, Shoes | |
| Dress up in costumes, mom's clothes or play clothes. Put on a fashion show Fashion show | |
| Get a joke book, find jokes on the internet, or make up your own. Put on a comedy show Joke Books | |
| Have several families get together for a talent show. Each family (or families children practice their talents for several weeks by themselves and then get together to put on the show! Talents can include singing, dancing, blowing a big bubble, telling a joke, playing the piano,twirling a baton using a hola hoop, displaying your art pictures. | |
| Be a fortune teller - have guest ask you questions. Fortune Teller | |
| Host a movie afternoon or night at your house. Use pretend tickets, make popcorn, candy, juice or soda. For a fund raiser for charity, sell tickets to your friends for the movie and snacks and give the proceeds to charity. | |
| Host a book reading night at your house. Tell parents and kids to bring their favorite books. Come in pjs with pillow, lay on the floor, read one short book together (take turns or a parent reads) then read individual books on your own. Older kids can also read to younger ones. | |
| Host a play date with a theme. Choose a theme and tell guest to bring one item that goes with that theme (i.e. Thomas the Train, everyone brings one Thomas the Train item). If the children are old enough to understand sharing, take turns playing with the other children's toys. Get ideas for themes on our birthday page | |
| Show off your cheerleading skills | |
| Put on a concert (guitar, drums, piano) | |
Let's Get Physical - Don't be a couch potato! | |
| Jump rope | Hopscotch |
| Ride bikes | Take a hike |
| Play on the playground at the park | Roller blade |
| Ice Skating | Kick Ball |
| Basketball | Soccer |
| Swim | Play miniature golf |
| Frisbee | Horseshoes |
| Bad mitten | Kayak |
| Hockey | Archery |
| Paint ball | Paddle court/Paddleball Paddle Games |
| Ride a Scooter | Hoola Hoop |
Outdoor Fun | |
| Run through a sprinkler | |
| Play with water toys, squirt toys, water balloons, float ducks in a pool and fish them out with strainers | |
| Play with sidewalk chalk - draw pictures, write your name, draw your house, draw a hopscotch and then use it! Chalk Outdoor products from The CrayolaStore.com! | |
| Use chalk to draw 10 circles on a driveway or street or concrete patio. Number each circle. Write the numbers 1 to 10 on separate pieces of paper. Put them in a bucket or container. Play music as children walk on the circles. When the music stops, the children stop and stand on a circle. Pull out a number from the bucket or container. Whoever is standing on the circle that matches the number pulled from the container wins. Play again. | |
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Relay races: Running race....Put on gloves, hats, jewelry that has to be passed between team members, or use extra large shoes, Potato Sacks, or wear a big hat to make the race more difficult. Relay race using water...use two water cans and 3 buckets. Fill one bucket with water. Have two teams. The players dip their water can in the bucket filled with water to fill. The race the player from the other team to run and dump the water in their water can in their teams bucket. Then return the water can to the next player on their team. The team that fills the tub first wins. Water Cans & Buckets Relay race using an egg....each team takes a plastic egg (or real one) and carrys it on a spoon. They should walk or run approx. 20 feet, turn around and return to the next player. If you drop the real egg, your team loses. If you use a plastic egg, the child must go back to the starting line and begin again. Spoon & Egg Game Swimming relay race...use a big T-shirt that must be passed between swimmers. One swimmer puts on an oversized T-shirt over their swimsuit, swims the lap, but then has to take off the wet shirt and pass to the next team member. Repeat with all team members. | |
| Play with bubbles. If you are playing with friends see who can make the largest bubble Bubbles & Bubble Machines | |
| Hold a carnival, lemonade stand or sell cookies for fun or to make money for a charity See our families giving back page for ideas | |
| Scavenger hunt with two teams. Hide the pieces of two simple wooden puzzles. Each team must find the pieces to their puzzle and put it together. Or, make a list or use pictures of 10 things found outside - flower, grass, rock, leaf, stick, etc. Whichever team finds all 10 things first wins! | |
| Set up a tent or build a fort in the yard. Pretend to camp out and sleep out over night. Make smores, hot dogs over a bbq pit, use flashlights, look at the stars, tell scary stories in the dark. | |
| Play tag or freeze tag | |
| Go horseback riding | |
| Go fishing | |
| Take your dog for a walk | |
| Learn about and/or catch bugs, butterfly, lightening bugs Insects/Butterflies | |
| Plant flowers or a vegetable in a garden Gardening Tools and Books | |
| Choose your own sports or outdoor play on this link More sports and outdoor play ideas | |
Use your Noodle! Learn something. Brain Food | |
| Learn a magic trick Magic Tricks | |
| Learn one new foreign language word Foreign language word Foreign Language Books, Toys, Software, DVD | |
| Learn a fact about your body, hair, teeth (why hair tangles, how to braid, how many bones you have, what causes cavities) | |
| Research the city or state next to yours. How far away is it, what is the capital, where is it on a map or globe States, Maps, Globes | |
| Look through a science book or web site to find a science experiment. Then try it . Science books, toys Mad Scientist | |
| Learn one new word from the dictionary, the spelling and the meaning | |
| Learn one new fact about recycling or the environment Going Green/Recycling/Environment | |
| Learn three new safety tips - strangers, fire, water Safety Books | |
| Learn two facts about bats, or reptiles, birds or dinosaurs | |
| Take in interest in Math. Practice math problems Math Matters Book Series Funbrain (Will take you out of this web site) Coolmath4kids (Will take you out of this web site) | |
| Learn about germs or hand washing Books on germs hand washing | |
| Look through pictures, talk to family members (especially grandma & grandpa) to learn information about them. (i.e. what was their first job, how did they meet their spouse, what was school like when they were kids). Write it in a book for a keepsake Quizzes, Questions, Books to learn about family, friends, and yourself | |
| Learn how to use a yo-yo YoYos, How To & YoYo Trick Books | |
| Learn about a food or clothes from another country | |
| Think about and write down 3 things your are grateful for. Do it each night at bedtime. Keep your journal. When you're mad or don't get what you want, remind yourself what you do have. | |
| Learn about money,saving and investing Money & Saving Books, Toys & Banks | |
| Yuck! Learn about something really gross Gross Books, Gross Science & Slime | |
| Take a cooking class or try a new recipe Kids Cookbooks & Easy Bake Oven | |
Learn information about being blind and braille  www.afb.org/braillebug |
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| Books, toys, products learning about Braille | |
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Learn sign language |
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| Learn about manners Manners books | |
| Learn about being handicapped | |
| Learn about two (or more) Presidents of the United States Books about the President | |
| Learn about our solar system | |
Sightseeing/Visiting/Travel | |
| Go to the zoo | |
| Go to the park and have a picnic, feed ducks | |
| Visit a museum | |
| Visit the library - pick out books to bring home or read at the library | |
| Visit the Humane Society or Pet store | |
| Visit grandma & grandpa or an aunt and uncle. Play cards, slap jack or tic, tac, toe | |
| Go to the movie theatre | |
| Go camping or on a float trip | |
| Ride bumper cars or go carts | |
| Attend a sporting event | |
| Go to the conservation center in your state | |
| Visit a cave | |
| Pick out the top two tourism sites in your city or the next and then visit them | |
| Visit a store that makes candy or cookies (take a tour if they allow it) | |
| Visit a farm - learn about what they grow and learn about the animals on the farm | |
| Visit an art museum | |
Misc. | |
| Trade toys with a friend for one week and switch back at the end of the week | |
| Look through your toys and choose five which you want to give away. Put them in a box to give to another child, your neighbor, cousin or friend | |
