Activities for When Kids Say They’re Bored

One of the biggest brain-busters for every parent out there is being challenged by their children with the simple utterance of boredom. 

This shouldn’t be a bad thing, though, and a pool of loaded activities for you and your kids is also available here.

However, we’ve also gathered a few helpful tips to address this. Some are educational; others are inspirational. 

You may use any or all of them, depending on what you feel is most appropriate for you and how you know your kids.

All Set to Go Offline

Contrary to the easiest go-to solution to boredom, there’s still nothing that beats real-life experiences. 

Streaming their favorite shows and movies can aid in entertaining them for a few minutes or hours but seeing life happening around them is still the most engaging part of growing up.

Schedule a Trip

When your kids tell you they’re bored, you can use this as a cue to schedule a trip. If your kids are much older, get them to join in on the planning. 

You can all prepare for a destination you choose together. 

Bring them with you to the grocery store when you buy all the necessary things you’ll bring on the trip. 

The journey can be as engaging as the destination itself, whether it’s camping, swimming, the theme park, or even a cold destination.

Play Outdoors

You can also encourage your kids to spend time outside instead of playing a new game on their consoles.

This doesn’t just get them to move more, but it can also improve their social interaction through play, sports, or healthy competition.

Even a few hours well-spent in their nearby park just throwing some frisbee and enjoying a refreshing picnic afterward can do well to give their minds a space to be free and also give yourself a break from the desk all day.

Visit People

It is common to visit places but being able to visit people intentionally doesn’t just help them rethink what a vacation or a trip means. 

This teaches them the principle of building better relationships.

By intentionally setting aside time to visit people–be it friends, family, or loved ones–you can use a moment of boredom to turn into a memorable one.

This also gives them exposure to different kinds of people from whom they can learn from. 

This is a life skill that can be learned at an early age and will be greatly useful for them when they grow up and will be dealing with all kinds of people.

Taking Homeschooling to the World

If you’re a parent who’s making time to homeschool your own kids, the best way to elevate their curriculum is to let them experience everything they’re learning when it is applied in the real world.

Math in Store

Visit a store with your children and see how basic math is helpful.

Level this up when you find discount items and in the way the cash register works.

You can also use this for a short trip to the gasoline station as a teaching lesson in terms of financial literacy and even ratios.

Science in the Kitchen

Your next meal prep could be where science can surprisingly be learned. 

Through cooking, there’s a lot of chemistry at work and which you can explain, while your kids can also participate in helping you out with the workload.

Art in the Park

Veering away from the common museum, art can be found, experienced, and created in a simple spot in the park. 

You can bring your kids there with you, along with their art materials, to take their creativity to the page, inspired by the mood that surrounds them in nature.

STEAM in the House

NASA’s Space Racer program was freely developed during the pandemic’s lockdowns to aid homeschooling parents. 

It’s focused on STEAM (science, tech, engineering, art, and math) activities that can be done at home, with or without virtual or digital assistance.

History in the Neighborhood

Though history is most likely learned from books, the most palpable resource you have for your kids to understand how and when things came to be is to let them find it within their own environment.

Get them to see crucial buildings in the neighborhood–to bask in the details of why they think it seems to be the oldest, to get them to hypothesize when it was built and what it has witnessed around it since then. 

If you’re surrounded more with natural resources, this can also teach them about climate change over the years. 

If your kids are more social, get them to do their own investigative interviews with fellow locals who must have known more about your place’s history.

The Gift of Boredom

Yes, you read that right. There is a gift found in boredom, which most parents don’t usually see because they fear that the moment of boredom will lead to more chaos. 

But there is much to be learned (within) when faced with boredom.

It’s because we are able to handle boredom as moments to push the mind to be more creative and constructive that life’s day-to-day activities are bearable and even enjoyable. 

Sometimes, you just have to let your kids be bored and find their own way to break through that barrier creatively. 

Being able to do so preps them for a life of enjoyment to their own liking.