As a parent coach, the common challenge I’m hearing from families at the end of their summer holidays is that their children are bored. The “holiday honeymoon” is over and the children are itching to get back to the stimulation and social aspect of school life or home schooling groups and their extra-curricular activities.
When my children were school age, I made an “I’m BORED” jar. This was filled with bespoke ideas and the deal was, that if they dipped into the jar to pull a card out- they were committed to that activity. This meant they considered carefully if they really were bored or if they could come up with something themselves that did not involve a device.
Ideas consisted of…play hopscotch, call a grandparent, clean out the car, make a dessert, call a friend, use wet chalk outside, shoot some hoops, make a hat, magazine cutting, make a card for Nana, build a hut, make slime, clean under your bed…
The minute they stated the words “I’m bored,” I turned my gaze to the jar in the middle of the table, and they’d either find something to do or pick an idea out knowing that it might cause them to clean under their bed or if they were lucky – make a dessert.
Quick and easy to make and we all added ideas together over the years that were age appropriate.