A fun, daily boredom buster will spare you from hearing the dreaded words “I’m bored!”
Nothing irritates a homeschool parent more than hearing the phrase, “I’m bored” or “I don’t know what to do.” Afterall, homeschooling is about exploring your passion and interests. About learning and growing in all aspects of life. Being bored isn’t an option.
Louis CK spoke of boredom in the following way: “’I’m bored’ is a useless thing to say. I mean, you live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen none percent of. Even the inside of your own mind is endless; it goes on forever, inwardly, do you understand? The fact that you’re alive is amazing, so you don’t get to say ‘I’m bored.’”
I’m a firm believer a schedule of some kind will keep your kids on track and eliminate the possibility for boredom. That is why I have scheduled boredom buster planned each day. You heard me right! I schedule something for my kids to do each afternoon, and believe it or not, it’s not as hard as it sounds.
If your kids are like mine, they sometimes have trouble coming up with ideas on what to play. Or they grow bored with playing the same things over and over. And, let’s be honest, us parents get sick of hearing them play the same thing over and over 😉
Related Posts:
- An Easy Way to Transform the Way you Homeschool
- Homeschool Schedule and House Rules
- Daily Routine Tips and Tricks
I brainstormed a list of things that would be an invitation to play. Armed with my list, I write a new boredom buster on the dry erase board each day. During our day, I call it their “afternoon task.” (It fits best into our afternoon) You can, of course, do it any time of day. Many times they do the task and move on to something else, and other times do their task for the entire afternoon.
To make the process of planning easier for myself and to ensure a variety of activities, I broke down the tasks into 10 different categories encompassing all aspects of play. Then, I pick an activity that fits the category. The possibilities are endless!! Remember, you just come up with the idea, the kids actually have TO DO the activity
This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, we earn a commission at NO extra cost to you. For more information, please read my full disclosure policy.
10 Boredom Busters for Homeschoolers
1. Artistic Tasks Color, paint, or sculpt.
2. Physically Build Something Build Legos, build a pillow fort, or set up a scavenger hunt.
3. Create Something Ask you kids to come up with a new ice cream floor, design a tree house, plan a restaurant, or design a super hero.
4. Pretend Play Some of my kids favorites are: restaurant, library, fashion show, mechanic, pet shop, shopping, and road trip/hotel.
5. Thinking Task Have them exercise their brain by looking up the answer to question, complete a puzzle, answer riddles, or simply read their favorite book!
6. Self-care Teach your kids the importance of taking care of themselves. Have them paint their nails, take a bath, take a nap, or start a journal.
7. Sensory Play Kinetic sand, water, or messy play are favorites around here.
8. Help them Start a Project For example, keep a giant box from your latest Amazon order and have them design a race car or a space ship! Load them up with crayons and markers and let them go!! Check out these tools for making the ultimate cardboard project!
9. Outdoor play Make an outdoor fort, go for a walk, or ride your bike. Our house rule is you must play outside at least once a day.
10. Acts of Service Have them color a picture for an elderly neighbor, write a letter to Grandma, or send a postcard to a pen-pal.
The next time your child says to you “I’m bored,” don’t think of it as a time to lecture, but as a time to arm them with lots of ideas. Instead of planning endless activities and lessons to keep them engaged, try one daily afternoon task. It is enough to start the ball rolling, get their wheels turning, and get them playing!
