Bored Again?
In the past six months, I’ve heard the words I’m bored from my son more probably in his entire life. I mean I get it, life was boring, but come on. We’ve got a million toys, every streaming service ever, shelves and shelves of books, and a super fun swingset in the backyard. Yet somehow he forgot all of those things as soon as he finished one thing. So somewhere along the way I came up with the idea to put a ton of things to do in a little jar and call it our boredom busters jar. And every time he said he was bored, I made him pick something out of the jar and do it. It helped. It didn’t solve the problem, but it helped. And guess what else? He started to use those toys, books, and his imagination a little bit more.
Why You’ll Love It
Not only is this post all about how to create your very own boredom buster jar at home (with some tips from my experience), but I’ve also created free printable boredom busters for you. There are about 50 of them PLUS a blank sheet you can fill in your own. And keep reading to see my tips on using that blank sheet in the best way possible.
Supplies
Supply Notes
Boredom Busters – I’ve created two full sheets of printable boredom busters that you can download at the bottom of this post. There’s also a blank sheet to add your own.Jar Label – The PDF at the bottom of this post also includes a jar label that should fit pretty much any size mason jar. Jar – I just used a mason jar I had sitting around the house but you could do this with any type of empty jar – mason jar, pickle jar, jelly jar, etc. Just remove the label, wash, dry, and you’re good to go! Tape – I recommend double-sided tape just so that you don’t see all the tape over the label but you can really use whatever you have.
Instructions
I feel silly even writing out these instructions because they’re so simple but just in case, here you go! Print out the sheets of boredom busters and the jar label. Then fill in any blank ones you want to add. Need ideas? I’ve got over 50 great boredom busters here! If you want to keep your kids from saying I’m bored in the future and using their own brains and imagination before they pull something out of the jar, add things like: Once you have all of your slips filled out, cut them up. Cut the jar label as well. Add it to your jar carefully using double-sided tape. Go through the boredom busters you print and cut out and remove any that may not be a good fit for your kids. For instance, if you’re a boy mom like me, a tea party may not be the best fit. Or if you only have one kid and would prefer the boredom busters be something they can do on their own, maybe remove play a board game. But if you do leave in the board game one, these board games for kids are ones you (or the kids) can play together without going crazy. Fill that jar up with all of the boredom busters you print, wrote, and cut. You can either fold them so that you can’t see what is in them or if you want to be quicker, just put them in there and have kids close their eyes when picking something out. Next time kids say they’re bored, tell them to pick something out and do it! Remove the item from the jar, put it in a bag or something in a safe place, and dance, play, sing, or whatever the boredom buster they chose is. Then when they’ve gone through the entire jar, they can put all the slips back in and start again.
Expert Tips
Include not so fun options as well to keep kids from constantly saying I’m bored and just wanting to go through all the options in the jar. This makes it a bit more like playing Press Your Luck – No Whammies! Make a rule that they do whatever it is they pull unless there is a very good reason why they can’t (e.g., it’s pouring rain or snowing and they pull go on a nature walk). Otherwise, you’ll have kids continually wanting to pick something different. Write specific boredom busters rather than generic ones so that kids know exactly what to do. Putting in “write a story about dinosaurs” rather than write a story will give them some direction without forcing them to think of a story topic as well.
More Fun for Kids
Back to school gamesIndoor scavenger huntActivity placematsVirtual scavenger huntEarth Day questions for kids
Download the Boredom Busters
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