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200+ Ideas for Family Fun!
Copyright 2001 Deborah Taylor-Hough
All rights reserved. Don't transmit, copy, reprint, post on other webpages, or use in print media without written permission of the copyright holder. Thanks! :-)
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Since we don't use the phrase "I'm bored!" in our home, we don't hear our kids complaining about being bored during those long days at home during the summer months. But ... I have to admit that we're still an incredibly normal family. Even without the "b-word" in their vocabulary, there are still those times when my three children (ages 14, 10 and 6) just seem to be at a total loss for something constructive to do.
On one of those "I-can't-think-of-anything-to-do" days, I had my children sit down and make a list of everything they could do completely on their own without parental help. After they brain-stormed about it for over an hour (which was a good anti-boredom activity itself!), the kids had a list of about fifty activities. Surprisingly, they even included a few household chores like dusting and weeding. I asked for input from some other moms, and now my children have a list of over two hundred ideas to beat summertime boredom. And the list just seems to keep growing!
Thanks to the suggestion of one mom, we've put each item on this list onto individual pieces of paper, placed the papers into a container, and when the children need inspiration for an activity, they choose two or three papers and then decide which idea they want to do, either as a group or individually. The mom who suggested pulling ideas out of a container told me she found this method more helpful than giving the kids a huge list of possibilities. By narrowing the choices down to just two or three, it was easier for the kids to pick out the one that sounded the best to them.
200+ IDEAS FOR SUMMERTIME (or anytime!) ACTIVITIES
In no particular order, here's our current (but continually growing!) list of activities:
1) ride bikes
2) roller skate
3) play basketball / shoot baskets
4) play board games
5) make a tent out of blankets
6) squirt with hoses
7) run through the sprinkler
8) jump rope
9) read books
10) blow bubbles
11) make homemade play dough
12) play with play dough
13) press flowers
14) do crafts with pressed flowers
15) write a letter to a relative, friend or pen pal
16) clean bedroom
17) vacuum livingroom
18) clean bathroom
19) make a craft
20) draw
21) color
22) paint
23) pull weeds
24) watch a movie
25) write stories
26) use binoculars
27) use magnifying glass
28) use microscope
29) bird watching
30) write a play
31) act out a play
32) invent circus acts
33) perform a circus
34) play card games
35) make art on the front walkway with sidewalk chalk
36) play catch
37) play baseball
38) collect rocks
39) collect leaves
40) collect feathers
41) play Frisbee
42) make Frisbee's out of old plastic lids; decorate with markers
43) dust the house
44) brush the pet
45) write "thank you" cards
46) read a magazine
47) play dress-up
48) play Cowboys
49) pick vegetables
50) play outside with the pet
51) build a fort in your rooms
52) build a fort in the backyard
53) do a jigsaw puzzle
54) play on the Geosafari
55) play on the computer
56) listen to a story or book on tape
57) do extra schoolwork to get ahead
58) do brain teasers (ie: crosswords, word searches, hidden pictures, mazes, etc.)
59) cook
60) prepare lunch
61) surprise a neighbor with a good deed
62) play store
63) prepare a "restaurant" lunch with menus
64) hold a tea party
65) have a Teddy bear picnic
66) play with toy cars
67) play dolls
68) play house
69) chase butterflies
70) collect caterpillars and bugs
71) plant a garden patch or a pot of flowers
72) collect seeds
73) hunt for four-leaf clovers
74) learn magic tricks
75) put on a magic show
76) plant a container garden
77) sprout seeds or beans
78) make sock puppets
79) put on a puppet show
80) make Christmas presents
81) make homemade wrapping paper
82) make homemade gift cards
83) make picture frames from twigs glued onto sturdy cardboard
84) crochet or knit
85) make doll clothes
This list continues here.
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