Quarantine or no quarantine, kids get bored. Add in working from home when your children are home too and it can quickly turn into a recipe for disaster. Juggling work expectations while also trying to be a teacher or a replacement camp counselor frazzles even the most patient and creative parent. Which is why we went searching for these helpful boredom busting ideas for kids.

25 Boredom Busting Ideas

When your work/life balance is out of balance, it never fails that your child will come running to you to exclaim, “Mom, Dad, I’m bored!” We’ve put together these 25 ideas, plus one bonus idea, to help keep you (and us) sane.

Create a scavenger hunt.
Plant a garden, outside, or inside!
Build a fairy house or fairy garden.
Create an obstacle course or a ninja warrior course.
Make chalk drawings on a sidewalk or driveway.
Virtually escape from Hogwarts Escape Room!
Create a Rube Goldberg machine.
Paint rocks to share with friends.
Make homemade slime or crafting dough. Bonus: See slime in microgravity!
Make a blanket fort to play and read in.
Make a memory book with photos and souvenir pamphlets.
Create an underwater world with aqua sand.
Write a story about anything that interests you.
Use your imagination to create something fun with paper mache.
Play balloon tennis with a sibling or use a wall as your opponent.
Cool off by making homemade ice cream.
Get moving. Have a dance party with your siblings or parents!
Download an activity from Highlights@Home.
Practice your science skills by baking cookies or muffins.
Pick blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, or other as a family.
Write a letter to a friend and draw or paint a picture too!
Create a 3D Minecraft world using LEGO® blocks.
Watch a documentary about something you’d like to learn about.
Play blindfold snack time with your sibling. How many snacks can they identify?
Make a lava lamp.

Bonus Idea: Boredom Busting Idea Jar

“Mom, Dad, I’m bored!” Those four little words sound like nails on a chalkboard to most parents because we know we are being led down a slippery slope. Put an end to this by creating a boredom busting idea jar. Place the ideas listed above, ideas of your own, and a few household chores in any jar you have hanging around the house and, “Voila!”, your Boredom Busting Idea Jar is complete!

The ideas can be written on little scraps of paper, wood disks, or popsicle sticks. It doesn’t matter. The addition of chores adds to the excitement. Will they pick a fun activity or (gasp!) a dreaded chore?!

The rules of the game are simple, whatever they pick, they must do. Chore or activity, it’s a win-win for parents everywhere and children just might have a bit of fun too!

Need a few more suggestions? Find more boredom busting ideas here.

About Us

GourmetGiftBaskets.com is a family-owned and operated small business, located in scenic Seacoast, New Hampshire. Known for our delicious gourmet gifts and, most notably, our Halloween, Christmas, and Easter gift baskets. Many of us are also parents, trying to navigate parenthood with a sense of humor.