Our list of Boredom Busters includes over 100 fun (and mostly free) activities that you and your kids can enjoy at home. This handy list can easily be printed and placed on the refrigerator – a great way to have instant “ideas” when boredom strikes!
Challenge YOUR kids to do one activity every day all summer long. It’s a great way to learn a few new games and activities, while filling those “I’m bored!” moments.
- Obstacle Course
- Scavenger Hunt
- Water Balloons
- Collect Bugs
- Study a spider web
- 3-legged races
- Wash the dog
- Wash the car
- Paint outdoors
- Stargazing
- Plant a garden
- Camp in the backyard
- Eat watermelon in big wedges
- Look for 4-leaf clovers
- Splash in puddles
- Build a bird house or feeder
- Make a paper hat
- Make a paper boat and see if it floats
- Decorate a T-shirt
- Send postcards to family & friends
- Finger painting
- Make your own Play-doh
- Make a necklace out of beads or pasta
- Write an autobiography
- Have a fashion show
- Bubbles
- Hula Hoops
- Jump Ropes
- Rearrange your bedroom
- Have a PJ Party
- Watch the clouds
- Create a movie or play
- Make up a story; Illustrate it
- Have a talent show in your backyard
- Learn a Line Dance
- Practice tongue twisters
- Learn to juggle
- Create a house of cards
- Have paper airplane races
- Bob for apples
- Make a Rope Swing
- Hopscotch
- Freeze Tag
- Hide and Seek
- Red Light Green Light
- Dodge Ball
- Learn a YoYo trick
- Play H-O-R-S-E
- Egg Toss
- Make shadow puppets
- Line up dominoes and watch them drop
- Play with Shaving Cream & food coloring
- Create a musical instrument out of recyclables
- Make a box town out of old boxes
- Research careers (Interview locals such as a firefighter, dentist, hairdresser, or lifeguard)
- Learn string games like Cats in the Cradle
- Have a picnic on the living room floor
- Learn clapping games like Miss Mary Mack
- Play cards (Crazy 8s, War, Rummy)
- Family game night
- Watch old home movies or look at old pictures
- Have a watermelon seed spitting contest
- Build a fort
- Fly a Kite
- Play capture the flag
- Play Freeze Tag
- Tell scary stories in the dark
- Go for a hike
- Learn sign language
- Learn Morse Code
- Build a toothpick bridge or building
- Walk the dog
- Bake some treats for your neighbors
- Play chess or checkers
- Play charades
- Have a bubble-blowing contest
- Climb a tree
- Do blind taste tests with various drinks and food
- Solve a crossword or word search puzzle
- Make butterflies from coffee filters
- Play hangman or tic-tac-toe
- Dance to 50s music (or any era)
- Invite neighbors for a family potluck dinner
- Play free online games
- Make a Diet Coke and Mentos eruption
- Jump rope Try double dutch
- Make a time capsule
- Learn how to read a map
- Play hot potato
- Have breakfast for dinner
- Make homemade pizza
- Have thumb wars
- Arm wrestle
- Give each other crazy or fancy hair dos
- Draw a letter, word, or picture on your friend’s back
and have them guess what you’ve drawn - Have a relay race
- Color “Easter Eggs” any time
- Make your own pet rock
- Play “I Spy”
- Put together a puzzle
- Play “20 questions”
- Make a fort or car out of a large appliance box
- Try to make each other laugh
- Create something with beads
- Write a secret message in “mirror image”
- Have a staring contest
- Speak Pig Latin
- Play Truth or Dare
- Create a secret code Send each other messages
- Play Simon Says
- Play Ping Pong
Download this list HERE.
Looking for more fun events and activities?
These are great ideas I love them
Thank you this helped a LOT
I always find it difficult to create activities for the little one. These are great ideas that I will be taking notes from. You just saved a mama!!!
Great ideas, and great timing as well! January blues seem to get us every year – thi slist will keep us doing fun things well into spring! Thanks 🙂
This is a great list! Pinning so I have it on file the next time we get bored! 🙂
Oh, I could have used this a couple of days this past week! 🙂
My kids hate half the things on that list. Especially to wash the car or dog and to have a PJ party!
How about adding play Sardines to the list. This is hide and seek in reverse. One child hides and the others try to find him/her. On discovery rather than shouting out “found you” the finder hides there too. Soon the children will be stuffed in one place like sardines!!
Love this list! We love to do scavenger hunts both inside and outside the house!
I am planning on keeping my nieces and nephews over the summer now that we have a guest room for them to stay in. I will definitely have ways to keep them busy with this list and my back yard!
Great list of “to do” items when the kiddos (and mommy/daddy) cannot think of anything to do! I plan to print this list and place it in my little one’s coloring binder. So excited for rainy days!
@WeekendsCount
I am not bored anymore
This is awesome I won’t be bored anymore Thanks! Also what about the game concentration?
Making a homemade pizza sounds so fun!
I just wanted to let you know there are some repeats in the list but great list!
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing the knowledge and keep up the good work.
For numbers 24 (Write an Autobiography) and 33 (Write a Story & Illustrate it) you can go one step further. Grimm Book Bindery has a downloadable book kit with instructions that they will then bind once your child writes the book. Really cool for the kiddos to get a REAL book back! Called “Create Young Author Book Kit” if you do a search.
I love this idea! Thanks, Tracy!!
This is a need for entire world to know what should do at home. Thanks for these amazing boredom busters
Thanks! This will come in handy over the next month while we shelter-in-place.
This is AWESOME!! I am a social worker and plan to share with some of my families! Thank you so much for putting this together!
cool!! i scroled down these and realised how many i had already done!!