Boredom Buster Bonanza

In our house, we typically aren't bored.  There is always something to do, something to read, something to play with, something to build, or something to cook.  We also have a greater than average number of people to play with who reside within this house.  If none of those options are suitable at the given moment there is always a neighbor who can come over to help with issues of boredom.  Sometimes fresh eyes make the same toys and same activities look so much more fun! 

Thankfully, I rarely, hear the words, "I'm bored."  After Mary Frances started kindergarten she tried the expression on for size.  I heard a lot of "it's boring" and a few "I'm bored" statements, but I tried to squelch the attitude by saying "only boring people are boring."  She didn't like that, and I don't hear it very much.  Actually, come to think of it, I really don't ever hear it.

Anywho, over the last month we participated in a boredom buster bonanza.  This scavenger hunt of sorts was hosted by the place where spent our summer swimming.  It was a checklist of activities to complete as a family.  It was a fun way to transition from the lazy days of summer to the grind of the school routine.  We didn't complete all of the items, but we had fun trying.  Sometimes the hardest part of the activity was getting a photograph with at least 50% of the family members present.  For example you will see play a board game on the list of things we didn't do.  The problem was we have no pictures of us playing a board game.  I chose not to obsess and turn in our pictures giving it our best effort and not worry that we didn't do it all.

Here is a sampling of pictures from the activities we completed:

Recreate a famous work of art

Create a family time capsule to open in one year

Make homemade ice cream and eat it

Make s'mores

Donate five times to a local charity

Make cookies and deliver to a local fire station

Find large rocks and paint with the letters of your last name

Have a family movie night complete with popcorn

 

Read a book together as a family

Have a paper airplane contest

Have a picnic with baskets and blankets in your den

Turn your driveway into a sidewalk chalk art gallery

Have a themed dinner ~ "Magic Bean" from Jack and the Beanstalk

Run through the sprinklers

Build a fort in your den

And the things we didn't complete:
~ create a comic strip using your family members as the characters
~ draw a map from your house to the swimming pool
~ paint your hands and make prints on paper - turn them into something else
~ play a board game

The checklist and pictures were due to the swimming pool on Saturday hence our errand before Pepper Place.

Here's to family fun!