Beating Boredom: Boosting Creativity and Play During School Closures
Is your child at home because schools have closed or because after school activities have been canceled? Either way, you find your child at home, and extra time at home together is fun, right? You’ll get to play those family board games you never got around to or try those fun activities you never get to on busy weekends!
But that novelty soon wears off when you run out of fun or engaging activity ideas or when you all start to feel a little antsy from being out of your normal routines or when you're just trying to juggle working from home and coping with everything else.
What do you do when your child starts to complain about being bored? What can you do to get creative so they don’t end up just watching TV or playing Minecraft all day?
Create a home camp with your child
Don’t panic! A change in your child’s routine is almost guaranteed to be difficult for everyone. The structure that used to be in your child’s day provided entertainment and kept them busy, so one way to beat boredom is to get creative about how you are structuring their days at home by creating a Home Camp with your family!
Structure the day together
Start with planning what needs to get done each day. Is there any homework, schoolwork or house chores your child must complete?
Think about the amount of time and what time of day your child will be most successful at completing these less fun tasks. Usually, children are more motivated and likely to accomplish these tasks if they know that once they are finished, they get to do something they enjoy. At the beginning of their time at home, maybe that's in the morning or when they get home from school, let them know:
Specifically what they need to accomplish, such as “you need to do 25 minutes of reading” or “you need to fold all of the clothes on your floor and put them away.”
What options for fun they will have after these tasks are complete. Make sure to present a variety of options and let them add any rewards you may have missed.
Rewards and the power of choice
Research shows that kids respond well to choice because it makes them feel like they have control over their decisions. Offer some specific activity ideas and a variety of different types of options.
If video games or social media are on the list, make sure that activity comes with a timestamp so that your child doesn’t get glued to electronics for a harmful amount of time.
For example, if your child loves to play Fortnite, set a timer for 30 minutes and after that, they have to choose another activity.
Another way to beat boredom is by getting a little spontaneous with the tasks they do most often. Get creative with the typical activities or games your child likes to do by adding new rules or making up new versions of the activity. If your child likes to kick the soccer ball around with their sibling, maybe now they're only allowed to kick the ball 2 times and then they have to pass it.
Challenge your child to come up with new rules or varieties to add a little motivating challenge and spontaneity to beat boredom.
Have fun activities ready
Planning ahead for when your child -- and quite frankly, for when you get bored -- will save you time and frustration in the long run. But it will take having a variety of fun activities ready to go when boredom strikes.
Create a boredom jar
Create a Boredom Jar that your whole family can fill with slips of paper with fun activities they can choose from when they're feeling a bit bored. Have each family member write down a few ideas for fun activities, like playing a board game, painting, or reading a book, and put these ideas into the jar or bowl to be pulled from later.
Here are a few fun activities created by the HeyKiddo™ team:
Dance Challenge
This activity is designed for the whole family.
You know that Taylor Swift song “Shake It Off”? Of course you do! Well, that song is a great example of what to do when you’re experiencing boredom that you can’t seem to shake. Why do you think moving might be a good idea when feeling bored?
Moving helps release tension and energy from our bodies. So, are you up to shaking off whatever you’re feeling today? Gather other members of your family and give it a go!
Each person will take a few minutes to come up with a move that represents what they're feeling. For example, if you're feeling energetic, your move could be running in place or the floss. Go with whatever move feels right to you!
Then come back together and take turns doing the moves y’all came up with to whatever song you like. Pay close attention to others’ moves and try them out for extra fun!
Unidentified Moving Vehicle
This activity is designed for the child to complete independently.
Think of all the vehicles you possibly can. Vehicles are things that can transport things, whether it's driving, sailing, climbing, or flying. Pick your favorite mode of transportation.
Now, go find some random materials lying around your house. These materials will be used to build your favorite mode of transportation. For example, if you chose a plane, and you found sticks, paper, buttons, and tape … you will use these materials (and only these materials!) to build your plane.
Take some time to build it and do the best you can do! If it feels too challenging at times, take a moment to take a deep breath and continue trying. We learn the most when we face challenges head-on!
Now that you are done building, find something small, something you’d like to transport in your vehicle, and place it in it. See if your vehicle can move it to its nearest destination.