So my kid looked me dead in the eyes at like 8:30 in the morning last Tuesday and said she was bored. Eight thirty! We hadn’t even gotten through breakfast yet and I’m just standing there with my toast getting cold thinking… you have more toys than some small countries have infrastructure. What do you mean bored.
This is just how it goes I think.
I used to cave and hand over the iPad immediately. Zero judgment from me if that’s your move. But then you gotta deal with the whole taking-it-back situation later and honestly? The aftermath tantrum is somehow worse than the original boredom complaint ever was. So I started keeping this mental list of stuff they can do that requires basically nothing from me. No setup. No supplies I don’t already have. No me sitting there facilitating anything.
Here’s what actually works. Most of the time. Some of the time. Enough of the time.
Floor is lava needs no explanation from me. They just… do it. Sometimes for genuinely shocking amounts of time.
Fort building is the real winner though. My kids will spend an entire afternoon on this and I mean like four hours sometimes? They take every cushion off every piece of furniture and raid all the bedrooms for blankets and find random clips and clamps I forgot we owned. The living room looks absolutely destroyed afterward. This does not bother me until about dinnertime when I actually need somewhere to sit.
Playing restaurant is huge in our house and my daughter takes it weirdly seriously. She made an actual menu with prices written out. She charged her dad something like fifty dollars for an imaginary grilled cheese sandwich and made him get his real wallet and pretend to pay her with actual cash. Her profit margins are insane. We should probably discuss that at some point.
Stuffed animal school is another one. My youngest sets up all her stuffies in rows and teaches them lessons. The other day the topic was “why biting is not okay” and I’m pretty sure that was her processing some things.
There’s also the dress up fashion show thing but I’m gonna be honest my kids got over that one awhile back. I see it on every Pinterest list but mine just don’t care anymore. We still have the costume bin somewhere probably.
You know those days where they’re just like… vibrating? And you need them to stop.
Dance parties help. We put on music, lately it’s been the Encanto soundtrack roughly nine hundred times because that’s just where we are in life right now. Everyone dances until they’re tired. Sometimes I dance too. Sometimes I just sit there holding my coffee watching them flail around. Both options are valid.
Obstacle courses work if you make them build it themselves and then you time them running through it. They will ask you to time them approximately one million times. Yes it gets repetitive. But they’re moving their bodies and not asking for a screen so I’ll take it.
Animal walks sound kind of silly but bear crawling down the hallway is actually exhausting for them. Crab walks are harder than you’d expect too. For everyone. Including adults. I’m not gonna elaborate on that.
Freeze dance is a thing you already know.
Kid yoga but not with a video or app or anything. Just you calling out poses. Be a tree. Be a mountain. Be a very tired mama lying flat on the ground. They find that last one hilarious. I find it accurate.2
Sometimes you don’t need them to burn energy. Sometimes you just need… quiet. Like five minutes of nobody yelling.
Drawing works. We have a whole drawer of random paper and broken crayons and markers without caps. They just go at it. I don’t even really look at the results anymore I just say wow that’s great tell me about this and apparently that’s sufficient.
Looking at books works even for kids who can’t read yet which I didn’t expect. My four year old will grab a stack of picture books and flip through them making up her own stories out loud. It’s not reading exactly but it’s something and more importantly it’s quiet.
Stickers. If you have any just hand them over with some paper. That’s like twenty minutes easy.
I already mentioned the cardboard box thing but I’m bringing it up again because the Amazon delivery box situation is very real. Don’t throw them out right away. Just let the kids have them. Yes your house will look like a recycling center for a few days. This is acceptable.
Window watching sounds made up but little kids will genuinely just stand at a window and narrate everything happening outside. There’s a bird! That car is red! That lady is walking funny! It’s like a podcast I didn’t ask for but it buys me ten minutes so I’m not gonna complain.
I Spy. Classic. Works everywhere. You know how it goes.
20 Questions actually works better than you’d think even with young kids. They’re not good at it yet but they’re very into it and that’s what matters.
We do this story thing where one person starts a sentence and the next person adds on and you just keep going back and forth. The stories make absolutely no sense. Last time there was a talking sandwich who went to the dentist and then got elected president somehow? Plot coherence is not the point.
The what’s missing game where you put random objects on a tray and they close their eyes and you take something away. You probably did this at birthday parties when you were a kid. Still works.
And then there’s sorting which my oldest loves for reasons I genuinely cannot understand. She’ll sort her crayons by color. Her books by size. Random toys by shape. She says it’s relaxing? Meanwhile her actual room looks like a natural disaster but okay sure honey you go ahead and organize those markers.
Sink water play. Put a towel down first. Give them some cups and spoons. Accept in advance that water is getting on the floor regardless of anything you do. Walk away and let it happen.
Playdough if you have any that isn’t completely dried out. Ours always is. It’s all mashed together into one grayish brownish color now because somebody didn’t put the lids back on and I’m not pointing fingers but. They don’t seem to care that it’s crusty so whatever.
Stacking random things from around the house. Tupperware, blocks, cups, whatever you’ve got. My son spent like twenty minutes yesterday trying to balance a wooden spoon on top of a yogurt container. He was so intensely focused. I don’t fully understand how children’s brains work but I don’t really need to.
The rice sensory bin thing is supposedly great but I’m leaving it off because you do have to set it up and then there’s rice everywhere for actual weeks and you’re still finding it in weird kitchen corners in like March. So. That’s your call.
Talking to houseplants. Okay this one’s a little strange I admit but my daughter does it and it occupies her so who am I to say anything. She tells our pothos about her day. What she ate. How she’s feeling about things. The plant does not respond obviously but she doesn’t seem bothered by that.
So that’s the list. I think it’s 25 things? I didn’t go back and count so hopefully the math works out. The whole point is you don’t have to be some kind of craft mom or have a perfectly curated playroom full of beautiful wooden Montessori toys or whatever. Kids can figure out how to entertain themselves if you let them get bored enough to try.
Fair warning though there’s usually a whining period before they actually go do anything. Like ten solid minutes of but I don’t knoooow what to dooooo before they finally wander off and find something. You just gotta wait it out. Make yourself another coffee. Hide in the bathroom for a minute if that’s what you need.
What do your kids do when they’re bored? I’m always collecting more ideas for when these stop working. Because they will. They always do. And then we start over again.
