Things To Do With Bored Kids At Home

Seems like right about now you might be going a little stir crazy with the kids at home. Well, there's a bright side to being "stuck" at home with your family. With the evolution of technology, quality family time is a rare thing these days. Maybe it's time to revive it.

Here are a few ideas on how to pass the time at home.

Play in the backyard. Baseball, soccer, volleyball...there's lots of things to do outside at home that will burn time and calories. If you don't already have equipment, you can make a soccer goal out of those canned goods you just stocked up on. Just place them a few feet apart and kick the ball between them. Same goes for baseball. If you don't already have a baseball and bat, use a stick and a rock. Get creative.

I just bought this soccer net on Amazon. We love it! It's compact and portable and we use it all the time.

Have a little one at home? Get some of those wiggles out with Teeball. We use this glove and ball set for Z. Bonus energy burner: Z throws the ball to me and if I don't catch it (which I often don't because she throws like a drunken kangaroo), she gets to tackle me and tickle me until I retrieve it.

If you have "ANYTHING" that resembles a ball in the house, you can figure out a game to play with it.

Board games! Or "bored games" as we might be calling them these days. These are GREAT! There's a board game for every interest and every age group. Monopoly, Life, Apples to Apples, CandyLand, Chutes and Ladders, Encore, I could go on and on. Don't have any board games at home? There's are LOTS of sites online where you can print games or cards for games. Here's a website that gives free printable boards for school-aged kids' games. Don't have dice? Use construction paper and tape to create a cube and write the numbers (or dots) on each side. Again, get creative.

Do Crafts. Little Z LOVES to make jewelry at home. And it's simple with just some beads and elastic cording, both available through Amazon. Z loves these alphabet beads, which are great for kids learning to spell or older kids who want to express themselves with phrases. Throw on one of these charms too to make it more fun. The elastic makes it super easy to just load the beads and then tie it off (three knots is the trick). There are also TONS of youtube videos that teach this.

Got extra toilet paper or pasta? I suspect you do. Crafts can be made with a little imagination and literally anything sitting around your house. Turn those bowtie pastas into butterflies. Make rockets or swords out or toilet paper and paper towel rolls. Even the boxes your food is packaged in can be used for a craft. Here are a few crafts from Highlights to get you started.

Yes we're home for awhile, but it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Have fun!