Summer holidays is nearly upon us, which means updating our summer bored jar activities. We have had a bored jar for the last four years and it has become something of a tradition in the Mad House, but the boys are getting bigger, so in addition to a bored jar, I have got a fab printable too
We long time I’m Bored Jar users and I wouldn’t be without one. With the summer holidays coming now is the perfect time to put together yours and we have an amazing selection of summer activities that are perfect for your bored jars.
I can almost taste it, Spring is in the air and that means a whole new bored jar and a whole new list of low cost or no cost activities for Spring for kids and families. Sometimes we just need a nudge in the right direction, some inspiration to encourage our kids away from technology and that is what this fantastic list is. Not sure what a bored jar is, well here I tell you how to make your own bored jar. Our Spring Bored Jar has all the below activities in and a bunch of chores too. I hope that the added chores encourage the children to think twice before more »
We have a “Bored Jar” and every so often I update it and as the Easter holidays and Spring are upon us I thought I would update it with a Spring theme. So here are my Low Spend or No Spend Easter Holiday and spring Activities
Let’s play – Read a book
Go on your DS for 30 minutes
Research the Romans on the computer
Let’s cook – Biscuits
Let’s cook – make pizza
Tidy your room
Pick a flower and paint a picture of it
Go swimming
Call on a friend
Do the washing up
Make music
Go to the library
Make rocky road or fridge cake
Hopscotch
Make an obstacle course
Groom the dog
Colour in a book
Clean your bedroom
Learn how to skip
Help pair socks
Draw round your brother
Write 5 things you love about each member of your family
Play with Lego
Do a jigsaw
Paint rocks
Scoot round the block
Make fingerprint animals
Feed the ducks
Put up the play tent
Play with the toy cars
No electronics for the rest of the Day
Make cards
Have a bath
Write a story starting with “David had to find out where Rocky had gone…………………”
Draw a map of our house
Find out how many bones are in the human body
Have a shower
Draw a robot and label all his parts
Pretend you are a knight
Sort the laundry
Make paper aeroplanes
Have a tea party with your friends
Empty the dishwasher
Jump up and down 20 times
Let’s cook – cupcakes
Let’s cook – you choose
Put on a DVD
Go out on your Bike
Get the paint out
Go to a park
Water the plants
Make homemade bubbles
Have an ice-cream
Make hot chocolate
Vacuum the stairs
Craft with Mum
Set the table
1 chore of Mums choice
Draw a comic
Play with Playmobil
30 minutes on the Wii
Make Jelly
Feed the ducks
Make a bird feeder
Build a den
Science time
Draw a picture of our house from the outside
Time for a Science Experiment
Make a rain water collector
Climb a tree
Make wooden spoon people
Spend 30 minutes on Moshi Monsters
Let’s cook – muffins
Make’/fly a kite
Let’s cook – Make popcorn
Go out on your Scooter
Board game
Roll down a hill
Go to the beach
Sort out your shoes
Borrow the camera
Find five toys to give away
Go for a walk
Sweep the ground floor
Do some stitching
30 mins with Mum
Wash the car
Football match upstairs
30 Minutes on the Xbox
Go to a Museum
Make a volcano
Plan dinner, write a menu, help cook and serve
Have a race
Wash the pots
Plan a bean in a jar
Make finger puppets
Find shapes, animals and objects in clouds
Write a poem
Watch Phineas and Ferb
Pretend you are a cowboy
Make a family tree
Empty the dishwasher
Make a treasure map
Make a paper plate monster mask
Pretend you are a pirate
Learn how to use the washing machine
Go to soft play
Steam mop the bathrooms
Steam mop the kitchen
Make a paper boat
Take dog for a walk
Write to your penpal
Make a card
Prepare dinner
Do the summer holidays fill you with dread? Do you worry about keeping your children occupied without spending a fortune? Do you dread the words “i I am bored”? Or worry about the very English summer we are having? If so I can help you!
We also pack family board games, card and domino’s. We try to limit screen time whilst we are on holiday and we love family games night. The boys will write league tables and keep a record of who wins what so that we can have a family winner at the end of the holiday. We introduced the boys to Scrabble and Boggle whist we were on holiday. It is so much fun to revisit games that you used to play as a child.
Provide your children with an adventure pack with binoculars, compass and handbooks so they can explore the area you are holidaying.
I also pack pencils and colouring pads for creative moments.
Let your child chose a number of new books before you go on holiday. We have quiet time after dinner and reading is a great way to ensure that children do got get board.
Allow a day or so for decompression, especially if your childrens days are packed with activities at home. Places such as Richardson’s Holiday Parks have onsite entertainment. Click here for more information.
Headphone are essential – my children never agree on music, so I make sure they take headphones with them so they can play their own music in the car.
See if you can take a pup tent, so they can have their own adventures.
Encourage them to make friends. Take a ball and a kite. Things like this usually attract all the children nearby and veola friends for the holiday.
Be unselfish with your time. Children crave the company of their parents. Holidays are the perfect time to give it to them freely. Why not join in with them rolling down hills. You might be surprised d at just how much fun it can me.
I would love to know how you react when you hear “I’m bored”!
Nor does it mean that I let them be bored or fail to plan activities for us as a family. I am not a parent that see’s boredom as a virtue, in fact I have a bored jar for times like that!
No a #freeRange Summer means that I am trying to give my children some freedom to play out. That I am trying to establish some boundaries for them to stick too and to reduce their reliance on screens. In today’s increasingly technological world they are increasingly looking at picking up a piece of technology to escape their boredom.
Downbload your free summer planner and keep the kids entertained over the summer . We love summer, have you guessed yet. I adore spending the six weeks of the summer with my boys. I am lucky in that I can juggle my work and spend a lot of time with them. I also feel the strain sometimes at keeping the kids entertained over summer.
I have loads of ideas of activities to do with the kids over the summer in our summer activity and bored jar lists, but I also wanted to gather together some ideas for free summer activities that get you out of the house.
Can you feel Spring in the air yet? I think I can and I have started thinking about Spring crafts for kids and we have a fabulous selection of crafts that kids will love here. I love Spring, the garden is filled with vibrant colour after a long, cold winter and the days are getting longer fast. I LOVE spring because it means more outdoor time, butterflies, birds, bugs, flowers and spring showers.
Over 101 Ideas for Summer Activities for Teenagers is a paid collaboration with Goodfella’s Romano Pizza. As my boys are getting older I am finding that keeping them entertained over the summer is getting more expensive and it appears that I am not alone in finding it pricey, A study by Goodfella’s Pizza discovered that during the six weeks summer holiday parents spend an average of £127 a child to stop their offspring becoming bored. “I’m Bored” is one of the phrases that I have banned here, in fact over the years I have used it to my advantage with our Bored Jars. So I have partnered up with Goodfellas and their more »
Summer holidays, you either love them or hate them. I am never sure about which camp I am in. I love spending time with the children but do worry about the cost of summer activities. I relish not having to get up each morning and giving up the school routine, but I don’t like hearing the words “I’m Bored” That is why I came up with the bored jar (about four years ago).
We have had a really mild winter this year in the UK and no snow yet for us all all. I love how normally in the UK we have four distinct seasons and that we have regular activities that we do as a family to celebrate the seasons. These 50 winter activities for kids are perfect for this time of year and are all pretty low cost or even no cost.
Advent is the perfect for focusing on the joy of the season, but it can also seem really commerical. last year we started our Advent acts of kindness, an alternative advent for kids to try and refocus this time away from receiving to giving. We do our acts of kindness in addition to our other advent activities.
Do you love Autumn? We are lucky in the UK to have four distinct season and I adore how different each one is. I love the low cost and no costs seasonal family activities too so I have decided to do a graphic for our 50 Autumn Activities for Kids.
Often we focus on having fun over the summer and making it a great time for us and the kids. I want to make this summer great for everyone and encourage the kids to do random acts of kindness through the summer, like we did at Christmas.
Some days it is either too hot for outdoor activities or just plain raining and you just don’t fancy playing out in the rain. So here are some fab, fun and screen free indoor activities to keep the kids occupied.
Oh I adore Spring. The lighter nights, the warmer days and the promise of things to come. We are a pretty active family and the boys take the opportunity of lighter night to play outside. In fact they don’t come home until we go find them and can often be found playing football under the light of a street lamp. But for those of you with kids that are reluctant to leave the warms and familiarity of the screen for outside play here are some great spring activities.
