"I'm Bored" Jar

What is an "I'm bored" jar?  It's genius.  That's what it is. 

For those of you with school aged children, this is something I HIGHLY recommend doing this summer.    The idea is simple.  You cut out a bunch of summer activities to that your children can do or that you can do with your children.  When they are bored... pick out an activity from the jar.  Then, do it!  Summers in our house are incredibly busy and hectic because of our photography business.  It is so easy to let the business get in the way of spending quality time with my children.  That is exactly what happened to us last year and I am determined not to let that happen again.  So, I made up a bunch of activities for the kids that mostly included some effort on my part.  You can find a list of activities below.

What you need:
paper
pen (or print from your comp)
jar

That's it!!!

Write out or print your activities into small strips.  Cut them out and fold them in half.

Put them in a cute jar (you can decorate this if you choose).

And you're done!  That's it.  Simple and so cute!

Here are a list of activities that we will be doing this summer.

1. go to possibility playground (the best park EVER!)

2. water pinata - fill a plastic grocery bag with water and hang it outside.  Let the kids hit it with some bats.

3. bike ride

4. obstacle course  - for older children, make a bike course.  for younger children, make a fun running or jumping course.

5. geocaching - use a gps for a fun hunt. more info at geocaching.com (SUPER fun!)

6. beach combing - (craft ideas for this coming after our first trip this summer :)

7. play hide and seek outside

8. go to the zoo (we have a family pass.  So, it's virtually free!)

9. go to the elephant park (another family favorite)

10. make an edible necklace - get creative

11. lollipop hunt - hide lollipops or other treats in your yard for your kids to find.

12. lemonade stand - maybe even for charity!

13. go to the beach

14. make sidewalk paint - more on this later this week

15. have a friend over

16. quiet time with books on a blanket outside

17. mining for gold - spray paint some rocks gold and bury them in a sandbox or other place in your yard. give the kids shovels and let them dig. (We use cheap dollar store toys for this too).

18. picnic at lions den (A really cool place nearby).

19. make a frisbee from recycled items (pizza boxes for example)

20. squirt gun wars with MOM!

21. set up a tent in the yard

22. sun fondue - put chocolate into a bowl and set it in the sun to melt.  Once it melts, dip strawberries, marshmallows, bananas, etc.

VARIATION:

I know some moms add chores to their jars.  It's kind of fun to see if your kids are bored enough to take a risk at picking something fun or something not so fun. 

That just defeats the purpose for us though this summer.  But if it works for you, give it a try.  You can find more on that here.