Things for your children to do that don’t require an e- or an i- . Have a list ready when they say they are bored.
Ever wonder if your kids know about that alternate universe that doesn’t run on “e” and “i”? If you hand them a book, do they try to figure out how to recharge it or where to plug it in? Do they look for the delete button when you hand them a plate of veggies? Do they reach for the fast forward when you are talking to them? Are they “married” to several people on FB? It might be time to disconnect for a little while.
- Here are 101 suggestions to encourage your children to disconnect and connect with the real world:
- Bake cookies and deliver them to an elderly neighbor or relative
- Learn to jump rope
- Start a band
- Work a jigsaw puzzle with a group of friends
- Start a small business
- Volunteer at an animal shelter
- Become a clown and visit nursing homes
- Start a poetry club
- Find a pen pal
- Collect stamps and find people to swap with
- Make a mosaic
- Carve soap into a figurine
- Work with clay and a potter’s wheel
- Walk dogs for neighbors
- Build a model
- Get a group together and break a world record in something
- Start a neighborhood newspaper
- Lie in the grass and look at the clouds
- Read an entire dictionary
- Set up a scavenger hunt for your friends
- Go on a photo safari
- Paint a picture
- Learn to play chess
- Grow an herb garden
- Make a movie with your friends
- Knit a sweater
- Embroider a bib for a baby
- Do yoga
- Learn a new language
- Do a chore without being asked (and watch the magic happen)
- Leave love notes all over the house
- Direct a neighborhood talent show
- Raise money for a charity
- Raise a caterpillar into a butterfly and release
- Wash the dog or clean the bird’s or hamster’s cage
- Mold chocolate candy
- Blow bubbles
- Make a scrapbook of your life
- Make a time capsule and bury it in your back yard to dig up when you are 20
- Cook a five-course meal and serve your family or a group of friends
- Record a song
- Start a book club
- Spend an entire day in the library reading
- Pick a bouquet of wildflowers for your mother
- Make a rock collection
- Play with the hose
- Build a snow fort
- Make a quilt
- Go on a hike and camp out
- Earn and save money for something big you have been wanting
- Participate in a charity event
- Write a fan letter to a celebrity you admire telling them why
- Spend the day getting to know a younger sibling
- Learn to belly dance
- Make sandwiches and deliver to the homeless
- Write out a plan for your future and see how close you come to it
- Make candles
- Dry or press flowers
- Learn calligraphy
- Lie in the grass and look at the stars and identify them
- Create a superhero and write his story in a graphic novel
- Wear a blindfold or earplugs all day to help you better comprehend how blind or deaf people live
- Plan a family night with an activity and snacks
- Spend an entire day praying and talking to God
- Read a book series (Harry Potter, Series of Unfortunate Events, etc.) to a child
- Listen to an opera
- Try a new food
- Sew a pillow
- Tie-dye a T-shirt
- Learn to batik
- Collect coats and gloves for the needy
- Make a loom and weave place mats
- Paint your bedroom
- Jump on a pogo stick
- Try water skiing or tubing
- Bake bread
- Work a crossword puzzle
- Read a newspaper front to back
- Teach someone something you know how to do well
- Tutor someone in a subject in which you are strong
- Run for something (class president, most like to …) or run a campaign for a friend
- Start a petition for a cause you believe in
- Write a congressman about something that concerns you
- Draw a floor plan for your idea of a perfect house
- Run a day camp for neighborhood kids (summer, winter break, spring break)
- Skip everywhere you go for one full day
- Try to answer everyone who talks to you by singing a song
- Play with toys in a bubble bath
- Redecorate your room with a theme
- Throw a surprise party for someone for no particular reason
- Create a new holiday
- Work at a soup kitchen
- Make a budget
- Play in the dirt or mud
- Grow a frog from a tadpole
- Go fishing
- Make a rubber band ball as big as you can
- Speak in pig-Latin for an entire day
- Take a picture of yourself wearing the same thing in the same place every day at the same time for a year and then make a movie of it
- Go to school in formal wear with a few of your friends
- Build a better mousetrap
There you have it. A list to hand your children when you ask them to unplug and they say they are bored. Make substitutions and either hand them the list, or cut into strips and put in a jar and let them draw one out each time they whine. They may discover hidden talents, untried passions, or a lifelong hobby. You may discover a little peace.