Are you looking for ways to entertain the kids without it costing a fortune? Next time you hear “There’s nothing to do” or “I’m bored”, don’t panic! We have teamed up with Chivers Jelly whose tag line ‘take a moment to make a moment’, has inspired us to come up with these low-cost and free boredom-busting ideas to inspire parents and children everywhere.
From cooking to learning new skills, days out to days at home, we have it all! We even have some chores built in that are disguised as fun things to do!
Low-Cost and Free Boredom Busting Ideas
Terrific Themed Days
From ‘yes’ days to country, letter or colour themed days, you can really have some fun with this idea.
For instance, on a colour themed day, everyone has to:
- Wear clothing of that colour
- Eat food of that colour (Chivers Jelly has lots of colours to choose from!)
- Do activities with items of that colour
- Read stories with the colour in the name
- Paint or draw with only that colour
- Have a scavenger hunt for items that colour
- Sort toys into colours
Similarly, using a letter, you can base activities around the letter you have chosen. Or using a country you could cook the food of that country, see if you can find 10 interesting facts about the country, dress in the colours of the flag, and much more!
Get Creative in the Kitchen
Cooking or baking is not only a fun way to spend time together, but is also a great teaching opportunity for younger children. And, for older kids, it’s a way to give them a bit of independence and some ideas for when they eventually leave home.
Making jelly is a good place to start. Children will learn to measure, stir and pour, and will need to have patience while it sets. Chivers Jelly have a full range of delicious flavours and some tasty recipes to test your new-found skills, from cakes to rainbow jelly pots and everything in between!
Once they have mastered the basics, you should encourage the children to pick recipes from cookbooks or get ideas online for dinners and treats that are easy to prepare.
Challenge them to create something from ingredients you already have at home, and go one further to get them cooking a family meal at least once a week.
Be sure to take photos and create an online scrapbook of your family favourites. You could even create your very own family cookbook to give each child when they do move onto college or their own home.
Terrific Treasure Hunt
A treasure hunt can be as simple as asking everyone to find a range of items indoors or outdoors, or can be more complex and entertain for hours on end. It really depends on the ages of the children and the time you have to prepare.
Get thinking about different treasure hunts you could design for your children, they don’t have to cost anything and are always a great family talking point too.
And, for at-home treasure hunts, the prize at the end could lead them to the fridge for a jelly treat!
Break Out the Board Games
We all have cupboards full of board games, but how often do we play them? Either organise a board game night or challenge the children to play as many as they can in one afternoon!
Best of all, any they don’t enjoy could be brought to the charity shop which will help with decluttering too.
Build a Den and Have an Indoor Picnic
Whether you build a den indoors or in the garden, children will love the idea of having their own special place to while away a few hours.
Camps can be made with blankets, towels and furniture, or you may have a tent that can be pitched in the garden. And remember, a tasty picnic is a must for any good camping expedition!
Boredom Busting Boxes
Often, when my girls were younger, the box seemed to be the most enjoyable part of the present! Be inspired by some of these cardboard craft ideas and enjoy how your child can play for hours with boxes, decorating them to create everything from doll’s houses to cars, buses and trains!
Teach Yourself a Tune
Once you have eaten your Chivers Jelly pot, wash out the pots and keep them until you have enough to teach yourself the cup song.
If you already know the cup song, use the pots to create your very own musical instruments and write and perform some songs for the family using them.
Learn a New Language
Get the children ready for your next holiday by getting them to learn some handy phrases in the language of the country you plan to visit. There are numerous langauge learning websites and apps that have simple phrases and help with pronunciation.
As an alternative you could encourage the children to learn how to say ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’ in 10 different languages to start with and test them by showing them flags from each country.
When you show them the flag, see if they can recite the salutations in the language the flag represents. This has the added benefit of teaching them to recognise flags from different countries too.
Sensory Play with Jelly
Jelly makes for a great sensory play activity. It is perfect for younger children as well as older, because it is safe to eat and my experience with younger children is that everything goes in their mouths!
You will need to prepare the day before to have your jelly set, but once that is done, you are all ready to let the fun commence.
Be sure to place a wipe proof mat or tablecloth out (it will get messy!) and lay your tray of jelly on top. To get going, you can ask the children to
- tell you what it smells like
- tell you what colour it is (you could make different layers)
- what it tastes like
- what is feels like
Afterwards let them play with the jelly, squish it and see how it breaks up and what it feels like in their hands. Have some containers and spoons on hand to get them scooping and filling and making jelly ‘sandcastles’. Use smaller plastic toys for them to bury or have adventures in the jelly mountain! They can also create different shapes and designs using cookie cutters.
Next time, you could add some extra ingredients like fruit, sweets or clean plastic toys for them to discover in the jelly and get older children creating jelly rainbow pots, with each layer having to set before they add the next one!
Learn a New Skill
From cards to magic tricks, science experiments to crafting, encourage your children to learn a new skill. We have a few suggestions to get you started:
- Learn to make jelly
- Do a science experiment
- Learn to knit
- Make a bug hotel
- Learn a new card game
- Learn a tongue twister
- Make your own bubble mixture
- Make play dough
- Learn a magic trick
Chores that are also fun things to do
Get that clever parenting brain working and see how you can give chores disguised as fun things to do when your child announces they are bored!
From ‘who can get their duvet back in the cover quickest’ to fun playroom sorting activities, or getting them helping in the kitchen, there are numerous ways chores can be made fun.
We hope we have inspired you to create special moments together with some of these ideas – while having plenty of fun too.
About the Author: Michelle
