Hope you like this list of activities to help fight the summer boredoms. At our house we had
3x5s with inside activities and outside activities. But Becky's idea was a bit more fun since you
could put them in a box and pull them out, never knowing exactly what the choice will be.
Hope this helps keep the sanity in your summer.
We made a list at the beginning of the summer, bought some color foam "popsicle sticks" and
wrote each thing on a stick. They are color coded:
Outside Activity
Inside Activity
Rainy Day Activity
Arts and Crafts
Outing: Indoors
Outing: Outdoors
I have even written the names of specific parks, gone through our Crafts book and written
down specific crafts with their page numbers, etc on there. Then, we choose one whenever
the situation warrants and have at it! We've had such a full summer already that we
actually haven't used it very much yet but I figure that most of the things will be good
through the fall too. I find that it's not only helpful for us during the day but for when
Dad's home at night or on weekends too. We want to do something but invariably can't
think of anything except for our "regulars" so this helps shake things up a bit.

For the outings, we need to pick them a week in advance so we have time to prepare.

I have a friend (the one I got this whole idea from) who has some older kids and she also
gives them each a bucket of sticks on which they write the names and phone numbers of
friends they like to have over to play. They choose a name every-so-often and call them
to set up a play date. It's fun and they work on their scheduling and phone skills at
the same time!

Anyway, enough of my rambling. I will definitely keep this list to add to our
sticks for next year!
Paint a mural on a wall
Decorate bed sheets with fabric paint
Make hats (and pants! and shoes!) from aluminum foil
Make stilts from empty coffee cans
Stay home and play with squirt guns
Make candles
Juggle eggs
Take a bath in blue food coloring
Make paper
Paint pictographs on your basement walls
Sing opera
Make a kite
Build a volcano
Build a baking soda rocket
Make people out of marshmallows, raisins and
toothpicks, then squash them.
See how many things you can stack on a cracker
and still get it into your mouth
Paint a "stained glass" window
Carve polar bears out of Ivory soap
Make a wind sock
Build a book shelf
Record different sounds around the house and see if the
other person can guess what they are when played back
Shoot spit wads at the ceiling and see if they stick
Draw chalk outlines of yourselves on the sidewalk.
Build an igloo out of sugar cubes.
Make ceiling art - hang an outfit from the ceiling with
thumb tacks as if a body is floating up there.
Tie streamers on the ceiling fan
Cut out shoe prints (or paw prints, or ants, or spiders ) and
stick them to walls and across the ceiling.
Paint faces on fruits and vegetables.
Plan (in drawings) a silly menu for dinner.
Here is another list my daughter and I made for her to
refer to when she's bored.
Find a sibling and play a board game (list of games
we own)
Kick the soccer ball/shoot some hoops
Make a tent out of sheets in the living room and
eat snacks under it
Dress up and pretend
Play drama games
Make tea and muffins, invite others to join you.
Set table and light candles.
Cut flowers make a bouquet
Make creations using Play dough or modeling clay
Use binoculars to watch birds.
Cut paper and glue it.
Use the "how to draw" books on bookshelves
Draw with sidewalk chalk
Play in the paddock
Go online and play a game on the Internet,
Pop popcorn; watch a movie
Make Popsicles.
Read a book
Memorize a poem
Write a poem
Choreograph a dance in the living room
Keep a scrapbook
Make origami
Make and hang Chinese lanterns from a string
across the kitchen
Bake cookies
Write a letter or email
Rearrange your bedroom furniture
Plant seeds or flowers
Write your own story and illustrate it
Clean out your bedroom
Sit in a tree and whistle or just daydream
Take a walk with a bottle of water
Create a cozy hiding place (blankets, pillow) and
bring your headphones/CD player to it. Sit quietly reading or
listening or snoozing.
Go play with the dog
Snuggle in bed with kittens
Play outside on your bike
Make up a song to sing to anyone who will listen
including the animals
Eat.
Organize a treasure hunt
Help mummy
Help daddy
HAVE IDEAS TO ADD, LET US KNOW!!
 (c) 2004 Texas Home Educators