Next time someone says they're bored...

Read a book together. Come up with a menu. Shop for the ingredients and cook together. Hike a trail. Picnic outdoors. Plant something in a pot. Play Capture the Flag. Play Red Rover. Have a water balloon fight. Play Hide and Seek. Play Tag. Play Red Light, Green Light. Make a hopscotch with masking tape or chalk. Go Geocaching (www.geocaching.com--requires a gps) Bring butcher paper and art supplies outside. Bake something for a neighbor. Visit someone who is lonely. Visit a museum. Go to the park. Make play-dough. Make a kite and fly it. Say something you're grateful for, for every letter in the alphabet. Make cards for someone to show you care. Paint. Go for a nature walk. Make homemade ice cream in a bag or cans. Make instruments and have a parade. Have a pet parade with the neighborhood kids. Pop some popcorn, and watch a movie outside on a projector screen or laptop. Skip rocks in a lake. Play in a stream. Run in the sprinklers. Have a paper airplane contest. Have an egg dropping contest. Build a fort. Don’t forget the twinkle lights! Gather items from nature and make something out of them. Play “If you love me, Baby, smile.” Tell a story together. One person makes up a line, then the next person makes up a line, etc. Do a “Grateful Shower”. Everyone rains compliments on each other. Go to a friend’s house and weed. Make up a skit. Play charades. Make smores in the kitchen. Make sugar cookies. Bring sketchbooks and a blanket and sit under your favorite shade tree. Make smoothies. Make Fruit Loop or noodle jewelry. Spread shaving cream on a smooth surface and draw in it. Pour uncooked rice on a cookie sheet and draw in it. Take turns guessing what is being drawn. Make bubbles. Fill drinking glasses with various amounts of water and play a tune (gently) with spoons. Make mini popsicles with juice in an ice tray. You can use toothpicks for sticks. Make a zoo for toy animals. Take turns touring the zoo and being the zookeeper. Print a picture on heavy paper and turn it into a puzzle. Wash windows. It’s fun when one person is on each side of the glass. Use a bathroom scale to weigh things around the house. Have a picnic in the living room. Hide treats and play “hotter/colder”. Play Simon Says. Make fruit/snack kebabs. Make apple prints. Cut apples across horizontally so you can see the star shape. Think of an animal. Everyone asks questions until they figure out the animal. Make a portable flannel board. Attach felt to the top of a box. Cut flannel scraps into various shapes. Use your little board to tell stories. Go cloud gazing. Find shapes. Draw what you see. Make paper bag puppets and have a puppet show. Make a painting with berries. Have a family dance. Make a slip-n-slide with a long piece of plastic or garbage bags. Call a grandparent. Build a bug habitat. Build a fairy palace. Find a walking stick and shave one end into a point. Make hand shapes on the wall in a dark room with a flashlight. Make up your own game of pictionary. Play dress-up with mom and dad’s old clothes. Have a fashion show. Measure things around the house. Make a video. Take turns making up jokes. Make a nest. Make a family flag, song, or motto. Have a water fight. Find all the letters of the alphabet. Make notes that say, “Someone cares about you”, and go to the mall to hand them out. Plant a flower. Play “Mucky Goo Monster”. Like tag, but the monster can only get you when you are touching the carpet. Have a sock fight. Make sock puppets. Make masks. Write a letter. Hug.