Have you heard of an I’m Bored Jar?
Isn’t it funny how your kids count down the days until school is out and they can relax and enjoy their Summer vacation, but once it’s here they are crippled with Summer boredom? It probably has something to do with the fact that during the school year our kid’s schedules are so structured between school and afterschool activities. Now they have soo much time and can do virtually anything but are lacking direction.
This is where an I’m Bored Jar works so well. When your kids are “bored” then they can pull out the Jar and reach in and grab a paper out with a Summer Activity on it. This printable comes with 2 ready to print pages. The first page has the I’m Bored Jar Lable as well as 24 rectangles filled with generic activities from ride your bike, read a book, put together a puzzle and even clean your room. The second page has 36 blank rectangles which you can write in your own suggestions. The reason I did this is that you know your kids the best. You know their interests, what toys they have and what activities you approve for your kids. Some parents only want electronic free activities others don’t mind their kids playing on a game system for a set amount of time or watching a movie.
Click here to go to my Family Printables Download page to get your own I’m Bored Jar Printables.
In addition to an I’m Bored Jar I highly suggest putting together an I’m Bored Box. What is this? It is a box filled with NEW toys and activities that correlate to some of the I’m Bored Jar papers. I like to fill mine with NEW Novelty Toys and Activities that I order from Oriental Trading Company since they have a fun selection at great prices. (that and each toy/activity comes in multiples which is a good thing because I have more than one kid and if one kid is doing something odds are the others will want to as well.)
The toy’s/activities I ordered from Oriental Trading Company for this year’s “I’m Bored Box” were See-Through Bug Jars and small Magnifying Glasses (since my kids love learning about nature), Pull Back Cars (To do Pull back races on the kitchen floor or sidewalk), Transparent Prisms (to have fun looking through), Connecting Gear Shapes (to build with), Color Your Own 3D Pirate Ship (since my kids love to color and build things), Bubble Wands (I have a Killer Homemade Bubble Solution Recipe that makes great bubbles), Super Villian Bean Bag Toss Game (my youngest especially loves playing with this.), Pirate Treasure Chest filled with Pirate accessories (for the kids to use while playing pirates or to do a treasure hunt with).
To assemble the I’m Bored Jar Download the Printable and then cut the label out with scissors and either tape or glue it onto a quart sized canning jar.
Then I used my favorite Cricut Trimmer (from the Cricut Tool Set) to cut all the activity paper apart before folding them and placing them in the jar.
For each of the I’m Bored activities that dealt with something in my I’m Bored box I put a * on the paper to let them know the toys/activity materials were in the secret I’m Bored Box. The kids always get excited when they see that * symbol because they know it means they get to play with something NEW and exciting.
