Boredom Busters 1: Crafts and Puzzles

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“I’m bored.” We know it’s good for our kids to be bored. It fosters creativity and encourages kids to come up with ideas to fill the time. It also helps prepare kids for the future, because we all know being an adult involves a lot of boring tasks. But it’s not fun to be a parent listening to your kid whine about how bored they are. So here are some ideas to suggest to your bored kid, because sometimes they just need a jumping off point for their imagination.

For little kids, it can be a bit harder for them to engage in totally independent play without needing you for various necessary (or unnecessary) reasons. Some of these ideas do involve parent participation, though I still think it’s helpful to give parents fresh ideas for play.

In addition to providing fodder for independent play, some of these ideas are great for being in the car, at a restaurant, or at a sibling’s sporting event.

Be sure to check out Boredom Busters 2 and Boredom Busters 3 for more ideas like pretend play, building toys, outdoor activities and more.

Crafts/Art

Little Kids:  When my kids were little, we did a ton of cute crafts together, but they needed my help. Here are some independent craft options for little kids:

  •  Coloring! Pick a coloring book with a character or theme your kid likes, and go for it. Crayons are good for very little kids who may end up with marker all over their bodies. When you’re ready for it, I like Crayola washable markers, both regular and fine tipped, and we have a neat set of dual tip markers that my kids default to now. Crayola colored pencils are reliable, but we also liked Faber-Castell colored pencils.

  • I love water coloring books, like Water Wow or Paint with Water books from Melissa and Doug. There are a ton of options out there, even a Harry Potter one!

  • Little kids LOVE stickers. Sticker books are fun and come in different themes. Honestly, sometimes my kids would just put random stickers I got from Trader Joe’s or extra address labels on a plain piece of paper.

  • My kids loved reusable stickers too. We got a ton of use out of this one. One of my kids had the Chipmunk House from this set of puffy reusable sticker and they used it again and again without issues.

  • Air Dry Clay is great for kids of all ages, as long as your kid is old enough to know they can’t eat it. One tip though, leftovers do tend to dry out unless you seal them back in the bag super well, squeezing all the air out first. I usually just picked a couple colors at a time (maybe 3-4, and add more if they were really into it) for my kids to use rather than open most of the colors and end up with tons of leftovers. If your kids are really small, I’d do this out of their sight so they don’t see all the colors and demand to use them all. This is a fun activity for kids of all ages too, not just little kids.

  • Dry Erase Boards are fun for kids of all ages. Since markers are involved, and dry erase markers are sometimes not as washable as other kinds, this may be an activity you monitor for kids who still have trouble writing/holding the marker. We used these dry erase markers because they don’t smell as bad as others. This is a cool travel dry erase board.

Older Kids:

  • I bought a container with assorted arts and craft supplies (pipe cleaners, sequins, googly eyes, feathers, popsicle sticks, etc.) and that helped my kids come up with all kinds of crafts. I’ve since refilled it and can’t find the exact item I bought, but this looks very similar. My kids have made beds and furniture for little creatures/figurines, they’ve twisted pipe cleaners in different patterns and attached them to popsicle sticks to make little people, they’ve made pom-pom creatures, etc.

  • There are also a ton of free craft supplies around your house—paper clips, old socks and gloves, cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, paper towel and toilet paper rolls (we did about a thousand toilet paper roll crafts during the pandemic including these cute Santas as Christmas gifts for friends/neighbors).

  • We use this glue gun and get these back up glue sticks. Now the kids are old enough to use it themselves, and they love it. Recently, they’ve been making stuffed animals out of old socks, stuffing, googly eyes, pom poms and such, complete with clothes (made from other socks, felt, etc.)

  • While I don’t love incorporating an iPad into craft time, I do love Art for Kids Hub. This youtube channel does instructional drawing for all sorts of pictures.  

  • My kids got a lot of use out of this loom. They made so many potholders that we made “potholder purses” for each of them!

  • Rainbow looms are also fun and easy. My kids have made so many that I recently bought refill sets with rubber bands and charms. They love the charms; I think it motivates them to make bracelets just to put the charms on.

  • Over the years, we’ve accrued a lot of beads and string, which the kids would make into bracelets or necklaces. It’s a relaxing activity for them, works for a range of ages, and is good for fine motor skills. Here’s a good set to start with. We even made these cute bead animals, though they did need my help at the time for that.

  • We’ve used some sewing kits to make little stuffed animals, and that was a hit. It is a bit trickier, so they may need help though. Here’s one I haven’t used personally, though I like the brand. The stuffed animals are sort of small, so maybe better for older kids. This one may be better for younger kids.

  • We’ve used a pom-pom animal craft similar to this. Kid’s animal crochet kits are cool too.

Puzzle Books

  • I love puzzles! Highlights has awesome puzzle books, even for little kids age 3-6. For that age range, you can look for matching, mazes, spot the difference, or connect the dots.

  • For older kids, you have many more options. Highlights also has great puzzle books for older kids that we’ve loved. Hidden Pictures (here’s a hard one) are so fun, and range from easy to hard. There are word puzzles, books with different kinds of puzzles, and holiday puzzles like this Halloween one I just bought!

  • Sudoku is a great puzzle, and they make books for kids.

  • Ken Ken is a fun puzzle that involves math, so definitely not for very little kids. Here’s a beginner one, and here’s the giant book we use with advanced options. But the easiest ones involve very basic addition, so don’t be afraid to try it at younger ages.

  • They also make crossword books for kids. Here’s a beginner one we bought, here’s another that looks cool for ages 8-12.

  • My kids love Mad Libs, though you do need to be writing/reading to do them solo. Here’s a big combo book of Mad Libs. They also involve some sneaky learning, since you need to know what adjectives, verbs, etc. are to fill in the blanks.

  • Try seek and find books, like Carmen Sandiego, I Spy, Where’s Waldo, etc. Those are popular ones, but there are others; we had one of these which I like because they have a checklist, some Disney versions, and a random Easter Bunny one I got at a library sale that my kids did a million times.

  • Magic Eye books are fun, though I struggle to see the image. My kids have figured it out though…

  • Electronic readers are great! We’ve used these readers. They come with books, and kids can press the buttons to have the book read to them. There are many different themes. It’s a great easy solo activity that involves reading, so 10/10 in my book.

    You can see a bunch of puzzle/activity book suggestions on my Puzzle/Activity Books for Kids book list on Bookshop.org.