I know many folks are starting to feel the strain of being at home and are looking for creative ways to keep their children engaged. We have honestly been so busy at home that bored is not a word that comes to mind. We have been spending some extra time getting our school year wrapped up, gardening, riding bikes, and going to zoom meetings.
Most of our extracurricular activities didn’t entirely cancel, they just switched to zoom. I can’t say that I recommend the zoom meetings as a boredom buster but I have found that many of the other activities work great for keeping everyone engaged. I am sharing a few general ideas for keeping boredom at bay and will also include some links to other ‘themed’ posts that have more specific ideas if one of these areas appeals to you.
*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *
Outdoor Time
The recommended amount of time for children to be outside is four to six hours a day. Sometimes this seems a little unachievable with everything else that is going on but during the slower summer months you may be able to get some extra time outside. You may be wondering, what would they do outside for three to four hours a day? There are many options depending on the ages of your children and your location.
My children love to ride their bicycles and scooters, color with sidewalk chalk, play ball, and work with their animals and garden. Gardens have the double benefit of providing science lessons and food for our family in addition to the outside time. In the past we have also enjoyed sprinklers and kiddie pools. As my children were getting older, we decided to get a larger pool this year and they plan to spend many summer days swimming.
Homestead Homeschool: Gardening
Books
When the weather is poor or during the heat of the day you may not want to be outside. That is a great time for reading (though we also take our books outside for reading when the weather is nice.) You can read aloud to younger children or have older children read independently. I have also found that audiobooks are a great choice for younger children that cannot read fluently, or struggling readers.
For audiobooks there are three resources that have been very beneficial to our family. First, we love audible! I can purchase the books with credits or at a discount throughout the month (always use your credits on the more expensive books and pay directly for the cheaper ones for the best deals), then we can listen as a family or I can send them directly to my children’s kindle libraries so they can listen on their own time.
Focus on the Family has some wonderful free streaming options. Their radio theater productions are some of our very favorite audio dramas. We also enjoy Adventures in Odyssey and the Pond.
Finally, while our family does not normally take advantage of our local library, my six-year-old has been loving listening to the Boxcar Children on audio using overdrive and his library card.
Read All the Books: Free and Discounted Online Literature Resources
5 Days of For the Love of Reading
Hobbies
Finally, I think hobbies are great ways for children (and adults) to increase knowledge and skills while keeping themselves engaged. For our children they spend an hour or more most days practicing their music lessons. There are many resources to help them get started with music.
We also enjoy a variety of crafts, from coloring and painting to weaving and sewing projects. These can be lots of fun for a variety of ages. You can start with basic art supplies and their imaginations, use online art lessons, or purchase fun kits to put together. There are also a variety of online resources to teach most any craft your child would like to pursue.
Finally, there are many other hobbies from coin collecting to square dancing. With the internet at our fingertips we can help our children research and get started on a new hobby that will keep them interested and engaged.
Adding Fun to Your Homeschool: Incorporating Hobbies
Adding Music To Your Homeschool (When You Aren’t A Musical Mom)
Keeping Children Engaged and Active During COVID 19
Exploring Hobbies on a Time and Money Budget
I hope these ideas will help you through the rest of these days at home and through the summer. If all else fails, you can always offer chores and a remedy for boredom. You would be amazed at how quickly boredom disappears when dishes are the antidote. I would love to have you share your favorite boredom busters in the comments and you can check out ideas from other Review Crew members here.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies!
Tuttle Twins is currently offering a HUGE sale of 75% off their books, workbooks,and audios. This is a great series for teaching about economics and government.
If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale! I have multiple reviews on the blog about different courses we use from them. This is an amazing price for an entire year for your whole family and lots of really neat bonus gifts! Simply click on this link and use code: 19GIFTS
Homeschool Complete is offering a special 10% off discount to my readers! Just use code: SWAG
Evan-Moor is offering their Daily Fundamentals book FREE right now to help out during this time.
Get a FREE Literature Kit from LitWits using Code 11READ4FUN. We are currently enjoying the Heidi kit but have also previously loved the My Side of the Mountain kit.
IEW is offering some great free resources right now.
FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!
Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)
The Schoolin' Swag Blog 
audible is a great resource isn’t it? I”ve added curiousity stream as well… wonderful documentaries to listen too.
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I need to look into curiosity stream.
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