Boredom Buster: THE ACTUAL LIST

(The rules and schedule are next I promise. Well soon anyway....)

I shouldn’t have done that. Teased about the big list my kids came up with. The big list that was going to save our summer boredom lives.

The goal?

Fill up 8 half hour blocks of time with activities that (mostly) do not include mom. 4 hours, people!

Category 1:

Cooking Time— This works out to be snack time and play time all rolled into one!

(one day’s half hour is spent- a)finding recipes and b) writing up a list of any ingredients we might not have in the pantry!)

Recipes on their list:

1. Strawberry Bread
2. Chocolate Cheesecake squares
3. Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
4. Fruit Kabobs with yogurt dipping sauce
5. Nachos
6. Carrots and Ranch, Cheese and Crackers
7. Sadie’s famous Chocolate cookies (2 eggs, ½ cup oil, one box chocolate cake mix---presto!)

(Later they added in the brilliant idea that once a week THEY would cook dinner! I love that one!)

Category 2:

Education/School Time—Believe it or not they love this one?

Options for this half hour time slot:

1. Reading (to self or to younger sibling) Sadie is up to book 5 Harry Potter, Sassy is reading Magic Tree House and anything by Barbara Park, (just finished “Operation Dump The Chump”).
   
2. Computer Games (you can find a bazillion suggestions for great edu/games, just google it!)
3. A couple we like are: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/ and http://www.prongo.com/ and http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
4. Play ‘school’, usually Sadie's the 'teacher', but every so often I see 'em switch it around?

Category 3:

Sports—preferrably outside…

1. Golf
2. Soccer
3. Baseball (or T-ball for TK)
4. Learn how to play Cricket?
5. Bowling
6. Tennis

(Make up your own ‘yard’ versions of these games and away you go!)

Category 4:

Science—this is a lot like cooking time…

1. Make goop.
2. Make sidewalk paint (from cornstarch)
3. Make homemade bubbles
4. Dig up worms from the ‘worm factory’ AKA mom’s compost heap.
5. Goto Library, get book on science experiments for kids (this was on the list I swear…I’m just typing it).

Category 5:

Art Time---always a favorite…

1. Rainbow Paint
2. Markers, crayons, regular paint
3. Work on scrapbooks
4. Chalk art
5. Foam Shape art
6. Make props for Drama (see Cat. 6)

Category 6:

Drama—(and other live action stuff)

1. Skits
2. Plays
3. Commercials
4. Magic Shows
5. Choreograph their own Dances
6. Fashion Shows

And then video their hard work…that’s the best part!

Category 7:

Free Time—They love this one too. (After coming up with all this other stuff, they love just hanging out)

1. Time alone in bedroom
2. Play in playroom
3. Read
4. Play in backyard
5. Find friends in the neighborhood
6. Barbies/Polly Pocket/Cars/Ben10

Category 8:

Bigger projects--

1. Kid’s Camp—On the weeks we run one of these, a lot of the other categories are spent planning and preparing for this. See my post about it here.
2. Lemonade stands fall under this one too.

At the bottom of the big list, they added a few ‘hopefuls’

1. Go bowling.
2. Museums.
3. Drive to Cove Fort, Utah.
4. Ride the train and have lunch with Dad.
5. Visit the local ‘gardens’.
6. Spend a day at the local Theme Park.
7. Have cousin’s over for several days at a time.

Don’t ya love Summer time with kids?