At our house, boredom is not allowed and is never an excuse to watch TV or complain. My children know all too well that complaining “Mom, I’m bored,” is a fast way to get assigned an extra chore or two.
Recently, while visiting a friend, I saw an intriguing system she used to help encourage imagination, cleaning skills and healthy habits in her children. She called it “The Bored Jar” and I asked her if I could borrow her system and share it because it works so well.
The Bored Jar
The basic idea of a “Bored Jar” is a jar, box or bucket of some kind filled with ideas of chores & activities that children can do if they complain of boredom.
At my friend’s suggestion, I created this as something to send my children to if they got bored, but they ended up loving it. In fact, they call it “the fun jar” and even ask on occasion if they can pick out something to do.
I filled our jar with wooden tokens that I had written activities, exercises and chores on. I made sure to have a good mixture of things that they enjoy doing and chores that they don’t enjoy as much so they’d be willing to pick something. I also found that the younger kids typically want to tag along with the older kids’ jobs so it has been a good way to foster teamwork.
The chores in the jar are either above and beyond their normal chores or chores that can be done more than once per day (like sweeping the kitchen floor- at least at our house!)
Bored Jar Activity Ideas
The activities will vary by your family’s needs, but here are some ideas from our jar:
- Clean the hall bathroom
- Wipe down all downstairs door frames with a microfiber
- Do 50 jumping jacks
- Write a note to a friend
- Do 30 squats
- Rearrange and re-fold a dresser drawer
- Do 10 handstands
- Draw a picture
- Water the plants
- Read for 10 minutes (or more)
- 35 wall balls
- Make a treasure hunt for a sibling
- Write a story
- Run around the yard 5 times
- Build a blanket fort
- Make a list of something in the house/yard that starts with each letter of the alphabet
- Vacuum upstairs
- Vacuum downstairs
- Sweep the kitchen (5 of these in the jar)
- Mop the kitchen
- Collect broken crayons to re-melt in silicon molds
- Jump on the rebounder for 10 minutes
- 10 minute dance party!
- Do a puzzle
- 25 cartwheels
- Play a board game
- Climb the inside rope
- Wash a load of laundry
- Fold a load of laundry
- Clean upstairs bathroom
- Invent a new game
- Paint
- Play music
- Clean all the mirrors in the house
- Dust house
- Have a picnic
- Draw a picture of your family
- Load dishwasher
- Empty dishwasher
- Do 40 Pushups
- Climb the rope 4 times
- Write a note to an extended family member
- Watch an educational movie (the one they always hope to get)
- Make paper airplanes
- Find a new recipe to cook in a cookbook
- Alphabetize books
- Sweep garage
- 10 pull-ups
- Play hide and seek (inside or outside)
- Nerf gun war!
- Run up and down the stairs 5 times
How to Make a Bored Jar
Really any kind of container could be used for a bored jar and even something as simple as paper strips could be used inside.
I know how rough my kids are on things, so I opted for these wooden disks and a heavy duty glass jar that I picked up at a thrift store. My friend used popsicle sticks in a metal bucket.
I just wrote the activities on the wooden coins and put them in the jar. The Bored Jar now sits on a shelf in our living room and gets used daily.
What do your children do when they are bored? What activities would you add to the jar?
Homemade Solid Shampoo Bar Recipe
Hi, Katie:
My daughter is well beyond the years of coming to mama when she’s bored. I wish I had thought of using something like this to take the charge out of those “Mom I’m BORED!” moments. Even more than that I wish I hadn’t made boredom the enemy. Boredom is one of those states that often (though not necessarily always) is a cover for something more authentic beneath. Boredom left to its own devices can become be a catapult for day dreaming – something our culture also tends to disapprove of despite the fact that many great and influential ideas came in “Aha!” moments discovered when a mind was wandering. A ‘shower moment’ if you will. What about a ‘One Minute Hug from Mom’ chip Or a ‘Take Five Deep Breaths’ chip? The hug/breathing can help your child (and you) tolerate the discomfort of boredom and help them unearth the more difficult thing beneath it or help them remember the fun thing they wanted to accomplish. One minute seems short for us but it’s a rather longer time for young children and for a hug. I’ve read that hugs only become effective if they are held for 11 seconds or more. Don’t take my advice but check it out for yourself. It’s only 11 seconds and yet……! I’d love to hear about it if anyone starts experimenting with this!
Love this idea…I am creating one and we will start implementing this in our nest. I bet I will never hear those words again!
Great idea.
Our 3 kids are all grown now, but when they were little I would always say that there is no such thing as being bored, go make a “project”. I had a closet stacked full of bins with all sorts of scrap: yarn, paper scrap, fabric scrap, wood pieces – everything. Enough material to get their creativity going all by themselves. Never bored and to this day they are all very creative.
Same at our house when my 3 were growing up- bored was considered the ‘b’ word and if they ever said it,I’d rephrase and say, ‘oh you can’t decide what to do?’
Love the ‘b-word jar’ will definitely pass on to my kids for their own!!
I sent this link to my daughter who loves this idea. She is filling a jar as I type!
Wow! This is a great tip! Zaps boredom while cleaning up the house. Cool!
Great idea… We grew up with the same sort of idea that being bored just wasn’t allowed. Either we would find something to entertain ourselves or my Mom would find something that needed to be done. We got creative with our downtime so we didn’t risk getting assigned a ‘bad’ job. To this day I am never bored. Always something to do/learn/enjoy.
It seems like an awesome idea. I can’t wait to implement when my two girls are older. Thanks.
Love this idea! I have no kids but will pass this on to other with kids..Thanks
This is perfect for the whole family :)) thanks for posting!
I love the idea… But the real message a child sends when they say.. I’m bored.. is I want to spend time with you. A good way around that would be to think of ways to let them help you.. in the kitchen. .. Although there are times when its perfectly okay. for children to be bored.
I just listened to a science friday pod cast on the connection between boredom and creativity.
They are actually doing research on the affects of boredom and creativity.
Great post.
I dont think we should make blanket statements like that, it’s a little extreme to say all kids that say they are bored really mean they want to spend time with you is too much of a generalization, and just simply not true. I am sure that it is indeed true for some kids, but not all.
My kids complained of being bored just this afternoon, right after we made homemade play-doh then played with it for about 2 hours. Making fruit and veggie shapes that we are growing in the garden; they were a bit tired and they were hoping to watch cartoons (their TV time is very limited) but we went outside and blew bubbles instead. I think they just get bored. And this Bored Jar is a FABULOUS IDEA. If you feel your kids do need more time with you then put some activities in the jar that make you a part of them.