Wednesday, June 25, 2008

WFMW: No more "I'm BORED!"

Years ago, when my oldest were little (like 1 & 2) I found an idea and ran with it, knowing that the day would come that I would need it. They didn't yet know the words, "I'm BORED!" but I knew that the day would come and I'd need to be prepared. I created the "I can't think of anything to do" book. The idea is simple, banish the word BORED from their vocabulary. (Actually, that was easier than I thought it would be!), then replace it with "I can't think of anything to do." I hand them the book and they find something that we can both agree on and VOILA! We're good to go.

Here's how I did it: I picked up a cheap photo album, with the full pages so that I could slide ideas in them that weren't full page ideas. Then I got the plastic page protectors and put a bunch of them in there. They work great for 8 1/2 x 11 pages. Then, I went online and found great ideas to add to it. At first, I printed a bunch from Mommysavers.com. (If you haven't been there and you have babies to toddlers, it's a GREAT resource! There are some ideas for older kids, but it's mostly for the littler ones.) There was a list on there "200 things to do on summer vacation" or something like that and I printed it. It was simple things like:
  • mow the lawn
  • bake something
  • fold laundry
  • hold a tea party
  • play flashlight tag
There were more involved ideas on it, too like:
  • teach yourself to play harmonica, guitar or recorder
  • make picture frames from twigs and cardboard
  • sew buttons on old shirts in cool designs
So, you can see there was some major variety. The list is still available if you follow this link to Mommysavers.

I also found some worksheet printables and put copies of them in there. When they started bringing ideas home from school I added them to the book. The most recent entry is how to make Flubber with borax, water and glue. Really cool stuff!

So, the "I can't think of anything to do" book WORKS FOR ME!

4 comments:

  1. Good idea. definitely something I should consider during the summer.

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  2. Great idea. I'll have to build one this summer. :)

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  3. You should "market" it. Sell them off your blog or give one away free! Its a great idea!

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  4. Love it! You are so Creative

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