Sunday, July 13, 2008

Summer Boredom Busters

This is a post that's probably best suited for Works for Me Wednesday, but I always remember that it's Wednesday too late. And this is on my mind now....

So it's HOT here. And the goal of everyday for me is to stay inside as much as possible with A/C on. I seriously wilt in the heat....headaches, nausea, weak and shaky feelings. I just can't handle it. So needless to say, we've been in the house a lot the last few weeks and for a while, the kids were getting VERY restless. I realized that once all the games had been played, all the books had been read, all the shows on DVR had been watched and the kids were tired of each other, I needed to come up with something fun, NOW. So here are the a couple of the things we do when nothing else works:

*Sock Wars. This is so fun, y'all. I'm guessing you could just let the kids loose and play by themselves if you have to, but I can't resist a game of Sock Wars with my kids. Gather up as many pairs of balled up socks as you can...kids socks work best and I'd say 10 or so pairs per person is the most fun. Get on opposite ends of the room and just throw the socks at each other, all the while trying not to get hit. Silliness is key, too. I love getting my kids really distracted with something silly and then pelting them when they least expect it....they fall over laughing, they think it's so hilarious. And the good thing about the socks is that there's really no way anyone can get hurt by getting hit...unless they get in the eye unexpectedly, which has happened a few times here, but they quickly get over it. Anyway, we wear ourselves out with this game. And my kids can't believe I'd let them throw things at each other OR make a mess like this.

*Window coloring. Did you know that dry erase markers come off windows easily? I learned that by accident one day when Marc-Adam colored every surface in the play room with a marker (however, dry erase marker does not come off walls or rugs so easily). I use this one as a last resort simply because even though the older two kids understand which surfaces we can color on and which we can't, Marc-Adam does not. But if you don't have little ones around, letting the kids color on the windows is great fun.

*Milk blowing. Ok, this was not originally my idea, and personally, I think it's weird and kinda gross, but my kids LOVE this. Get a plate, a small cup and a straw. Fill the cup about halfway with milk and put the cup on the plate. Let the kids use the straws to blow in to the milk and make bubbles. If they overflow the cup, it'll drip on to the plate, so there's little clean up. Seriously, my kids could do this for half an hour. It's so weird. After a while, the milk gets warm and slobbery and then they want to drink it which really grosses me out, so I try to take it away before they get that idea. But if they do drink some, it's no biggie.

So what kind of boredom busters do you use?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hear you on the heat - two minutes outside and we're all covered in sweat.

Wonderful ideas - I LOVE the sock war idea. I have a feeling my 5 year old is going to love it, too. I don't think we'll use her beaded socks, though!

Unknown said...

dry erase markers work on the mirrors as well.

i'm also a fan of the indoor playground at local fast-food places. i bring our own food, buy a drink for me, and we can stay there for quite a while!!