No matter how many toys your little has or despite all the activities for kids that you have lined up for them, there will be those moments when you hear them say, 'Mama, Papa, I am bored!'. Maybe their friends are away, or the children’s online games and toys have exceeded their attention lifespan, or it's way too hot to step outside to play. Whatever be the reason, there will be those moments when no interest exists in the activities for kids or what they have in hand. In some cases, though, this boredom your child experiences is the result of the energy they feel but have no clue as to where to direct it.  

Though it may put you, parents, in a difficult position, feeling bored is normal for children to experience growing up. Well, don’t we adults have those moments too?! In fact, boredom can be a good thing. It provides children an opportunity to find creative ways to keep themselves occupied amongst all the planned activities for kids.  

In a world that constantly stimulates them, having nothing to do can make them feel uncomfortable. We feel that children should always be occupied, forgetting that the time spent doing nothing also plays an important role in shaping their personalities. Such moments, away from the usual preschool children activities, doing nothing can push our children’s imagination to entertain themselves. There are many other activities for children at home which enable and build their creative abilities during such moments.

The benefits of boredom in children are many. By keeping our children constantly busy, we tend to restrict their power of imagination. Opportunities to experience boredom allow them to engage with their surroundings and explore their innate potentials. This self-exploration, done sometimes through fun activities for kids at home when a child is bored, enables them to understand themselves better. This can, in turn, result in them finding alternative ways to keep themselves occupied.

Things To Do When Kids are Bored:

As parents, you don’t always have to have a solution to your child’s boredom. Several things can be done to ensure that the experience is a meaningful one. Here are some of the things to do when kids are bored.

1. Let Them Experience it: Encourage your child to spend time with themselves. Create opportunities through activities that allow interactive learning for kids during such moments. This enables their imaginative and creative thought processes. 

1. Don’t Offer Solutions Always: It’s important to acknowledge our child’s every emotion. But it doesn’t mean that one needs to react to them. When it comes to boredom, respond to their pleas on boredom by asking their ideas instead of immediately offering a solution for entertainment for kids at home. Do encourage them to think of alternate ways to spend their time. Having them try out something creative, innovative, and out-of-box each time will slowly condition them to think this way automatically the next time around. 

1. Encourage Them to Express Themselves: Every child has their own likes and preferences. These can be very different from yours. Parents need to recognize and acknowledge this. Encouraging them to express themselves based on their preferences allows them to explore their inner abilities and potential. 

1. Tap into their Interests: Through relevant activities for kids, create opportunities for your child to explore their creative interests and talents. Such opportunities provide children an outlet to divert and utilize their energies in a creative manner.

Fun Boredom Busters for Kids:

Here are some prop-free indoor activities for kids that may help beat the boredom blues.

2. Create a Boredom Jar: On scraps of paper, write out different activities for kids. Keep a jar full of such chits containing fun activities for kids at home ready! When your child says, 'I'm bored!', encourage them to pull a paper from the jar and do whatever activity is mentioned on the chit.

2. Come Up With a Play: This can be one of those fun boredom busters for kids and a great way to get them excited. You can help your child pick out a story that they would like to enact. Maybe something you have read together or encourage them to come up with their own stories! The costumes, props (from what is available at home), and just the whole process of bringing all this together will be a creative and engaging experience for your child.

3. Write Letters or Make Handmade Cards: Have your child choose a relative, maybe their grandparents or their favourite aunt, or a best friend to write to. You can also, instead, have them get creative by helping them make paper cards for different occasions. In addition to getting their creative juices flowing, both in terms of art or writing, it also allows them to experience a form of communication that is fast fading.

4. Encourage Them to Fix Things: Have them try fixing their broken toys. This is also a great way to get them curious about how things are made. So go ahead, have them pull apart old items that are safe to do so. This will help them see how those items work. Such activities for kids can help build their curiosity.

5. Spend Some Family Time Together: Sometimes, when children say they are bored, it just might be their way of asking to spend time with you. Take this time to connect and bond with your child. You can maybe have them join you in what you are doing or, even better, make a party of this opportunity. Have a dance party, watch a fun movie or have an exciting game night. Or it can be as simple as having a conversation with your little one.

6. Set Out on a Treasure or Scavenger Hunt: Be it outdoor summer activities for kids or an indoor one, treasure and scavenger hunts can be exciting activities for kids, especially when they are bored. With the clues and items they find along the way, these hunts can be educational games for kids as they will get the chance to learn about different things around them.

7. Encourage Them to Read: Have your child spend some alone time with books or have them choose something to read. Maybe read to or together with your child every day. A regular reading routine will not only instill a love for books in your child but also gives you time to bond with your child in a special way.

8. Move It Move It!: Physical movement will help children release any form of pent-up energy and builds focus. Encourage them to step out for a walk or play. If stepping outside is not an option, simple exercises and games to play at home for kids can do the trick. Challenge each other to skip rope, jumping jacks, obstacle course or climbing stairs. Play physical indoor games like Simon says, hide and seek, scavenger hunt, etc. In addition to physical exercises, music and movement activities, which play an important role in a child’s development, can also entertain children. Check out Kutuki’s ‘Animal Action Song’ and ‘Dinosaur Disco’. These rhymes blend music and movement, which are not only fun, helps develop many essential skills. For more such fun and engaging songs and exercises, download the Kutuki kids learning app now!

9. Art as an Expression: Giving them the chance to draw, paint, color, play with clay, play make-believe, etc allows them to express themselves and have fun at the same time. Find ways to use different materials or tools to keep them engaged, curious and get their creative juices flowing. Watch Kutuki’s Do It Yourself (DIY) activity, ‘Draw a Caterpillar’. The video shows children an easy way to create a caterpillar on paper using paints!

For a range of such engaging art activities for kids, download the Kutuki kids learning app now! 

10. Meaningful Screen Time For Kids: With the use of digital mediums among children only increasing by the day, there is no escaping technology! However, instead of finding ways to ban screen time for kids, why not use technology effectively. 

E-learning apps like Kutuki, created solely for Indian preschoolers of ages 2-6 years, provide creative content for kids. Kutuki recognizes that each child can have a mood and mind of their own. The Kutuki early learning platform builds curiosity and engagement with content among preschoolers using interactive elements through a mixture of creative song and story-based curriculum.

There are more such activities that you can explore based on your child’s interests to help them through their moments of boredom. The tips shared are just some suggestions that you may find useful as you navigate this space. What is important is to identify strategies that will give your child a meaningful experience. All it requires sometimes is to keep it simple. At the end of the day, it’s the simple things- the laughter, connections, and time spent together, they will remember and hold on to. Well, isn’t that what we adults do when we talk about childhood memories?