Kids and Summer Boredom

​​​With the arrival of summer comes the proverbial comment from kids … “There's nothing to do!" While kids are quick to complain that they are bored, being bored is not a bad thing. In fact, boredom prompts children to come up with things to do and is actually quite beneficial. Boredom helps kids to develop new skills, expand their creativity and build self-esteem. Sometimes they need a little help thinking of things to do, but with some guidance they can be off and running.

Finding things to keep your kids busy and entertained over the summer can be challenging. However, it is important not to immediately rush to your children's rescue when they complain of being bored. Periods of boredom require kids to rely on themselves for entertainment and are essential to a healthy childhood. Feeling bored presents kids with an opportunity to do something different and those who learn to replace boredom by getting involved in an activity experience a genuine sense of satisfaction.

Boredom helps kids to develop:

• Creativity, imagination and curiosity
• Problem-solving skills and flexibility
• Tolerance for less-than-ideal situations by learning to manage frustrations and regulate emotions
• Relationship skills by collaborating with friends in creative play
• Independence and confidence

Be proactive towards boredom this summer by creating lists of things your kids enjoy doing, along with project ideas and challenges. It's often helpful to put these ideas on an activity chart to make them easily accessible. Here are some boredom-busting ideas:

For young kids:

• Take a nature walk
• Build a fort
• Play with Legos or puzzles
• Color or do crafts

For older kids and teens:

• Board games
• Art projects
• Work on sports skills
• Read a book

For more helpful ideas about activities to combat summer boredom in your kids, visit: 

Summer Activities
Additional Resources

• Transcript

  Summer Boredom

  Well, there’s benefits to allowing our kids to be a little bored during the summer instead of having a jam-packed summer. Such as it does allow them to be motivated to learn and do new things. It allows them to be creative and find those fun things to do. Actua​lly, being bored is a very healthy thing to do. It gives us rest, relaxation and lets us just stop and smell the roses, as they say.

  Well, when our kids say I’m bored, there’s a few good ways we could respond. The sarcastic part of me says, “Hi bored, I’m dad” Or “Yeah, boring people get bored” but really it’s okay to ask them “What do you mean by bored” or “That’s okay.”

  Some tips for us parents to help our kids get over that summertime boredom. First of all is have an activity jar that has potential things they can do. And probably more importantly after that would be just get them outside, get them doing things and exploring our world.

  Boys Town Parenting has some great resources to help guide your family through the summer. The summer guide has a family contract where you can agree upon house rules for the summer, some boredom busters, learning cards and other family fun summer activities. You can find that information at boystown.org/summer.