Every parent has heard the “I’m bored” line at one point or another. As summer break winds down, keep your kids entertained with a few boredom busters.
And though they’ll have a blast, with these activities they’ll also learn something!
- Play Word or Letter Hopscotch. This one will enlarge their vocabularies and get them hopping — a win, win.
- Grab colored chalk and a rock or bean bag.
- With the chalk, make a hopscotch board.
- In each square, write an age-appropriate sight word, spelling word or letter.
- Have your child throw the rock/bean bag onto the hopscotch board. Then he or she should jump to that square and read/sound out whatever is in the square.
- Repeat until all squares have been read.
With older kids, you can amp up the game by having them use the words in the squares in sentences.
- Make balloon rockets. Kids love balloons … and they often love rockets, too. Combine them into one with this fun activity!
- Grab a 6-foot piece of yarn, a balloon, two chairs, a drinking straw, tape and scissors.
- Tie one end of the string to the back of a chair.
- Thread the straw onto the string, then tie the other end of the string to the back of the other chair.
- Attach two pieces of 2-inch-long tape to the middle of the straw, to be used to attach the balloon to the straw.
- Inflate the balloon — but don’t tie it off. Then attach it to the straw using the tape. Hold on to the opening so the air doesn’t escape.
- Pull the balloon to one end of the string and then let go.
And away it goes! Time to teach your kids about action and reaction.
- Experiment with vinegar and baking soda. Have a little fun with science in these two experiments!
1st experiment
- Grab vinegar, baking soda, food coloring, a dropper and two bowls.
- In one bowl, add a couple drops of food coloring to the vinegar. In the other, place baking soda.
- First, add one drop of vinegar at a time to the baking soda. What happens?
- Now add a whole dropper full of vinegar to the baking soda. What happens? Should be a bunch of fizzing bubbles — much to the delight of your little ones.
2nd experiment
- Grab a zippered sandwich bag, vinegar, baking soda and a square of paper towel.
- Pour a few inches of vinegar into the bottom of the bag.
- Put a few teaspoons of the baking soda in the middle of the paper towel, then gather the corners to make a packet.
- Put your baking soda pouch inside the bag, then seal the bag.
- Toss the bag on the ground and stand back.
- The carbon dioxide reaction will commence!
Have your kids had their back-to-school or sports physicals yet? The time is now! Need a doctor? Find one here.