Free boredom busters printables

Five pages that answer "I'm bored" without a screen. The ideas are the kind that need what is already in the house (blankets, a cereal box, chalk, a deck of cards, a ball) and that a child can start alone or with a sibling. Every activity has a bold outline icon so a child who cannot read yet can still choose from the jar or the spinner, and the layouts are plain enough to photocopy. Nothing here has an answer key; the only rule is that whatever the jar or the spinner says, you do.

What's in this set

1. I'm bored jar slips. Twenty-four slips on dashed cut lines, three columns of eight, each with an icon and an activity: build a blanket fort, go on a scavenger hunt, fold paper airplanes, write a letter to someone, plant some seeds, learn a magic trick, draw with sidewalk chalk, put on a puppet show, invent a new ball game, and more.
2. 30 boredom busters list poster. Thirty ideas in three columns with check boxes: indoor (blanket fort, cardboard-box car, marble run, pillow obstacle course), outdoor (bug hunt, chalk town, water balloon toss, backyard Olympics, stick fort) and quiet (read for 20 minutes, friendship bracelets, origami animals, write a letter to Grandma, paper chain).
3. Boredom busters spinner. A 12-segment wheel, each segment with an icon and a short activity (build a fort, dance party, chalk art, bake a treat, fly a kite, build a tower...), a center mark for the pin and four steps for mounting it on cardboard with a paper-clip pointer.
4. Pick 3 activity bingo. A 5 by 5 card with 24 short activities (read for 15 minutes, kick a ball 20 times, write a thank-you note, jump 50 times, find 10 red things, tell 3 jokes, do a kind deed) and a free center square. Three in a row wins.
5. Rainy day checklist. Twelve indoor activities with tick boxes and icons (blanket fort, bake something, jigsaw puzzle, hot cocoa, paper airplane contest, splash in puddles then dry off) and a large box to draw the best part of the day.

What's useful about them

• Choosing from a jar or a spinner removes the negotiation: the slip decides, not the parent.
• The indoor / outdoor / quiet split lets you point at the right column for the weather and the mood (quiet for a sick day or a sleeping baby).
• Bingo and the checklist turn free time into a small goal with a visible finish, which suits children who need a bit of structure.
• Most activities take 20 to 40 minutes and need no shopping.
• Cutting out the slips and assembling the spinner are themselves a half hour of busy hands.

Frequently asked questions

What age are these boredom busters for?

Ages 4 to 12. Icons on every activity let pre-readers use the jar slips and the spinner with a little help; the list poster, bingo and checklist suit independent readers from about age seven.

Do the activities need special supplies?

No. Everything uses what most homes have: blankets, cardboard boxes, paper, crayons, chalk, a ball, a deck of cards, flour and sugar for baking. Remove any slip that does not fit your home before filling the jar.

How do I make the spinner pointer?

Straighten the outer end of a paper clip so you have a pointer with a small loop at the other end. Push a brass fastener or a thumbtack through the loop and the center dot of the wheel (with cardboard behind it), then loosen it until the clip spins freely. The four steps are printed on the spinner page.

Can I print in black and white?

Yes. Icons have solid dark outlines and the spinner segments are pale, so the pages photocopy well. Children can color the spinner and bingo squares themselves.

Is this set free?

Yes, for non-commercial use at home, at a daycare, in an after-school club or on a classroom rainy-day shelf.

More printables

Several slips point at pages on this site: the I spy worksheets cover the scavenger-hunt slip indoors, the maze generator, word search maker and sudoku generator make fresh puzzles for the quiet column, and the bingo card generator lets you write your own activity bingo once this card is used up. The coloring pages and the connect the dots printables are good rainy-day extras.