We love summer, but keeping kids entertained isn’t always easy. Once the initial excitement of freedom wears off, they quickly become bored. These summer boredom buster bags are an easy solution for keeping their minds active and their creativity alive and flourishing. I recommend purchasing giant zip top bags or small plastic bins for storage.
1. Creative Sculpting Bag
Purchase a few bags of sculpting clay from the craft aisle or small containers of Play-Doh. If you prefer to make homemade playdough, here are some recipes for that. Include random items such as craft sticks, pom poms, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, and wiggly eyes in the bag and watch what they create!
2. Art Bag
This bag can be filled with coloring pages and crayons for very little ones. For older children, watercolor paints and paper, a sketchbook with pencils, or a small canvas with paint and brushes are great choices, too! Some children may enjoy a paint-by-numbers set or their own how-to-draw book.
3. Puzzle Bag
Buy a challenging new puzzle and put the pieces inside the Ziploc bag along with the box top for reference. You can even make several of these bags for the puzzle lover to keep them busy all summer.
4. Book Bag
Purchase a few new books for your avid reader and keep them sealed in this bag until boredom strikes. Summer is a great time to start a new book series. Include a nice new bookmark and a book light for extra appeal.
5. LEGO Brick Bag
A popular activity at my house, a bag full of classic LEGO bricks is sure to keep them busy for a while. I especially like these printable challenges from The Pleasantest Thing, but you can make up your own easily with index cards.
6. Bird Feeder Bag
All you need is an empty toilet paper roll, a string, and some birdseed. Well, you need peanut butter, too, but I wouldn’t put that in the bag! Spread the peanut butter on the roll, roll it in birdseed, and hang by a string on the nearest branch.
7. Cut and Paste Craft Bag
Young children especially love to cut and paste, so print out a few different things for them cut out. Include safety scissors and glue sticks because they’re less messy than bottled glue! If you’re feeling really brave, you can add glitter, buttons, and other such items to glue... Just be prepared to vacuum for days.
8. Construction Bag
This is another fun bag for little ones. Include small diggers, loaders, and dump trucks with a bag of pebbles, or even some homemade moon sand. You may want to provide a small tray with this bag for the moon sand or pebbles and a play area for your little construction crew.
9. Exploding Chemistry Bag
If you fill a bag with vinegar, fold up some baking soda in a paper towel, drop it in the bag, and seal it up, it will explode! You can even add food coloring for a bigger show. To store the bag before use, fill a small container with vinegar, a bottle of food coloring, and another small container with baking soda. Label it EXPLOSIVE!
10. Bug Collector Bag
Purchase a cheap bug collector kit from the dollar store. Add in a book about bugs, a magnifying glass, and a little notebook for scientific notations. Your little entomologist could get lost in the wonders of nature for hours!
11. Chef Box (or Bag)
Include a recipe card, the contents of your recipe, an apron, and the cooking utensils needed for this boredom buster bag.
12. Sock Puppet Play Bag
Finally, a use for all those socks that you can’t find the matches to! Include glue, wiggly eyes, markers, string, and other materials your child can use to make sock puppets. See who can make the silliest puppet, and then put on a puppet show!
Open up the these boredom-busting bags to unleash laughs and creativity for hours! Boredom can be hard to beat but when in doubt, use your imagination. Leave your favorite cures for boredom in the comments section below!
