5 Boredom Busters for School Holidays

The summer holiday period is our favourite time of year. We can relax and enjoy the beautiful summer weather (although it is forecast to reach 44 degrees C on Saturday!), sleep in, enjoy a slower pace of life and find time for relaxing family activities. If your children are feeling bored and you are looking for some fun activities you can do at home, here are our top five boredom buster ideas.

1. Play Board Games

Board games are so much fun and may involve a mix of luck, strategy, and friendly competition. Our current favourites are Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Monopoly (Perth edition). We have been spending many evenings playing our new games and some old favourites. There are such a wide range of games available for all ages, abilities and interests. Perfect family fun!

2. Get Creative

Gather together some craft supplies and encourage your children to get creative. Making something for yourself or for a gift is a fun past time, and a great way to learn new skills. Some of our popular kids craft ideas are Making a card using hama/perler beads, How to Make a Bookmark, and Easy Valentines.

If your kids like more incentive to be creative, how about they try their hand at Building their Own Ship? The Spirit of Tasmania is running a great competition for building a model ship using cardboard, wood, plastic or even construction materials such as Lego. There are terrific prizes in each age category. To enter you simply send in a photo of your masterpiece with your details. Fantastic competition and a great project to work on during the summer holidays! Open to Australian residents only. Competition runs until 27 January 2014.

3. Visit the Library

Summer is the perfect time to catch up on some reading. Public libraries have a great selection of books for readers of all ages and interests. My teens have been reading the Divergent series, Hunger Games series, and Legend series. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green; The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak are also popular young adult titles in our home. Reading is always a great way to relax and unwind.

4. Make Some Cool Treats

As summer temperatures heat up, cool treats are in demand. Kids love making their own popsicles and ice-cream. Buy some popsicle moulds and fill them with a selection of fresh juices; fruit and yoghurt; pudding; or ice-cream, to make some delicious frozen treats. If you have an ice cream maker, experiment with a range of different flavours. Cool treats are a tasty way to cool down.

Check out our recipes for Pavlova Ice-cream, Honey Almond Praline Ice-cream, Maple Ice-cream, and Toasted Marshmallow Ice-cream.

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5. Movie Night

Turn your family room into a movie theatre with comfortable chairs, pillows, sleeping bags, beanbags. Add some popcorn or other treats, and select your favourite family movies. The kids can get involved preparing the food, setting up the room, and making tickets. You could choose a theme and select movies and snacks to suit. You could package up some lollies/chocolates in gifts bags. Give the kids some colouring pages and easy crafts to do around the movie theme.

Movie nights are heaps of fun. We have been enjoying watching some foreign films recently with the teens.

What are your favourite boredom busters for school holiday fun?