Mom, I'm bored!!! What can I do?

......or in my case it's "Grandma, there's nothing to do."  However, my 7 year old grandson is usually pretty good about entertaining himself in one fashion or another but he DOES have his moments of sheer boredom. Last fall I started him an activity notebook that had puzzles, coloring pages, math work sheets, word searches etc. I observed the fall and winter holidays then came Valentines, St. Patty's Day and Easter. Now I'm in the process of printing the contents to cover summer stuff.  In this notebook I put a zippered pencil holder and in that put crayons, colored pencils and even a pair of safety scissors for anything in the notebook that needed cutting,  The notebook, pencil holder, crayons, colored pencils and scissors were bought at Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree is my home away from home!!!!! Originally I put this together for him to use during road trips....long, short or around town.Of course, the notebook I made was for a 7 year old but there is a ton of stuff that can be printed out for younger children and preschoolers.

Here are a few websites I used but all you really have to do is Google "activities for children" and a lot of the entries will even display by age/grade level.

www.dltk-kids.com
www.allkidsnetwork.com
www.kidzone.com
www.kidzone.ws/math/index.htm
www.education.com     this one has alphabet pictures for younger children to color
www.coloring.ws/ coloring.htm

But an activity book will entertain them for just so long so with Gabriel I try to take him to a nearby park a couple days a week but with our weather so miserable hot it's likely that if we go right now the play equipment will be way too hot for him to play on. So in order for him to get enough exercise to get tired enough for bed at bedtime we go to our local mall where they have several play areas and on Tuesdays "Family Night" rides on the big carousel are free. So check with your malls to see what may be offered for children....and the cheaper the better!!!!!

As a retired Children's Librarian my first avenue to fun is a good book....any time of the year. My little man is a reader so we are using a suggested summer reading list to help fill up the hot hours. Check with your local libraries.....when I was the Children's Librarian at our local library I had story programs for just about every age from birth thru the teen years. In our county the libraries are a part of a county wide system so the children are not limited to programs in our town's library....so branch out and take it all in.

Earlier today a friend and I were discussing the problem of bored kids and she had told her grandchildren she would take them to museums, feed ducks in a nearly park, go bowling, GO TO THE LIBRARY..etc. All are such wonderful ways to while away long hot summer days. One of our local movie theaters has, in the past, offered free movies for children on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, however I learned today that they are now charging a small entry fee. So....another idea is to check out local theaters.

If you are on a limited budget there is always game playing....Snakes & Ladders, Uno, Monopoly, Go fish...just a ton of games to be played. I bought several games for Gabriel at....yep, you guessed it...Dollar Tree! We play Hide & Seek....yes, inside and when the temp drops a bit we go outside and we do such mundane games as I Spy and Count the Cars. Anything that makes your young one have fun and pass the hours without whining. We live on the water so trips to the beach happen once in a while but I have never felt good about taking someone else's child to the beach without a parent there. But someti8mes we DO go and build sand castles.

I don't know about your young'uns but my grandson seems to have a hollow leg and is always asking for something to eat.  We don't keep a bunch of "treats" but I do make cookies, popsicles and I keep popcorn on hand along with diet soft drinks, lemonade and Koolaid. Here are a couple recipes that I use all the time.

                                 Peanut butter cookies

   
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg and tsp vanilla.

Mix all together well and form into small round ball and place on un-greased baking sheet and flatten by making a criss-cross with a fork dipped in sugar. (I sprinkle sugar on top of cookies before baking) Bake at 350 for about 10-12 min. Before they cool you can add a Hershey kiss to the top of each cookie!

Wish I could take credit for this so simple cookie recipe but alas....the award goes to Paula Deen!!!!


Now I am NOT a fan of Nutella but I must admit that fudgesicles made with Nutella are superb!!!! Make this easy delight and pout into popsicle holders....yes, you can get a set of 6 at the epitome of fine shopping Dollar Tree!

                                 Nutella Fudgesicles

1 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c Nutella

Whisk the two ingredients together until well blended and smooth then pour into popsicle molds and put in freezer. I take them out of the molds when they are frozen and store in ziplock in freezer.

Now is there anything easier then this????? And I even liked them!!!!! And Little Man loved them!



Ok.......hope some of this will help with those mournful words "I'm bored" or "I'm hungry!"

 Keep checking back for more recipes, cool ideas, good books to read and much more.

Have a good summer and stay cool!!!!!!