DIY Boredom Jar – Keep Kids Busy at Home

I needed a DIY Boredom Jar for the girls this summer. I try to have our days organized and planned out, but, know that I need to be a bit more go with the flowish so that’s what I’m trying to work on towards my best self!

As a Mom and Wife I’m really trying to work on becoming a better self. When I was growing up I was raised in a home where my parents yelled at us. Not like yelling and screaming, but, we were loud to the point of sounding like we were yelling.

As I raise my kids I realize I do the same damn thing…and I do that…use bad words! I’ve really tried to get better with the whole yelling thing because it’s being used by all three kids and that pains me because I’m the one who has taught them that. It’s not a trait that I want to pass down to my grandchildren either. So I’m working on that and just going with the flow.

If you know me I’m very organized and have every detail planned out in my head. With three kiddos I feel like I have to be otherwise all hell {see I did it again!} will break loose and I’ll be left struggling to get through my day.

I have a bed time schedule and routine. I put the girls in summer camp for 2 days a week, three hours a day. So while that little time is planned out I still have the rest of the day to entertain 3 children, 7 and under.

One thing I wanted to do differently this year was not have every day planned out. So I felt like the Boredom Jar would give us options of things to do at home and to keep us from running around town in the heat…if you haven’t experienced Cincinnati heat ya’ll are lucky. It’s crazy nasty step outside instant sweat sort of thing…

Anyway with this boredom jar it allowed me to just wing it and pick something to do for that day. If I felt like we needed to leave the house I had a category for that! If it was a rainy and stormy kinda day we had a stick for that! If Momma needed to bake something, we had that too!

Because I’m OCD and didn’t want to get the sticks messed up the kids and I headed to the Dollar Tree up the street. Now while I was looking for Washi Tape (they didn’t have any) I went ahead and bought these pretty designed tapes to separate our categories. We also picked up our popsicle sticks there too.

I ALWAYS have mason jars on hand and scrap fabric that I used on the lid just to pretty it up a bit!

So for the categories the girls and I love to give back to the community. They have raised funds for Bake Me Home and recently Mini Me has become passionate about the Matt Haverkamp Foundation. We participated in the 5k a few months ago and once I told her how they raise money to fund police dogs and equipment to protect the dogs she was on board with helping to raise money. So her and sissy hosted a table at our {last ever!} garage sale and sent in a check! {proud Mommy moment!}

Ok I totally got off track 😉

Anyway, since we love to give back I felt like since we have a lot of down time we would collect donations for different organizations so that was the first thing I did! Here’s a list of all of our categories:

– Things to Bake

– Outdoor Fun

– Donate & Volunteer

– Quiet Time & Rain Day

– Places to Go

Now for your categories you can change these up with what your family enjoys doing together. If you don’t like to Bake then you can do Craft Time or even a Game Time.

Then for each category I added different things that we can all do together.

– Things to Bake – Brownies, Soft Pretzels, Coffee Cake, etc.

– Outdoor Fun – Chalk driveways, DIY Sprinkler, Playdoh, Scooter Walk, Hopscotch, Scavenger Hunt, etc.

– Donate & Volunteer – Donate Books to CCHMC, Collect Monies & Donate Police Equipment purchased at Elite K9, Put together fun bags for children at shelter, etc.

– Quiet Time & Rain Day – Homework sheet, Indoor race car track, Illustrate a picture book, movie & popcorn, etc.

– Places to Go – Pack a lunch and head to the airport, library, splash pad at park, petting farm, zoo, etc.

Now with the inside of the jar I inserted a toilet paper roll first. Once all the sticks were filled out and how the appropriate category tape on the stick I then placed them in the jar and fanned them out.

When I want the girls to pick a stick I’ll pull the category and let them pick one. This morning we just did a Movie and Popcorn and they also will be working on collecting books for the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Mini Me has to go for a ultrasound in a few weeks so we will donate them while we are there….killin’ two birds with one stone here people! That’s how I roll with 3 kids…mmmk?!?

I hope that you are inspired to make your own Boredom Jar. Will you share it with me when it’s finished?!?

Now I love to see what you are creating in your kitchens! Be sure to share the recipes you found on MyHeavenlyRecipes.com with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterestand Instagram. for more Heavenly Recipes.