125 Fun I’m Bored Jar Ideas For Kids

Are you looking for ways to keep kids entertained at home, especially during school breaks? If yes, then you will love these fun bored jar ideas! These activity jar ideas for kids are sure to be an instant cure to hearing ‘I’m bored” in your household!

This list of bored jar activities has plenty of great ideas that you can use whenever boredom strikes at home.

More importantly, these creative I’m bored jar ideas aren’t only for the kids but also include plenty of fun ideas for the whole family too!

What Is A Bored Jar?

A bored jar is sometimes called an activity jar or a boredom jar.

It’s a jar, small box or container filled with fun activity ideas that are drawn at random when someone is in need of some good ideas on things to do.

How you create your bored jar is completely up to you. It can be strips of paper with handwritten activity ideas or pre-filled bored jar printables that you can cut out and fold up.

You can also use popsicle sticks or laser-engraved discs. How you make it isn’t as important as the fun activities inside!

Plus there are loads of great benefits to having a bored jar:

• Less Screen Time – Due to the convenience smartphones and other devices offer, bored kids and adults depend on their phones for entertainment. You can choose to fill your jar with entirely screen-free activities and encourage some important tech-free days at home.
• Keeps Your Child Occupied – Younger children especially struggle with finding solo activities, so having a bored jar can help encourage kids to seek activities they can do without needing your constant involvement. This is a big help for us parents when we have things we need to get done, such as work or household chores.
• Teaches Independence – Being independent is an important skill to teach your children. bored jars allow them to have more autonomy in their play, as your child chooses an activity and solves their own boredom easily.
• Trying Out Something New – An activity jar encourages the chance to try out new hobbies and activities they may not have considered otherwise, including a variety of indoor and outdoor activities on the list.
• Enhancing Skills and Knowledge – Having activities that are both fun and intentional can not only keep your children entertained but also build in skills in creativity, physical fitness, problem solving and education.

100 Fun Bored Jar Ideas To Entertain Your Whole Family

Here are plenty of fun ideas to keep kids entertained that you can include in your family’s bored jar activity list.

This bored jar list has activities for kids to do solo as well as activities children can do with other family members or friends.

But don’t see this huge list of activity jar ideas as your only options. You can also add your own ideas too!

In fact, get your children to help you brainstorm for things they love to do when bored!

1. Draw a picture
2. Play with playdough
3. Build the tallest block tower you can
4. Collect interesting rocks from the garden
5. Do a leaf tracing
6. Read a book
7. Listen to music
8. Clean your bedroom
9. Do colouring in
10. Sing a song
11. Write a story
12. Make a card for someone’s birthday
13. Write a letter to a friend
14. Write a list of your favourite things
15. Help with the household chores
16. Create your own obstacle course
17. Set up a play shop
18. Make a collage from magazine images
19. Do a painting
20. Count your pocket money
21. Play a board game
22. Play a card game
23. Interview someone
24. Bake something yummy
25. Have a picnic
26. Make a family scrapbook
27. Watch home videos together
28. Create a playlist of songs you all love
29. Go somewhere new together
30. Have a tea party
31. Make a sheet fort
32. Play dress ups
33. Go searching for bugs or wildlife in your yard
34. Turn the pots and pans into a drum set
35. Draw your family
36. Watch a documentary
37. Ride your bike or scooter
38. Sort a collection of toys by colour
39. Do chalk drawing
40. Do a diamond painting kit
41. Practise your photography skills
42. Weed an area of the garden
43. Make paper airplanes
44. Phone someone you miss
45. Write a poem or song
46. Choreograph your own dance
47. Finish the story “Once upon a time I saw a frog….”
48. Do a craft kit or make your own project
49. Organise a collection of belongings
50. Write a birthday or Christmas wish list
51. Have a family movie night
52. Go to the park
53. Put on a play or puppet show
54. Go for a walk
55. Play hide and seek
56. Create a scavenger hunt for a family member
57. Find 5 facts about an animal and share them
58. Make a LEGO maze
59. Have a bubble bath
60. Have a teddy bear picnic
61. Sweep the floor
62. Finger painting
63. Water painting on the fence or cement
64. Put away your toys
65. Play with dolls or figurines
66. Make a stack with plastic cups
67. Practise writing numbers or letters
68. Draw a map of your house
69. Follow a drawing tutorial online
70. Do a guided meditation
71. Make a snack
72. Play a computer game for 30 minutes
73. Find 5 toys you can donate or throw away
74. Write a rhyme about dogs
75. Learn magic trick
76. Make a house for your toys using boxes
77. Find 10 things that start with the letter “L”
78. Go to the dollar store and find a new activity
79. Have a water fight
80. Do a random act of kindness for a neighbour
81. Make someone a gift
82. Play frisbee
83. Have a dance party
84. Play charades
85. Do karaoke
86. Invent a game and ask someone to play it
87. Build mini structures with popsicle sticks
88. Complete a word search
89. Play balloon tennis
90. Jump rope
91. Paint rocks
92. Mould with salt dough
93. Build a blanket fort
94. Make a time capsule
95. Do a LEGO building challenge
96. Write a story
97. Start a puzzle
98. Memorise a poem
99. Do arts and crafts
100. Make friendship bracelets
101. Write a gratitude list
102. Do a virtual tour of a famous museum or building
103. Kick a football around
104. Make your own slime
105. Origami
106. Bake cookies
107. Research a place you want to visit
108. Create a bucket list
109. Draw a self-portrait
110. Learn a new language
111. Write in a journal
112. Play with bubbles
113. Do yoga poses
114. Look up fun facts about historical figures or places
115. Plant something in the garden
116. Illustrate a story you have read
117. Print a new colouring page to do
118. Do a crossword or puzzle
119. Declutter your toys or clothes
120. Play a solo card game
121. Make a card tower
122. Do a silly photoshoot
123. Start a new TV show
124. Flip through a photo album
125. Try a new hairstyle

How To Make An Activity Jar

If you want to create your own boredom buster jar, you can do this in a number of ways.

The most simple option is to write activities on strips of paper and place them into a jar or small box. This isn’t the only way to make an activity jar.

Once you have your mason jar or container, you can start by decorating it.

This is totally optional but an instant cure for bored kids before you even add your activities!

Then go ahead and add your activities, either by using a printable activity jar kit, by writing your activities by hand on strips of paper, printing them on your home computer, or by writing your activities on craft sticks instead.

Use coloured paper (or add coloured tips to your craft sticks) if you want to categorise your activities by age or type).

Coloured paper can also be a way to distinguish indoor activities from outdoor activities.

But if you want a touch of thrill and surprise and don’t mind what you pull out of the jar, stick with plain paper instead.

Fold the paper strips before placing them inside the jar. This means it will always be a surprise what you pull out.

If you want to include both solo activities and group or family activities when making your own bored jar, instead of having to pick out several activities from the jar until you find the right one, you can use different coloured papers for the different categories.

This means you or your child will know what type of activity they are pulling out of the jar and can specifically choose one that is suited to independent play vs. a family or group activity.

Printable Bored Jar Kit

Get the bored jar activity cards to print, including a blank pages to add your own activities to your jar.

Boredom Jar Variations

Bored jars aren’t just for kids!

You can create variations of boredom jars for different types of activities or to suit different members of the family.

Each activity jar will contain age-appropriate ideas or creative boredom busters that are suited to the theme. You can categorise activity jars like the following:

Boredom Ideas for Teens Or Adults

These ideas are to incorporate less screen time and more mentally stimulating or physical activities into their daily routines. It’s great to include plenty of creative hobbies that are fun to learn and therapeutic for teens.

This can just as easily be adapted as a family bored jar for households with teens and adults rather than younger kids too.

Family Bored Jar

These can range from outdoor activities, group games, board games and other family-friendly ideas.

Use your family bored jar activities to inspire weekly family time spent together. Switch out the home activities for family date ideas such as cinemas, ten-pin bowling or a picnic in the park.

The family can also use the jar during holidays and vacation season. You can even create holiday-themed jars for the whole family, using these advent activity ideas.

Date Jar ideas

If hanging out at home is becoming a bit tedious, having your own date jar is a fun way to keep things spicy. Make your date night routine extra special and more spontaneous when you don’t know ahead of time what you will be doing.

Or pick at the start of the week so you have time to plan for your weekend date night from your date jar. This is filled with exciting ideas for adults and couples.

Find 100 date night jar ideas to add to your own date jar!

Earlier Finisher Jars

Earlier finisher jars are for use in the classroom.

This jar can have a list of activities on slips of paper or craft sticks that are suitable for independent play in the classroom.

If you are doing a class work activity and you have some students who finish much earlier than others, you can have them pick a slip of paper from this jar to do something else while they are waiting.

Great ideas for earlier finisher jars can include things like puzzles, colouring sheets, quiet reading, writing stories, drawing pictures, iPad learning, computer learning time and other activities that can be done quietly and independently in the classroom setting.

It is also a great way to help students learn how to entertain themselves without having to be directed. And it stops them from disrupting other kids who are still working.

Conclusion: Bored Jar Activities

Creating your own bored jar at home, filled with fun bored jar ideas and family bonding opportunities is an instant cure for bored kids! Whether it comes out at the start of a school break or if you have your activity jar on display all year round to entertain the kids, it’s a fun way to make more time for hobbies and less of hearing “I’m bored”!