Family matters

In retrospect, rocks and sticks are pretty great

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Works-for-Me WednesdayYoungMe always got the same response when I told my mom I was bored: “Only boring people get bored. When I was a kid, all we had to play with were rocks and sticks, and we were happy that way.” (seriously). Poppy has only recently started telling me that she’s bored, and I have tried very hard not to tell her to go play with rocks and sticks. Instead, I usually tell her that if she’s lost interest in the 10 million toys in her bedroom, I will help her pack them up to take to a child who will enjoy them. The threat usually results in a teen-worthy rolling of the eyes from her, but she does generally find something to do.

I tell you this because today’s theme at Works for Me Wednesday is “Mom, I’m Bored – Summer Edition.” I’m not great at having on-the-fly ideas for entertaining the small folks. Here are a few things, though, that I have turned to in the past:

  • Spoons, cups, small toys and a big bowl of water. I haven’t actually done this in awhile, but it’s a nice diversion for a hot day.
  • Art time. The kids love art of all kinds. The simplest for me is setting them loose on their chalkboard, but their favorite is probably painting.
  • Story time. We usually have a chapter book in progress, and Poppy is almost always willing to cuddle up for some reading.

    • I’ve focused on Poppy here, because Pete is 2 and a half. That means he doesn’t have time to be bored. He’s far too busy scrappin’ and yellin’ and mixin’ it up.

    In other news, I have a problem. It is almost entirely of my own making, and I’m not sure how to fix it. Your input would be appreciated. Please click here to read all about my (in the scheme of things, rather insignificant) plight.

    4 thoughts on “In retrospect, rocks and sticks are pretty great”

    1. Rocks and sticks can often provide hours of fun for my kids – especially sticks. I find that I often have to entertain my younger girls (4 and 6) when they are bored and I’ve started doing a lot more art and project time. I’m thinking of rewarding my 11 year old somehow if he reads chapter books each day to his sisters when I don’t have have time.
      .-= Leslie´s last blog ..earn that sewing merit badge – and teaching boys to sew =-.

    2. My cousins and I spent hours upon hours digging through the gravel of my grandparents’ drive way, it was just normal gravel too, don’t ask me what we were looking for, we never found anything, though we did make some giant Japanese style rock/sand gardens way before they were cool.
      .-= April´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: Sunglasses =-.

    3. When my boys were preschoolto 10 or 11 (but older than 2) I made up a craft box full of stuff, that only came out when it rained (being in The Deep South, it rained alot). In it was yarn, popsicle sticks, glues, glitter (ok yeah, but we had wood floors so cleanup was easy), anything I could think of that could be used to make stuff.

      I remember as a girl sitting under the tree in the back yard and building entire towns out of sticks and rocks.
      .-= rootietoot´s last blog ..All we need are velvet walls =-.

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