Types of Child Games to Play when Bored

Creative Activities and Games to Play When Bored

This section discusses what creative children's activities
and games to play when bored. There are many types of
games to play when bored. However, boredom should not be
an excuse to make the parent do all the work in finding
some activity for the child.

Boredom is a message from the child's brain to the child
that he or she needs to find a game to play when bored, not
the parent. The parent may help the child, but the onus
should remain with the child so she can learn for herself
how to find games to play when bored.

The importance of old fashioned play in maximizing the
child's health and learning ability appears beyond
dispute. The brain seems to be wired for play, and,
therefore, will naturally seek games to play when bored if
given the chance.

In causes of child abuse, we've already learned
activities like TV and computer-video games interfere
with learning, create negative feelings, and are
associated with rampant U.S. obesity. Such activities are
not considered games to play when bored, by our
definition of play, since such activities increase
aggression and anxiety. Hence, these activities are
rejected as games to play when bored.

Play, generally, decreases anxiety and aggression.
Moreover, as parents, we must ask ourselves, when we turn
on the TV after work, what are the thousands of murders we
witness on TV doing to our children? The answer: TV is
ruining our childrens' health and family's relationships.

Norman Herr, Ph.D, in the "Sourcebook for Teaching Science,"
documents TV violence as follows:

Number of murders seen on TV by the time an average child
finishes elementary school: 8,000
Number of violent acts seen on TV by age 18: 200,000
Percentage of Americans who believe TV violence helps
precipitate real life mayhem: 79

Click here, to see the video demonstrating how Freudian
psychological principles are being used on our children's minds
to brainwash them.

On the average people spend about 40% of their free time
watching TV. This time could have been spent enjoying their
families or, doing something constructive, like getting
homework done.

PARENTS SPEND LESS THAN FOUR MINUTES PER WEEK IN
MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION WITH THEIR CHILDREN! People
must realize they are making a choice not to be with their
families when they watch TV-otherwise known as TV divorce.

The first rule of good family health habits is turning the
TV off. Sometimes a parent is too tired when he arrives
home from work to spend time with the family, so instead he
watches TV. A better choice is a short 10-15 minute
energizing nap. Then the parent is ready to participate in
family life and help the children find games to play when
bored.

When the TV is switched off the child has the chance to
play normally, develop her brain, do her homework, or talk
with her family, and find games to play when bored because
the TV no longer dominates the household.

What are the activities or games to play when bored? Those
that are considered child play. Those that develop the
child through play. The games to play when bored are those
that prove high in fun and imagination, but low in competition.

The best toys are the ones that foster the most imagination
and creativity. Hence, plain dolls without definitive
faces, paints, clay, blank paper, plain blocks, pots, pans,
sand, old clothes for dress up, regular household items for
imitative cooking and fixing, gardening tools, etc.

The healthiest child play transpires in the natural outdoor
environment. This is the first place to send your child
when they beg for games to play when bored. Natural child
play appears to optimize both the physical and mental
health of our children. Therefore, whenever possible,
encourage your kids to play in nature. If that proves
impossible, then, at least, visit a nearby park-one with
trees and grass.

For 14 reasons why nature is the best child play environment,
click here.

For games to play when bored, click here, to view a list of 50
outdoor activities, and click here for a list of 50 indoor activities.

Most games to play when bored can be modified to decrease
the competitive component and, thereby give creative,
imagination a greater chance to manifest. Examples of
board games to play when bored are as follows:

Monopoly
Checkers
Chutes and Ladders
Dominoes
Chinese Checkers
Sorry
Trivial Pursuit
Yahtzee
Chess
Parcheesi
Scrabble

Creative Board Games to play when bored are:

Cadoo (Cranium-adult version)
Pictionary

Here are some ideas to make board games to play when bored
more creative and child play friendly:

Play to lose instead of to win. For example, the winner
is the first one to go bankrupt in Monopoly.
Play so there are 2 winners: the one who first wins and
the one who first loses.
Make teams of players on each side. Instead of one player
per side, as in Monopoly, play with two on a side.
Some time in the game switch sides. This can prove
quite interesting in chess and checker games.
Prior to playing, for example, Monopoly, ask the kids to
name as many ways they can of playing it differently.
Then, actually, play the game the new way. Some possible
variations are:
- Each time someone throws doubles twice, everyone
  rotates to the left, taking over that persons place in
  play.
- Anyone who throws three doubles in succession gets to
  switch places with the person in the lead.
- Roll only one die, but multiply the 1,2,3, and 4 by
  ten. Roll a 5 or 6 and you go back that number of
  spaces.
- Play as in c above, but two players, each with one
  die, roll simultaneously.
Ask the players to use their child play abilities and make
up a new game, using some of the materials in the old game.
Give the players materials from several different games
and see if they can make up their own game.
Ask them each to think of one idea to make the old game
more fun, and then take turns trying each idea and see
which one proved more fun. Who knows, someone may invent a
famous new game!
Remember to emphasize the importance of fun and
creativity, instead of winning and losing.

Board games to play when bored is a good segue into
discussing what kids think about winning and losing. Ask
them, "How do you feel when you win, and how do you feel
when you lose? How do you think the winner feels? How do
you think the loser feels? Are you still friends if
someone wins all the time?" Role playing can stimulate
kid's minds and help them empathize with each role.

You can stimulate their thinking by asking them more
questions like the following: Is it more important to win
a game or have fun? Why? Then ask them how they think the
loser feels. You can discuss what happens to a friend when
you beat him all the time in a game. How does he feel?
How do you feel?

From a certain perspective, it can be pretty boring to
solely concentrate on winning and losing every game, as
opposed to the fun, creativity and imagination that could
be involved in games to play when bored, if players would
only stop concentrating on winning and losing.

Generally, sport games to play when bored emphasize
competition over fun and play. It seems that domination by
winning frequently gets confused with play. Child play is
not about winning, and, certainly not about domination,
which usually divides winners from losers. On the
contrary, play focuses more on everyone having fun and the
joy of playing together. Play enlivens everyone that
participates, so that they want to play again.

What's more child play is more about discovery and
experimentation than perfection. Perfection focuses upon
continual repetitive practice of the same old task until it
is done 100% correctly, while play focuses more on
discovering the new and interesting in the world. Since
sports often focus on perfection, play tends to be lost.

However sports may be modified to increase the child play
affect. Some examples of sports and their modifications
that make interesting games to play when bored are:

Baseball
- No score is kept. Kids pretend they are Barry Bonds or
  whomever their favorite player is, and then attempt to
  play emulating his style. Different roles can be assumed
  as the game is played so that one player plays many
  different baseball heroes.
- Home run derby
- Better or older players can bat and play with their
  non-dominant hand to create more equality among the
  players, and give the younger players a chance to
  enjoy the game.
- Games can be played with people of all ages and
  creativity applied to see that all play and have fun.
Basketball
- One can announce his own play as if a radio
  announcer was calling the game.
- Around the world
- Out
- Some of the arcades have hoops where one pays to
  shoot basketballs. If one scores over 40 points, one gets
  a free game. Instead of one player shooting at a time,
  two can shoot at once. If they learn to time their shots it
  can be an effective way to win free games and learn how
  to play together.
- One on one basketball can be transformed into a
  way to mix conversation and exercise if the competitive
  component is toned down. This is good for high energy,
  nervous kids that need the distraction of basketball and the
  relaxation of exercise to communicate better.
Swimming and water play in general seem to bring
out a great deal of creativity and imagination with kids.
Marco Polo is a very popular game. There are many others
that kids appear to make up on the spot.

Since parents are living models for their children to
follow, as well as family leaders, it is important for them
to participate as well. This gives parents a better
understanding of just what play is. Some ideas to help
parents get in the groove of child play are the following:
1. Recall your play days and think about what fun you had.
2. Surprise your children with that type of play.
3. Jobs usually put us into a serious daily mind
  set and daily regimen. Play is about changing all that.
  Play is an antidote to our seriousness and set regimen
  mandated by our jobs
4. You may find it hard to change at first because you
  have come to feel this seriousness as normal. It
  may be common, but it's not healthy. All people need
  play every day.
5. Encourage your kids to play by playing too. It will
  increase your energy and improve your mood.
An example of child play is a game to play when bored, I
learned from my father when I was three years old. Dad
called it The Bird and the Tickle Tree. Dad formed a
bird-like figure with his hand that circled above me as
we lay together on the sofa. My job was to form a tree
for the bird to alight on. If I didn't, the tickle bird
would tickle me.

As a child, I delighted in this game, and as a parent, my
daughter looked forward to my arriving from work so we
could play the tickle tree game-a gift from dear old dad.
For more ideas for tots and child play, click here.

Types of activities and games to play when bored, involving
the arts are:
1. Dancing
2. Singing
3. Whistling
4. Pantomime
5. Acting, pretending, make believe
6. Clay, painting, coloring, etc.
7. Puppet & finger puppet play
8. Stuffed animal play
9. Dress up in your favorite hero's or heroine's outfit
10. Play ghost: cut eye holes in an old sheet and wear it
11. See who can make the funniest, scariest, happiest faces
Surprise, fun, variety, comradery should be emphasized,
rather than perfection and competition.

Research indicates the ability to story our lives proves a
better method of measuring human intelligence than IQ.
Therefore storying should be a big part of child play.
Some ways to get storying into our children's lives as
games to play when bored are:
1. Read your children an interesting story every day.
2. Tell them stories about your relatives and ancestors.
  This will bond them to the family and give them
  interest and pride in who they are.
3. Have your children read and tell you stories. Bible
  stories, old fairy tales, and biographies of
  famous people, often prove interesting to children.
  Stories about astronomy, dinosaurs, famous musicians, etc.,
  help stimulate children's interest in those fields.
4. Choose a variety of stories, including funny ones.
5. Have the children act out some of the stories.
6. After you read a story, ask them if they can tell you the
  story.
7. Have them read the parts of the story to you, or
  tell you the parts of the story they found interesting.
8. Take turns reading and telling stories.
9. Make up a story and have the children continue making
  it up.
10. If you have a good story teller in the family, invite
  them to dinner and afterwards ask him to tell the
  kids a story.
11. Read stories by candlelight or flashlight.
12. Invite kids a few years older than your children to tell
  and read them stories.
13. Have the children write their own stories and then tell
  them.
  
  Card games are excellent for eye hand coordination and
  mental dexterity. Some card games are:
  1. Speed: very competitive but great fun when six or more
    kids play with several decks of cards.
  2. Old Maid
  3. Go Fish
  4. Poker and all its various forms
  5. Crazy Eights
  6. Gin Rummy
  7. Card tricks: Go to the library and check out a book
    about card tricks. Children love these tricks like
    they love magic.
  Hand games to play when bored are:
  1. Creating hand shadows on the wall and hand shadow tag.
  2. Paddy Cake games that emphasize dexterity and mental
    agility
  3. Cupping hands together, then blowing to make a dove call
  4. Whistling using the fingers
  5. Pretending the hand is a spider, bird, etc.
  Other forms of games to play when bored are:
  1. Hide and seek
  2. Make and fly paper airplanes
  3. Balloon play
  4. Magic tricks
  5. Pitch a tent in the living room night or build a fort
    with boxes and old blankets. Play flashlight tag during
    the night.
  6. Pretend it's summer during the winter time at home
  7. Lights out in the house and live by candlelight for a
    night
  8. Going frogging, pollywogging, lizarding, etc.
  9. Get a bird bath and then take pictures of the birds
    bathing
  10. Watching a baby chick hatch
  11. Raise brine shrimp
  12. Raise a baby cockatiel or other animal
  Some points, regarding child play and games to play when
  bored, are:
  1. Turn off the TV. We parents must give our children
    a lot more than the average four minutes per week
    of meaningful conversation.
  2. Let the child direct and lead his or her play as
    much as possible. This fosters independence and
    the use of their minds and imaginations, not yours.
  3. The parent's role is to encourage and make child play
    accessible to the child, but not to interfere
    otherwise. Children's imaginative play is often
    distracted by an adult's presence. This is not to
    say parents shouldn't play with their children.
  4. Pick something you like and play with your child every
    day. It doesn't have to take a lot of time, just enough.
  5. Encourage your child to play with other children.
  6. Encourage your child to invent and discover his
    own forms of play.
  7. Encourage your children to make up their own games or
    change the games they usually play to make them more
    fun and less competitive.
  8. Tell family stories and read stories to your children
    to encourage them to do the same. Tell your kids about
    the hopes and dreams you had, so they have the
    opportunity to realize their mother and father are human
    just like they are.
  9. Child play is always enlivening to those who
    participate and involves imagination and fun. Those
    people who cannot afford the many high tech and
    expensive toys are at an advantage because they can
    use their imaginations, and exercise their fantastic brains
    to create their own child play.
  10. Imagine a society where every child's opportunity to
    child play was optimized, so that the child
    experienced most all life and learning as interesting,
    stimulating and enlivening throughout the childhood
    years. Imagine what novel experiences and learning our
    children might have through playing with one another.
    Imagine what kind of adults they might grow up to be,
    and what contributions they might make to society. It
    is possible. Child play can be positively infectious.