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You have teens in the house, right? Then you know about the bored teenager. Because your teenager gets bored too sometimes, right? Although they’re “always” on their phones? Not literally calling, because who does thát with their phones these days. It’s not like when we talk on the phone for hours with our best friend. No teens nowadays talk through Snapchat, they’re Instagramming or listening to music via Spotify or YouTube.
We have 3 teenagers in our family. And they can’t live without their phones. At least, they have to have their phone in hand’s reach, on their body (in their hand or back pocket of their jeans). Rarely you find a phone “in the wild” in our home.
The necessary distraction
But sometimes even their phones can’t give them the necessary distraction and they get bored. One of our teens loves to draw and is very good at it (don’t know where these genes come from, certainly not from me, ha!). She can draw and color for hours, it’s real art. Our oldest plays the guitar and sings, proud mama here. But their younger sister is lost sometimes. She hasn’t found her “thing” yet, although lately, she posts the most beautiful photos of nature and her surroundings on Instagram.
When they were younger
In the days they were younger, they could play with legos, Playmobil, they would play outside or build a tent in the living room. It felt easier to entertain them. But teenagers don’t like anything, or so it seems. And when you have a bored teenager in the house, well, it ain’t pretty, right?
Activities for your bored teenager
For all you moms who want to help their teens find some fun activities to enjoy when they get bored or to get them off their screens, I have 17 to choose from.
1. Make a bucket list. Our oldest did this with her BFF and you don’t wanna know what’s on it! They are active with it too and try to do as many things to check off. Cause it’s not only to make the list but to get the things done is even more fun, right?
2. Play games or play cards. Especially our youngest loves to play games. We have this one game we play together (Traveling in Norway), which is always so much fun. You never know who is gonna win. Quizzes and seasonal games are always good fun too.
3. Bake cookies or a cake. The internet is full of easy recipes where teens can be in the lead and mom only assists. Or just keep an eye out that everything goes as planned. Your teens can find everything they need to know in this book!
The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs
And when they need to decorate their cookies or cupcakes, this set comes in pretty handy!
Cake Decorating Supplies Kit 52 pcs
And to keep your clothes from getting dirty from all that flower you will be using, pick out an awesome apron:
Apron, with Adjustable Neck for Cooking Gardening etc.
4. Doing a puzzle. This is something our oldest also likes to do. The bigger the better. She got a puzzle once with 5000 pieces and it was this huge panorama puzzle. It took her a while but she did it!
Ecosystems of the World 500-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle and Poster
5. Go on a teenage scavenger hunt. This is fun no matter what age. But for teenagers let them find things in the neighborhood or town they need to photograph. It's fun with 2 or with groups and competing with each other.
Print your photos from your phone!
6. Make Fall art. Go outside during Fall and collect just fallen off leaves, not the crispy ones. Take a thin paper or wax paper and lay it over the leave. Then rub it with a pencil or crayon. You get the most amazing art this way. Frame the art for their rooms or make a card with it for their friends or maybe for invitations for a Fall party.
Reynolds Kitchens Pop-Up Parchment Paper Sheets, 10.7x13.6 Inch, 30 Count
7. Make bath bombs. Teens and especially girls, take up more and more time in the bathroom, right? They love to take care of themselves. Why not let them make bath bombs to use in the tub. Or they can give them as gifts to their friends. On muffinchannel.com you can find a recipe on how to make bath bombs.
Bath Bomb Mold Set - Supplies Kit - with Instructions
8. Read a book. It's sometimes as simple as that. My Dutch-Norwegian girls learn English in school from first grade and they love to read English books at home. If your teens love to read, challenge them to try a different language to read. My friend Becki from A Book Lover's Adventures wrote an article with great books for teen boys. And she also has a list of books for teenage girls.
Cheerful Quotes Motivational Bookmarks (12-Pack)
9. Hand lettering. If your teen likes to do art, maybe hand-lettering is a fun activity. It could easily turn into a serious hobby. Fun for us moms too, right? Here you can find 21 tutorials on how to start
10. Word rocks. We have a pebble beach nearby and my teens love it out there. They love to collect soft of oddly shaped rocks. They can decorate them with paint and inspirational words. Keep them themselves or spread around in the world for others to find. Go find out more about word rocks at the Word Rocks Project.
11. Watch a movie. This is a Sunday thing in our home. The kids watch movie after movie sometimes. And if they are in a silly mood, they watch toddler movies and roll on the floor with laughter. They can even have an all-night-movie-marathon.
Red Co. Nesting Movie Theater Themed Popcorn Buckets - Set of 4 - Assorted Designs
12. Make a bored jar. Let them make their own bored jar. Take a jar or something with a lid and let your teens come up with as many things they can do and have fun with. Every time they yell, "I'm
13. Create a vacation journal. Print out all photos after being on vacation and let them make a little scrapbook as a memory to a great vacation. Or they can use the photos they took from the scavenger hunt and make a scrapbook out of those.
Scrapbook Photo Album
14. Have a spa day at home. They can use their own made bath bombs. Or paint their nails, have facials, you name it. Fun with their bestie, guaranteed!
15. Going geocaching. Kick your bored teenager out! They can probably do this in their own town. Just download the app and send them on their way. You can find all the info here on the geocaching website.
All kinds of good stuff you need to go geocaching
16. Go bowling. Especially with a bunch of friends, bowling is a lot of fun. Find out what kind of bowling activities your bowling alley offers. It could be glow-in-the-dark-bowling or candlepin-bowling.
17. Make a time capsule. How cool would it be for your teens to dig up their own time capsule when they are adults and find out what was important to them all those years ago? Need ideas? Find them here on timecapsule.com
Fine wooden box with lid and lock
So after going through this list, why not start with number 1? Let's make that bucket list! I have a list for them with 15 questions to jump start their Bucket List - Teenager Edition. Just click on the image to get the PDF download for free!
Most of these activities on the list aren't seasonal, well except making Fall art. They can do them all year round, at the weekends or on breaks and vacations when their friends might not always be around.
And if all else fails, you can always delegate some of your boring chores to your teenager. There are 3 perfectly good reasons to do so, believe me.
Nicole
AuthorHi, I'm your time managing and organizing best friend. I am a mom of 3 teenagers and married to my best friend.
I love to show you as a working mom myself, how to juggle your time using routines & schedules and give you time managing tips.
