A few weeks ago I was featured over at The Chaos and The Clutter for my Boredom Buster Books post. I wanted to follow that piece with some amazing websites that will also engage, encourage and spur creativity in your kids this summer.
These sites are basically like your child’s favorite comfy armchair. A place they want to go and sit awhile and read, dream and imagine. Before you know it they will be doing – fully engaged. Now I don’t know about you, but that’s my kind of site!
DIY.ORG
Its no secret that my oldest daughter is our resident inventor/chemist/engineer and its really only a matter of days until something goes boom. She disappears into the garage to sit at her Inventor Station that we created for her (so nothing goes boom in the house I daresay) and reappears with motorized contraptions that draw, dance and wiggle their way into the hearts of my four-year-old and six-year-old. They think she is some kind of genius I tell you. DIY is her website of choice. It is the force that guides her daily tasks. It is the place where she plans her day. It is…well, you get the idea. DIY is simple. Accomplish enough challenges in each subject and you acquire that skill. It features skills such as Circuit Bender, Astronomer, Cartographer, Puppeteer, Skater and Tape Ninja to name just a few. Limitless potential for summer – limitless fun.
UNBORED.NET
A primer for sales of their book, Unbored (which permanently resides on my daughter’s bedside table), this site features projects, information, and how-tos for a myriad of things. Each blog post is engaging and ultimately results in some sort of plotting and planning in my house. Of late? How to hot-rod a Super Soaker by remote control to squirt unsuspecting boy neighbors who might be lured over to our driveway. See? Don’t you wish you could visit my house?
HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM
Last week at the dinner table there was a raucous discussion about whether or not eyebrows had a purpose. Yes, these are the things that go down at my house. Politics? No! Eyebrows? Yes! Specifically what do eyebrows do and could we live without them? For these deeply complex problems we often turn to howstuffworks in our time of need. Easy to understand articles for the kid set makes explanations to their burning questions accessible. However, as a parent, I would not turn your child loose on this site as it has answers to a lot of questions your child may not be asking – yet. So I encourage you to have parental oversight but discover together the answers to well, almost anything.
These sites are a surefire way to drum up a list of engaging and entertaining to-dos for your kids. Join me in busting boredom – and have loads of summer fun in the process.