“Boredom Busters,” Friend, Aug. 2014, 24–25

Boredom Busters!

Think you can do all 34 things?

12 Things to Do with a Cardboard Box

Build Lehi’s ship.
Flatten a box into a sled for dry, grassy hills.
Create a castle.
Make a home for a pet. If it’s for a cat, try hanging streamers from the ceiling!
Use it to store photos and journals.
Design a robot. Cover it in tinfoil and cut holes for your head and arms.
Set up a lemonade stand.
Decorate it as a dollhouse.
Make it into a time machine for time-travel adventures.
Tape big boxes together to form a crawl-through maze.
Build a box city. Each box is a building.
Tape flattened boxes to the floor and skate around in your socks.

Have a picnic.
Set up a silly race, like an obstacle course or egg-carrying race.
Plan a scavenger hunt.
Play Team Tag. The person who is “it” joins hands with each person he or she tags. Before long you’ll have a chain of people trying to tag the rest. The game ends when the team catches the last runner.
Play Hide-and-Seek.
Play Beanbag Horseshoes. Place a Hula-Hoop on the ground and take turns trying to toss beanbags or tennis balls into the Hula-Hoop. You get three points if your bag or ball lands inside the hoop and one point if it touches the outside of the hoop.
Play catch with a beach ball and towels. Two people hold one towel together and use it to throw and catch the beach ball with another team.
Cool off on a hot day with a game of Duck Duck Splash! This game is like Duck Duck Goose, except with a wet sponge. Walk in a circle around the other players and tap each head lightly with the sponge. Then, to pick the “goose,” squeeze the sponge over the goose’s head! Keep a bucket of water handy.
Make some huge bubbles. Have an adult bend a wire coat hanger into a circle. Then dip it in bubble soap (6 cups water + 1 cup dish soap + 1/4 cup corn syrup) and wave your wand to let the fun fly.
Hold a paper airplane–flying contest. You can compete by throwing for distance or accuracy. Or just fly them for fun!