The best boredom busters for teens.
Do you have a teen stuck at home? Do they constantly feel “bored” and have grown out of the typical children’s activities? I have been there! As a matter of fact, I am there right now! My teen constantly struggles finding things to do. So, I decided to sit down with her one day and together we made the ultimate list of fun things to do at home for teens. I am excited to share our list of boredom busters for teens with you!
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Fun Things To Do At Home For Teens
Looking for some easy boredom busters for teens? Try one of these ideas below!
1. Bake Something New
Try out a new recipe or two. Bake some cookies, bread or offer to make dinner for your family. I’m sure your mom won’t complain about that! Just remember to clean up the dishes once you’re done.
- Try a few recipes from the Mel’s Home Cooking recipe ebook! It has all of our favorite baked goods!
2. Play a Board Game
Get out a board game to play with your family. You could play a game you have never played before, or choose an old favorite. Here are a few our family love.
3. Draw/Paint a Picture
Try to draw or paint a picture. Look up a few YouTube videos for some inspiration. I love these canvas boards for painting. Consider painting a picture that you could hang up in your room.
For even more fun paint a picture along with Bob Ross on YouTube. My teens love to do this! It’s so relaxing!
4. Give Service
Who can you serve today? Could you shovel your neighbors driveway? Play with your little brother? Maybe do the dishes for your parents? Think of someone, anyone, who needs a little pick me up. Use your free time to serve them.
Not only will you make someone else feel happier, you will also feel happier at the same time! Serving others benefits everyone involved!
Just Serve is a great resource for finding service opportunities in your home, plus many of them can even be done at home!
5. Start a Journal
Another boredom buster for teens is to start keeping a journal. Write about your day, your interests and your thoughts. Years down the road you will love having this journal to look back on and reminisce.
6. Call a Friend or Family Member
Call a friend or family member up on the phone. This is a great way to see how they are doing, catch up, and enjoy friendly conversation. Choose someone you haven’t talked to in a while, like a grandparent! They will love it, promise!
7. Go for a Walk or Run
Get outside and exercise! Go for a walk or a run and enjoy the fresh air.
8. Write a Short Story
Use your imagination by writing a short story. Share your talent by showing your story to a friend or family member.
9. Have a Nerf Gun War
Get out the Nerf guns and have a Nerf gun war. Make it extra fun by turning off all the lights and having the battle in the dark. Have any glow sticks lying around? Use those in your battle too!
10. Paint Your Nails
Give yourself a full manicure or make it simple and just paint your nails. Our current nail obsession is gel nails. It’s really easy to apply and doesn’t chip off! My type of polish!
11. Play Catch
Do you have a mitt and ball sitting around? Get outside and play an old fashioned game of catch. See how far apart you can get from each other while still being able to catch the ball. Every time someone catches it, take a step back and keep going!
12. Start a Garden
There is something so rewarding about planting a seed and watching it grow into delicious food. Try starting your own mini garden. Plant your favorite foods to make it even more exciting when it grows!
13. Put Together a Puzzle
Have a few hours to kill? Sit down and put together a puzzle to fill the time. It’s a great way to get out some nervous energy. Our favorite puzzles are Dowdle Puzzles, the pictures are all beautiful and fun to look at!
14. Teach Yourself How to Knit or Crochet
Learn a new skill and teach yourself how to knit or crochet. This is the perfect activity to do while watching a movie or sitting outside. A great beginner project is to make a scarf (very easy!).
15. Put Together a Craft
My teens love crafting, and maybe you will too! Try making a few new decorations for your room, such as this pom pom garland or these tissue paper pom poms. Search pinterest for even more ideas! There are so many easy craft projects that can be done at home.
16. Practice an Instrument
Do you have an instrument you play? Maybe the piano, violin, flute, etc. Spend some time learning a new song and practicing. You could even teach yourself how to play a new instrument. A great beginner instrument is the ukulele, it’s fairly easy to learn and so fun to play!
17. Make a Bucket List
Make a list of 100 things you want to do and accomplish in your life. Include events like graduating from high school, getting married. But, also throw in a few ideas that sound fun and exciting, such as going sky diving or hiking in Europe.
18. Research Colleges
Use the computer to research colleges you might be interested in going to in the future. Look at their tuition rates, scholarship opportunities, and classes offered. While you are at it look at housing available and social activities. Those are an important part of college too!
19. Clean out Your Closet
Alright, this might not be the most fun activity on the list….but you just might enjoy it more than you think! Cleaning out your closet (and under the bed too) is a great way to find some long lost treasures you forgot about. Plus, it feels good to live in a clean space….right??????
After you find some items to discard, consider selling them online to earn some extra cash (cause we could all use some extra cash!)
- Related: Ways For Teenagers To Make Money
20. Build a Card House
Try building a house out of a deck of cards. It takes a little bit of patience and time, but it is also so addicting! Try to see how many stories you can build your house. Admittedly, I’ve never been able to get mine built very high…..but my cousin once had a 17 story card house. It was pretty cool!
21. Learn a New Hairstyle
Check out a few YouTube hair styling videos and experiment with some new hairstyles. For a little extra practice try to convince your mom or sister to let you give them a hair makeover!
My teen daughter loves this hair book and is always getting new hairdo ideas from it.
22. Teach Yourself Calligraphy
Teach yourself how to write in calligraphy. You can easily learn with a little time, patience and practice! Try this calligraphy book out for some extra practice.
23. Read a Book
Enjoy your free time by reading a new book. You can check one out from the library, download one from audible, or read an old favorite from your shelf.
A few of our favorite books for teens are: Divergent Series, Hunger Games Series and Selection Series.
- Related: The Best Free Audiobook Apps
24. Make a Hand Scrub
Pamper yourself by making your own hand scrub. It only takes a few ingredients and a few minutes to whip up.
Hand Sugar Scrub Recipe
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 15 drops of your choice essential oil (I love lavender oil!)
Stir it all together and you’re done! We like to store ours in a mason jar.
25. Rearrange the Furniture in Your Room
Take a few hours and rearrange the furniture in your room. It will give your space a whole new feel! While you are at it you can redecorate with the crafts you made in idea #15!
26. Experiment with Makeup
Watch some YouTube makeup tutorials and experiment with some new looks. It’s fun to see how a few different makeup tricks can change your appearance.
27. Shoot Hoops
If you have a basketball hoop outside, go out and shoot some hoops. Spend a few hours practicing and it will be fun to see how well you improve.
You can even take it back to old school and play a game of HORSE.
28. Learn Origami
Teach yourself how to make origami. All you need is some paper and YouTube tutorials. (isn’t YouTube the best!?)
A frog is a great origami animal to start with, easy to make and fun to play with.
29. Find a Free Workout To Do
There are thousands of free workout videos online. Pick one to do from the comfort of your home. You might enjoy a high energy or dance style video, or a slower paced yoga or Pilates. The choices is yours!
30. Make a Vision Board
Make a vision board to help you focus on your goals. This is so easy to do! Simply brainstorm a few goals you have for the near future. Then print out pictures that represent those goals. Glue your pictures to a poster and you have a vision board!
We like to hang these posters up in the bathroom or bedroom to help us remember what our goals are and keep us motivated.
31. Build a Snowman
If you have any snow outside, get out and build a snowman. See if you can make it taller than you are! Don’t forget to include a scarf, hat and carrot nose (of course).
32. Go Skateboarding/Long boarding
Get out and skate board or long board (whichever you prefer). If you don’t know how to skate board, well, it’s time to learn a new skill!
33. Make Friendship Bracelets
Look up some tutorials on how to make friendship bracelets. They are so easy! You just need some embroidery floss and you are all set. Make two bracelets and send one to a friend and you can keep the other one.
34. Interview Your Parents
Set up an informal interview with your parents. Ask them questions about life when they were your age. I bet you will have more in common than you thought!
It would be fun to record this interview on camera. You will enjoy looking back one day and listening to your parents voice and seeing their mannerisms.
35. Play a Card Game
Get out a deck of cards and play a card game. We love Runs and Bunches, Phase 10, Scum, or Golf.
If you can’t find anyone to play with you, play solitaire by yourself! Try to see how many times you can win in a row.
36. Make a Music Video
Put your creativity to work and make a music video. You can lip sing to your favorite song, or make up your own. Come up with a few fun dance moves to add to the video, and then put it all on camera.
This is a really fun project and a great way to fill up your day. Don’t forget to send your finished video to your friends! They will love to see it!
37. Make a Scrapbook
Put together an old fashioned scrapbook. This is a fun way to highlight an important event or year in your life. It might be a scrapbook all about being on the basketball team. Or, maybe you want to make one about your first year in middle school. You will love looking back on this book throughout your life to remember the special moments you had.
38. Invent a New Recipe
Experiment in the kitchen and come up with a new recipe. It just might turn into a family favorite!
Sometimes we like to blindfold ourselves and choose random ingredients in the kitchen. We mix them all together to see what we can come up with. Many times the results are just gross. But, sometimes it’s delicious and we will make it again!! You just never know until you try!
39. Write a Letter to a Loved One
Who doesn’t enjoy getting mail? I know I love it! It makes my day when I open the mailbox to find a letter addressed just to me.
Send some love to a family member or friend by writing them a letter. Tell them about what you have been up to recently and ask them about their life. Maybe, you will get a letter back!
40. Make Up a Dance
Put your dance moves to good use and make up a dance to one of your favorite songs. Not only is this a lot of fun, it’s also great exercise!
Want even more fun activity ideas? Check out these articles:
50 FREE activities to do with your kids over the Summer Break
Screen Free At Home Kids Activities
21 Free and Frugal Kids Educational Websites
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