Summer Boredom Busters For Kids Using Electronic Media

A couple of days ago I was visiting with my oldest grand girl and she informed me that she had been out of school for a total of three days and she was already bored. Can I insert in here that I am so thankful that it’s my turn to be the granny rather than the momma? The dog days of summer can be a nice change with the slower pace but they can also be taxing when the normal activities of the school year are no longer in play.

I began to think about what my kids used to do during the summer and ways we could update the activity to be relevant today. One of the things that all of my grands have in common is their love for anything involving electronic media. Even the two youngest ones gravitate to any smart phone that is lying in reach!
With that in mind I came up with a few ideas that worked for me and can still be useful to today’s mommas. I hope you’ll find them as helpful as I did.

1. READING – One of the first summer programs we would sign up for each year was the Summer Reading program at our local library. It’s such a fun way to keep the kids reading. Our library offered prizes and incentives that appealed to my kids. It was also a good opportunity for my kids to explore new genres and authors to expand their knowledge and imagination.

For my oldest grand girl’s recent birthday she received a Kindle of her very own. Something about reading from an eBook seems so much more interesting to her than reading a normal book. The price of eReaders has plummeted and made them very affordable. If you don’t already have one now might be the time to think about it.

Finding books for the eReader has become more affordable as well. Most local libraries have eBooks that you can download to your device and read for free for a set amount of time. You can find free and cheap eBooks from sites like The Vessel Project.

I’m very picky about what I send my grands to read. I like to stick to the classics and inspirational fiction and nonfiction. For my tween grand girl I’ve found some wonderful eBooks from the Faithgirlz line that I think you can trust for content.

2. MOVIES – For whatever reason my kids loved to watch movies in a dark closet. They would pile in pillows and then we’d use an extension cord to plug in our smallest TV and DVD player. (Okay so it was really a VCR, but that makes me sound old!)

With the use of a tablet or laptop and a streaming service like Netflix you can achieve the same result. Don’t forget to check out the selection at your local library. It’s free and a good way to introduce your kids to some classics that you loved as a child. Just add some popcorn and juice boxes and you’ve got an activity that all of your kids can enjoy together.

3. GAMING – My boys loved video games so I wasn’t really surprised when my oldest grandson started talking about them as well. We own a Wii and have enjoyed hours of entertainment with it as a family.

My grandson really likes the Wii but what has him all stirred up right now is this game called Minecraft. When he first showed it to me I just didn’t get the appeal of these squared-off pixelated characters. But then I received a copy of the Minecrafters Bible from Zonderkidz and a lightbulb went off!

If you have a Minecrafter in your midst you already know that the purpose is to build your own imaginative world using characters that you create. If I were the momma I would capitalize on that and combine the game with the Bible.

This is what my daughter is now doing with my grandson. Each morning they read a particular Bible story from the Minecrafters Bible. Then my grandson is given the laptop with Minecraft on it and allowed an extended amount of time to recreate the story. It’s an absolute delight watching him refer back to the Bible as he expands the details in the game. I think this is a brilliant way to capture the attention of your kids while solidifying Biblical truths that will last a lifetime.

Now . . . how about a GIVEAWAY?!! We are loving how the Minecrafters Bible is helping us to teach our kiddos important Biblical truth. So we've partnered with Zonderkidz to make a way for one of our readers to get their own copy.

The giveaway is open to U.S. residents and will run through midnight on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. The winner will be contacted by email and will have forty-eight hours to claim the prize. If unclaimed, a new winner will be drawn. The winners’ entries will be verified. Please enter the contest using the Giveaway Tools form below. All entries are optional.

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