- Read a book just for fun, like Ribsy or Farmer Boy. Laugh out loud at the funny bits so that your family is curious and you can tell them about how Lucy got the taffy stuck in her mouth.
- Take a walk in the park and learn to identify wildlife tracks. Make plaster of paris molds, even if it is just lame stuff like birds or deer for starters. Someday you might get lucky with a bear or a mountain lion.
- Ride a bike for miles on old railroad beds. Just be sure to carry a water bottle so you don’t perish before you get home again. Some granola bars in your pockets would not be a bad idea either.
- Figure out how to fit a survival kit into a backpack or bugout bag. Do the research and collect items as you save enough money for them. Pack and repack obsessively and keep it ready to grab at a moment’s notice. Or even just when your family goes to the lake.
- Take music lessons and keep practicing until you master that instrument. Or you could watch John Ross painting videos and try your hand at landscapes. If you like poetry, try writing some.
- Collect things. Rocks or bottle caps or stickers or fabric scraps or bird feathers. Be savvy about storage or your parents will likely make you pare your collections down to tragical proportions. Just for your information, nut collections in your underwear drawer will probably hatch out disgusting worms, so that’s not the best idea.
- Learn to crochet or embroider or knit or knot paracord bracelets. This latter could turn into a small industry for you, so make sure your parents buy about 1000 feet of cord at a time. Mess with your projects while you listen to audiobooks.
- Ask your mom to teach you how to prepare your favorite meal. She will never turn down an offer to cook dinner and you can have spaghetti and meatballs really often.
- Think of something you are interested in and wipe out that subject on the library shelves. Research it and talk to everybody about it until they are tired of you. Then pick another subject and do it all over.
- Play Settlers of Catan or Qwirkle. Learn to watch for subtle cues on other people’s faces so you know what move to make for the win. Figure out your strategy and have fun with it.
- Go fishing, then clean your fish and fry them over a campfire. Or alternately you could gig bullfrogs since they are easier to skin and roast. Just don’t forget the salt.
- Just do something. Don’t be boring and bowed low over a screen. Swim, paddle your own canoe, build a clubhouse, sleep in the backyard, clean out the fridge for your mom, sew slippers out of upholstery fabric, rollerskate, ski, write to a friend, teach your dog new tricks, solve the mystery of the missing socks, bake cookies with a secret recipe, be happy.
Oops, sorry, that turned out to be more than ten, but it’s my blog and I am allowed to do that.
What did I miss? When my children say they are bored, I give them jobs to do. It helps a lot, but it still happens at times and we would all be glad for fresh ideas.
wocket in my pocket 
13. Take apart stuff that no longer works, such as a vacuum cleaner, iron or stereo. The mess will drive your mom crazy and you will want to keep all. the. parts. However, it will entertain you for hours.
That’s funny…my iron had a great fall and there was no putting it back together again, but my little girl spent HOURS on the stairs dismantling it further. It was as entertaining as Legos. 🙂 Days later I was carefully preserving an unknown object that I found, in case it would prove important, but of course it only turned out to be an iron part.
Thanks, Dorcas, for the encouragement to keep our children doing real things!
I found four Color My World Planners (LANG) on clearance at JoAnns last week and asked my school children to start writing a little something on the 5 lines provided each day. It’s turning out to be interesting (2 of them show me what they’ve written). A treasure they’ll enjoy even more later.
Love the journaling. I wish mine would enjoy it more. They do better with no pressure on writing assignments and that might be a good way to do it.
Oh YES! How could I forget that one? 😀
My son thrives on number 13! Taking things apart, taking the motor and putting it onto his toy vehicles.
The information given at the end of number 6 made me shiver and shudder! It seems to have been written with experience! I can handle mice, and spiders from a distance, but worms…..
It was one of my girls who had the nut collection. 🙂