Crafty inventions from theboredombuster
CH I L D R E N , GATHER round and let me tell you an incredible story. Long, long ago, when d i n o s a u r s r o a me d t h e Earth and your parents were kids themselves, people didn’t have smartphones, tablet computers, an app for everything or 20 million TV channels.
And do you know the truly amazing part of this tale? They still had FUN!
CREATE A BOREDOM BUSTER
You will need: a large container; A4 paper; pen.
Take your container — a supersize jar, plastic ice cream tub, whatever you have to hand.
Fold an A4 sheet of paper in half lengthways twice and then twice in the other direction, so you have 16 rectangles marked. Cut these out and do the same for another four sheets of paper, giving you a whopping total of 80 pieces.
Next, decide on a different activity to write on each. You could begin with ideas from the book*, or why not browse through your old toys or games you haven’t played in a while?
It’s important to get the grown-ups to join in. You should check that they are going to let you do all the activities you are including and also gently suggest that they might want to add the odd treat to the boredom buster such as “Have an ice cream”.
And if you are wondering how you are going to persuade your parents to allow you to do all of this, here comes the slightly scary part: every bore- fom buster should include a sense of danger. Yes, you need to sacrifice at least 20 pieces of paper to... chores! These don’t need to be huge jobs — “paint the entire house” or “do the week’s washing” might be going a bit far but “vacuum one room in the house” or “clean a basin” are pretty reasonable.
Now, fold up all your pieces of paper and put them into the boredom buster. For the rest of the holidays, if you utter the words “I’m bored” you can pull out an activity. The only rule is... you have to do it, even if it is “tidy your bedrooom” — so just make sure you really are bored first.
Tip: You can remove pieces of paper after you have done the activities written on them, to stop any repetition but it can be handy to keep hold of these to add to the boredom buster next holiday.
BUILD A SHOEBOX HOUSE
You will need: shoeboxes; masking tape; scissors; toilet roll inners or other tubes (optional); cereal box (optional); paint; paintbrush; ruler; pencil; felt or foam sheets; glue stick or double-sided sticky tape; wrapping paper; white paper; thick felt-tip pens.
Get off your tiptoes! I know you’ve grown, so don’t worry — this is a house for you to build, not live in. But do make sure you keep growing — especially your feet — because we’re going to need shoeboxes.
Start by deciding on the layout of your house. Each shoebox will form a room and it’s a good idea to begin with a large one at the base before adding another storey or two. You can use more than one box per floor — just make sure that the structure doesn’t topple over.
When you’re happy with the look of the house, begin taping together all the boxes. You should connect the front, sides and backs to each other wherever you can. Masking tape is ideal for this, as it’s easy to paint over afterwards.
You could add chimneys to the top by using toilet roll inners or other tubes. Cut 2cm slits up from the base all the way around, then press these out to form tabs which you can tape over to keep the chimneys in place. You can also make a sloped roof by cutting the corner off a cereal box and taping it to the top of a shoebox. When the structure is complete, paint the outside and leave it to dry.
You can now unleash your interior design skills. Measure the base of the “rooms” and cut this size of felt or foam to make carpets. These can be stuck with glue or double-sided sticky tape.
Measure the sides and back of each “room” before cutting out pieces of wrapping paper to the right size. Now use glue to paste your “wallpaper” to the walls.
White paper works well for the ceiling and also as a base for windows. Simply cut out matching pairs of squares, rectangles or circles. Fold these pieces of paper in half and then quarters, before unfolding them and using a thick black pen over the fold lines and edges to make windowpanes. Finally, stick one to the inside of the box and the other in the same place on the outside.
Tip: You can make furniture for your house out of small boxes (matchboxes are ideal) or craft some from salt dough (instructions in the book).
MAKE WIND INSTRUMENTS
You will need: for the straw panpipes, eight straws; ruler; scissors; masking tape. For the lollipop stick kazoo, two lollipop sticks; pieces of paper; pencil; scissors; two elastic bands; two cocktail sticks.
STRAW PANPIPES
First, measure and cut your straws by lining them up next to a ruler, folding them at the correct point and then