Kurupira Web Filter

"Kurupira is a customizable web filter that enables you to protect your kids from inappropriate online content. You also set daily time limits, restrict access to applications and keep track of websites that were visited"

Are kids saying they're bored? Break out the Bucket of Boredom.

When our kids were younger, a common refrain in the summer was "I'm bored!". So my wife and I created the Bucket of Boredom: a container filled with things to do. If they said out loud that they were bored, they had to draw something from the bucket, and they had to do it.

It has some fun thing to do in it, but also some chores and some goofy time-wasting stuff, because our goal was not only to give them something to do, but to get them to stop complaining of boredom and think of things to do themselves (and because if it was all rainbows and ice cream they'd use it all up on day one and get sick of it). So in other words, they quickly learned that they had to really be bored to take the chance on the BoB.

My wife, an inveterate scrapbooker, fancied up our Bucket (a plastic jar with a screw-on lid) with letters and pictures, but even an old shoebox or coffee can would work. We  printed out a list of things, cut them apart and folded them, and put them in the Bucket, and when the kids were really and truly bored, and willing to take a chance, they'd draw one out.

Some of the items were retired after one use, some items were put back in after they were drawn, and we added new ones as we thought of them. The kids never knew what was in there, although they did suggest things (that we may or may not have added). Anyway, you get the idea. 


Here's the list of items we started with: