Beat Boredom over the Summer

The first week of summer is glorious. By the second week, you almost want to go back to school early. Shake that thought out of your head. There's a world of activity out there, so seize the day and see what grabs your attention.

Steps

Having Fun with New Interests

  1. Learn a new hobby. Is there something you've always wanted to learn, but didn't think you could? Summer might provide the free time you need to pick up something new. Here are some suggestions:
    • Learn to play a musical instrument.
    • Take up singing or dancing.
    • Try a new art form like Develop-Your-Photography-Skills or knitting.
  2. Play a sport. In most places, summer is a great time of year for outdoor sports, as long as you can stand the heat. If you don't have a favorite sport yet, there's no better time to pick one up.
    • Get friends together or join a class to play team sports such as Play-Soccer (association football), Play-Basketball, or Play-Field-Hockey.
    • Find an activity for one or two people, like surfing, Play-Urban-Golf, or tennis.
  3. Make-a-Movie. Get some friends over and brainstorm a movie idea. This can be anything from a science fiction story, to a competitive cooking show, to a music video. If you get into the project, it can provide weeks of fun planning a storyboard, costumes, recruiting extras, and editing the film.
    • You could also come up with an idea for a series of smaller videos, and start a Youtube channel.
  4. Make-a-Radioshow. Get a recording program or a tape recorder and start your own show. Write up a list of things you want to include on your show: music, jokes, interviews, advertisements, fake or genuine news commentary, etc.
  5. Find a craft project. Arts and crafts projects can take time and patience you don't have during the school year, but they're perfect for summertime. Here are some ideas:
    • Fold-a-Paper-Heart. You can cut out heart-shaped notes for your loved ones, or get some square origami paper and try to make a fancier version. There are many more origami projects to try as well.
    • Make rainbow crayons, or try melting crayons on hot rocks to make art.
    • Make your own slime or Make Play-Dough. Use these strange-feeling materials for pranks, or just to play with for fun.
    • Make a Solar Hot Air Balloon. These balloons can travel hundreds of miles in a day, and are easy to make.
  6. Excel at a complicated game. There are more games out there than you could ever learn in a lifetime, but summer gives you the opportunity to pick one and become a master strategist. Some games like Play-Bridge, chess, Play-Magic:-The-Gathering, or Starcraft II even have international tournaments with massive rewards for the winners.
  7. Learn to cook. If you don't know how to cook or you don't know much about food, you could learn some recipes now. There are thousands of recipes available online or in cookbooks from the library or bookstores, or you could try these easy ideas to start with:
    • Make cold, refreshing smoothies. Try different, even wacky combinations, either to make a nice cold summer drink, or to dare your friends to drink a mysterious concoction.
    • Make-a-Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Parfait as a delicious dessert.
    • Make-Hummus for dipping crackers. If you're ambitious, you could even Make-Bread-from-Scratch.

Improving Yourself

  1. Get a summer job. It'll keep you busy, introduce you to new people, and earn some money. Many retail businesses, tourist attractions, or summer festivals need workers during the summer.
  2. Volunteer. Helping your community can be satisfying, uplifting work, and of course you're working towards a good cause of well. Look for organization in your area that pick up trash, work with injured or abandoned animals, or work for political causes.
    • Volunteering also looks good on college applications, although interviews and essay will go a lot better if you are genuinely interested in the work.
  3. Check out a stack of books from the library. Books can transport you into a different world, or let you see through the eyes of others. Try learning all you can on a particular topic, such as Norse mythology, Japanese history, or space travel.
    • If you want to learn even more, try an online college course. Some of the world's top universities even post lectures online, and these are often more interesting than a high school (secondary school) classes.[1][2]
  4. Start a journal. Many people keep journals to reflect on their day, work through hard times, or write down their plans for the upcoming day. Maybe, in a few years, you'll read it again and smile at your summer memories.
  5. Write a novel. This is a huge project, that could fill your entire summer and more if you get inspired. If you're not sure where to begin, try writing a story imitating your favorite author, or work together with a friend so you can trade ideas.
  6. Learn-Any-Language. Knowing a foreign language can lead to many opportunities, not to mention it looks good on college applications. Get started by finding a beginner's class nearby, or ask a friend or family member to teach you a language they know. Search online for free language lessons, online learning tools, or foreign conversation partners.

Participating in Events

  1. Hit up local events. Most areas host fairs, festivals, carnivals, or other fun events during the summer. Check your city's calendar online, or ask other people in the area whether they've heard of events. Check the websites or advertisements for nearby venues, including concert locations, theaters, and sports stadiums.
  2. Act like a tourist in your own town. Look at your town's or region's tourism website or brochures advertising events and find out what attracts people traveling from other locations. There might be anything from museums to merry go rounds lurking in your town, or in areas a short drive away.[3]
  3. Go camping. Spend a couple days with friends or family at a campsite, or Camp-In-Your-Backyard. Gather friends around a campfire or barbecue to Tell-Scary-Stories and make s'mores.
  4. Go-Geocaching. Find a geocaching site online, and look up locations near you to see if anyone has hidden secret rewards. You can search for these caches or hide your own wither Go-Geocaching or Go-Geocaching-Without-a-GPS.
  5. Invent an indoors vacation. If weather, transportation, or a lack of events prevents you from leaving the house, take a fake vacation. Invite a couple friends for a sleepover and decorate your room like a palace, jungle, hotel, or anything you like. Go shopping for unusual foods and "souvenirs" to share with your guests. If the weather is rainy, dress up in swimsuits and sunglasses and lounge around indoors pretending you're visiting a location with a proper summer.
  6. Get in touch with old friends. If your current friends are out of town or busy, look through your old yearbooks, phone contacts, or emails and reconnect with people you used to know. Any of the activities above can be more fun with friends, or you can simply spend an afternoon catching up with each other or reminiscing.

Having Fun in Hot Weather

  1. Go swimming. If you live in an area where summers are hot, you can have fun and cool off at the same time. Visit the beach or the pool with friends or family. Have-Fun-in-the-Pool like Marco Polo or Shark Attack, hold swimming races, or get a group of friends together to play water polo.
  2. Cool off with water activities. Even if you don't have anywhere to swim, you might find ways to have fun with water. Put on a swimsuit or light clothes you don't mind getting wet, and find some overheated friends to join you in these activities:
    • Turn on the sprinklers on a lawn and play tag, hide-and-go-seek, or red rover in the middle of the spraying water.
    • Have a water fight. Fill up some water balloons, buy a cheap water gun at the dollar store, or use a garden hose. This can be a fun one-time activity... or the start of Be-a-Water-Fight-War-Lord.
  3. Make cold drinks and desserts. A cold beverage or a bowl of ice cream can be wonderful in hot weather. Making them yourself is even better for curing boredom.
    • Try Make-Vanilla-Ice-Cream-Without-an-Ice-Cream-Maker, either with the classic "salt and ice" method or with a method that recreates the creamy, rich taste of real ice cream.
    • Make popsicles and keep your freezer stocked all summer.
    • Fill your fridge with Make-Ginger-Ale or Make-Lemonade.
    • Make a ice lick. Place cold water in a cup with a disposable straw or spoon. Keep it in the freezer for 2 hours, then take it out and eat it while it's cold and yummy.
  4. Relax indoors. Find a cool, shady room, or make a blanket fort out of light sheets to create a refuge from the sun. Turn on a fan, Find-New-Books-to-Read, and wait for the hottest part of the day to pass.
    • Other relaxed indoor activities include sewing, playing solitaire or other card games, watching a movie, or listening to music.
  5. Play games around sunset. As dusk starts to fall and the temperatures cool off, gather a group of friends to play games like hide-and-seek, sardines, freeze tag or capture the flag in a large yard or park. If the evening is still too hot for physical activity, set up a table outside and play card games or board games while the air cools down.
    • Pick a board game that won't be blown away by wind, such as Carcassonne, Tikal, or Blokus.[4] These are all moderately popular games sold at many game stores, but classics like Chess, Checkers, or any board game's magnetic travel version are even easier to find.
    • A trick-taking card game like Hearts can be played in windy areas, as long as you have rocks or other heavy objects to hold down the tricks.

Doing Some Decorating

  1. Organize or redecorate your room. Some people like this activity more than others, but even if you're not much of a decorator it beats sitting around doing nothing. Even just sorting through old clutter can help you find old toys, books, and other nostalgic objects. For a larger project, paint your room or hang up posters and pictures..
  2. Pick flowers in your neighborhood. See how many kinds of different wild flowers you can find in your yard or nearby fields. Make a bouquet, or press them to make permanent decorations. Dry-Leaves to use in art projects or just to keep around as decoration.
    • Don't pick flowers from other people's yards without permission, or if the flowers look intentionally planted.

Having Fun with Grooming

  1. Make your own beauty treatments. There are hundreds of natural DIY recipes, Make-Beauty-Treatments-with-Yogurt, Use-an-Avocado-for-Beauty-Care, or other natural ingredients. Open up your cupboards and treat yourself to a cheap spa day.
  2. Update your wardrobe. Sort through your clothes, and pick out the ones that you don't want/are too small for you. Invite some friends over, and ask them to bring some clothes/other items they don't want. Trade clothes with each other, or sell them at a yard sale to raise some spending money.

Tips

  • Pick your favorite activities from this article, add your own ideas, and turn them into a summer bucket list. Try to check off every activity on your list before you go back to school.
  • In hot weather, drink lots of water and wear sunscreen when outside.
  • Find out how your siblings are entertaining themselves, if you have any, or invite them on your activities if they're bored as well.
  • You should take a walk with your pet every day.
  • Make a tent in your room and invite some friends around for some indoor camping.
  • You can have a sleepover with your friends!
  • Go on vacation!
  • Camping in your back or front yard is fun with friends.
  • Pull out some of your old toys! Barbie dolls, American Girl dolls, Zoobles, etc.
  • If you have a dog, wash it. If you want some cash, hold a carwash with friends. Maybe afterwards, have a water fight!
  • Got a pet? Play with it, teach it tricks.
  • Play outside on the lawn.
  • You could organize a dance party with your friends.
  • Hangout with your friends.
  • Put on new makeup and experiment with different styles.
  • Go shopping,
  • Try new hairstyles on.
  • Paint nails or pamper yourself.
  • Make cute school supplies or get prepared for school.
  • Build a fort. Use chairs, pillows, blankets, sheets or anything else to build the most epic fort ever.
  • Write a story with your friends.
  • Make a fanfiction.
  • Visit a park and spend time enjoying the outdoors.

Warnings

  • Make sure your parents are okay with what you're doing before you do it. Summer is a miserable time to be grounded.
  • Only swim in areas with a lifeguard or expert swimmers paying attention.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
  2. ↑ https://www.edx.org/
  3. ↑ http://www.collegefashion.net/college-life/25-inexpensive-or-free-ways-to-cure-summer-boredom/
  4. ↑ http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/23269/game-well-suited-outdoor-play-please-read-rules
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