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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Check It Out: ‘Unbored’: No need for TV or tech this summer

The Columbian
Published:

When I was a kid, and school was out for the summer, I usually had plenty of things to keep me busy. Sometimes, though, I would get bored. When this happened, I would tell my mom I was bored, and more often than not, her response would involve some sort of household chore which — believe it or not — was not what I had in mind.

I now know how clever my mom was because I usually found something else to do pretty quickly.

It’s been a long time since I was a kid, but I will hazard a guess that even now — with all manner of electronic doo-dads at the ready — kids still complain to their parents about being bored. While I think the suggestion of running around the block (yes, I heard that one, too) can do wonders in motivating a little one to find an alternative source of entertainment, I sometimes worry that the alternative tends to involve one of those ubiquitous digital devices.

Plugging in often results in tuning out, which also means missing out on some of the best parts of childhood: using your imagination, playing outside and being creative.

With summer fast approaching, now is a good time to create a menu of device-free, “boredom busting” activities for those inevitable “I’m bored” days.

In case you need a little inspiration, check out Joshua Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen’s “Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun.”

Promoting a “create instead of consume” philosophy, many of the book’s activities encourage kids to make things using common items found around the house. Musically inclined kids can learn how to make a cigar-box guitar or a popsicle-stick harmonica. Youngsters with an interest in nature can get the hang of building a tarp shelter or making seed balls for the garden.

I was a book nerd as a kid (still am — in case you hadn’t noticed), so anything to do with books — even crafts — filled me with happiness. That’s why I was glad to see instructions for making a secret book safe. It requires using a utility knife, so adult supervision is needed, but the end result is a cool place in which to store special items. One request, though — please don’t use library books for this project!

In addition to craft projects, “Unbored” has oodles of interesting facts about the world (did you know ketchup was invented in China as a vegetarian substitute for fish sauce?); kid-friendly advice on how to train grownups (to be ninjas, stop using the word “awesome,” etc.); games; book excerpts; recipes — and much, much more. There are even coded messages that can only be deciphered using a special code key located at the end of the book. A little spycraft to boot!

With more than 300 pages of information on how to have “serious fun,” this week’s title has a summer’s worth of great ideas for both kids and their grownups. Perhaps the book’s back cover says it best: “Explore the world. Test your limits. Dare to be different. Have fun. Get unbored.”


 

Jan Johnston is the collection development coordinator for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. Email her at readingforfun@fvrl.org.

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