Something to do.

Do you remember the "I don't have anything to do" mantra of childhood?  That's the subject of this post.

Through the years I've been blessed with several waves of pre-adolescent humans running in, through, and around the house, often in very loosely bound age groups.  Always, I am comforted by the inevitable troop of small folks at my heels pining they have nothing to do.  "Mr. Tad" usually discovers an acceptable pathway to an important quest and all is well again for a while.

Here, I present one helpful and simple solution called "Mr. Tad's Cards of Something To Do."

Hand written on colorful index cards:

Take a picture of poison ivy.

Which way are the clouds moving?

How many birds can you count in five minutes?

Take a picture of an insect.

Bring five different kinds of leaves.

How many balls are in the yard?

How long does it take to walk around the house.

Bring three shells.

How many cars drive by in ten minutes?

How many pieces of charcoal does it take to cover the grill?

Bring five different kinds of flowers.

Find three dead mosquitoes.

How high is the basketball goal in inches?

Bring seven pieces of dog poop.

How many trees are in our yard?

How many airplanes do you see in ten minutes?

How many mammals can you find in the back yard in ten minutes?

Find and draw five types of leaves.

How many hops does it take to go around the house?

How many cracks larger than your finger are in the driveway?

You get the picture and you can create your own cards too.

The way I play the game is like this.

Only one activity is written on a card.  Hold out five to seven cards and let someone pick out one (take turns.)  The children return to me with the product/result of that activity, describe what they have, and return the card to me.  That card goes in my pocket, and I hold out another set of cards to repeat the game.

I control the game by selecting or creating the cards with the specific children in mind.  For example, I make sure there is a mix of short and long attention span activities within the set of cards presented.  Also, I mix up easy and hard activities (3:2:1).  Both of these help with the duration and richness of the play time.

And, I always try to end the game when the children are relatively "spent" but still want more.

Some of the guiding thoughts behind the cards follow.

Include action verbs, like "bring", "count", and "draw."
Involve estimations, measurements, and observations.
Include physical, social, and cognitive challenges.
Reinforce school curriculum / "homework."
Emphasize process over the product and recognize the accomplishments.
Recognize "age" correctness - a fair estimate for a challenging problem is better than an exact "right" number.
Include gross motor, fine motor, and stamina activities.
Consider appropriate reading level for the group (challenge up.)
Blend age ranges.
Challenge handedness and foot preference.
Use different languages and secret codes.
Keep it safe!
Mix up easy and hard (3:2:1)
Don't set up to fail - challenge.
Stop when they want more.
Mix activities across long and short attention span requirements.
Keep cards Top Secret.
Create new cards while the children are working on an activity (save all of your cards!)

Useful Supplies:

Something with which to measure time.
Something with which to capture images.
Something with which to measure distances.
Something with which to draw and write.
Something with which to measure volume.
Something with which to keep new found treasures.
Plenty of blank index cards.

I've done well with cell phones through the years.  They have clocks/timers and cameras.

A few more thoughts:

Always use card stock and not paper to instill a sense of significance to the activity.
Create the game given the safe zone of your environment.
Use photography to obtain proof of things like the spiders found, rather than bringing the spiders themselves (the spiders need there own space and time.)
Build in some "down time / reflection time / meditation time" with passive, timed activities (like how many airplanes can you count in ten minutes.)
Safely breach normal boundaries by letting discoveries happen even though there is a mess to clean up.
Don't be afraid of getting everything wet when it rains - it's just fresh water.