Mom, I'm bored!!!

This week Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is doing a themed Works-for-Me Wednesday. She's asking us to blog about how we combat boredom.

I'm realizing something around here . . . the quickest way to hear "Mom, I'm bored" is to turn the TV on. Sound backwards? It's true! Somehow once the tv has been on, when I turn it off, I immediately hear "I'm bored, there's nothing to do . . ." why? To get me to turn the tv back on. BUT if we don't turn it on in the first place, they don't think about it, and happily self-entertain all day. Things my kids did to entertain themselves today:

• Picked wild strawberries - they've discovered that there are lots of wild strawberries growing right by the driveway. I see them over there quite often munching away.
• Had a concert - instruments of choice were a step stool that they've repurposed as an imaginary piano (it's got little bumps on it for friction, those are the piano "keys", as far as I can tell) and a bird perch thingy that the previous tenants left here. I haven't watched closely enough to see HOW exactly A uses it as an instrument, but she's quite attached, sigh . . . I actually offered to find the box that has their REAL instruments in it, but they had no interest LOL.
• Drove all over creation - their "car" consists of putting the sofa pillows on the floor, the ottoman on one side, wall on the other, rocking chairs (kid sized) in front of hte pillows and an empty packing box in front of the left rocking chair. If I have it figured out correctly the pillows are the back seats (where their dolls are seated), rockign chairs are front seats, box is steering wheel . . .
• Had countless "talk shows" in which imaginary people called in w/ imaginary questions and A&L answered those questions.
• Swept our porch/patio area at their own initiative
• Weeded the flowerbed (currently empty, I'll have to work w/ A on what/where she can/can't weed once I actually have plants there). She sorted through the toys & found the toy gardening toys and put them in a plastic pencil box and it's her "garden box", which she then took outside & set to work using. She actually managed to dig up a pretty good sized root (left in the ground from when Mom & I cleared the weeds out of the flower bed) w/ her dandelion digger thing.
• and I'm sure other things that I either didn't see/hear/notice or don't remember

BUT things that I suggest when they need some direction:

• We play board games
• We read stories
• We have a tea party
• Crafts/art stuff
• We go "exploring"