50 of the Best Boredom-Busting Fun Activities for Teens

Jill Holtz

November 3, 2021

bored teen

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When your teen is bored, everyone knows about it! When the usual things no longer cut it, these fun activities for teens are bound to have some success!

Here are 50 of the Best Boredom-Busting Fun Activities for Teens:

Fun Activities for Teens to Try

Is your teen complaining of having nothing to do? Give them this list and challenge them to complete it!

#1. Write a Haiku

Haiku poem should have seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five. This is not as easy as it sounds!

A teen writing a
haiku could be a challenge
but you can do it!

#2. Learn to Cook One Meal Really Well

Here are the rules:

  • Create a new menu and practice it
  • It must include starter, main + dessert
  • It must be tried out on your family
  • It must be of a high standard i.e. empty plates at the end.

Check our family-friendly Recipes section for some foodie inspiration. And if you need some advice, here’s how to cook dinner in ten simple steps.

#3. Hold an Open-Mic Night

Invite some pals around and hold an open-mic night. You can do one theme e.g. poetry, comedy, music or a variety.

Tip: keep performances to a minimum/specified time slot, so each performer gets enough time.

#4. Upcycle Some Jeans

Dig up some pairs of jeans you never wear and turn them into something new. Ideas: denim skirt, shorts, oven mitt, book cover, tote bag.

More ideas on Allfreesewing.com.

#5. Research Family History with Family Members

Encourage your teen to visit or get in touch older family members and interview them, they could their phone to video some of the conversations. Things to ask about:

  • What was it like when you were a teenager?
  • Were your parents strict?
  • Who was your favourite family member?
  • What did you eat?
  • What did you do to amuse yourselves?

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#6. Learn a New Instrument

Did you give up on music lessons when you were younger? Or fancied learning an instrument but never got round to it? Teach yourself to play a song from start to finish on a new instrument.

#7. Hold a Clothes Swap

Get rid of unwanted unworn clothes and get some new duds in the process. Get your friends to bring round their clothes, put them in a big pile, have a big grab and score some new clothes for nothing.

And there’s no commission due to Depop either!

#8. Learn to Play Poker

All you need is a pack of cards and plenty of M&Ms for chips. And a straight face of course.

Here’s a good summary of the basic rules of poker to get you started.

#9. Sleep Under the Stars

Pick a night forecasted to be warm, clear and rain free and grab a sleeping bag, blanket and pillow and head out for a night outdoors.

Are you familiar with the constellations? See how many you can find in the night sky. Download a free app like Star Walk or Night Sky to find constellations as you scan the night sky.

#10. Create a Stop Motion Video

Stop Motion animation - Mykidstime

Here’s how to create a stop motion video. Take inspiration from these incredible Stop Motion Videos.

#11. Record a Song

Rules for your song:

  • It must be tuneful
  • It must be lyrical
  • Witty is good.

Either write your own or do a karaoke style number. Now record yourself singing it and file away for viewing in 10 years’ time.

#12. Do a First Aid Course

This is a good one if you’re planning to do some babysitting, to be able to tell prospective parents that you know first aid.

#13. Plan a Trip Around the World

Make a Dream Destinations Board if you’re on Pinterest. Or take a while looking around Lonelyplanet.com and create the best ever round the world itinerary.

  • Where to go
  • How to get there
  • What to do
  • Where to stay
  • Where to eat

#14. Rustle up Dessert in 3 Minutes

Make a treat in the microwave, e.g. cookies or brownies or cake in a mug.

Here are 20 microwave dessert ideas.

#15. Host a Fiesta

Make a Mexican night with burritos or fajitas, guacamole and tortilla chips, and some virgin margaritas to wash it all down.

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Are you looking for advice on how to deal with your tween or teen? Download our FREE e-Book which is full of essential tips to help you survive the teen years!

parenting a teen

#16. Perfect Your Pizza

Practice your homemade pizza. Making your own dough is easy to master and a great life skill. Here’s our own super easy dough recipe:

Ingredients

  • 450g strong white bread flour or Tipo 00 flour (the Italian pizza or pasta flour)
  • 500 ml warm water
  • 2x7g sachets of dried yeast
  • 2 tblsp olive oil
  • pinch of salt

Method

  1. Put flour in a large mixing bowl.  Stir yeast into warm water in a jug. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add salt, olive oil then stir in yeast mixture until a dough forms (add a little more water or flour depending on if your dough is too sticky or too dry). Knead for up to 10 minutes. Place back in the bowl and cover with tea towel and leave for at least 1 hour to rise.
  2. Divide into 4 balls and knead them a little to make them smooth.
  3. Roll out flat to about 1 cm thick and place on your oiled pizza sheet or tray.
  4. Now go wild with the topping combinations.

#17. Go See Some Art

National Gallery of Ireland

Check out the art or latest exhibition at a local gallery or museum. Ask at reception if they have any teen programmes, e.g. helping with tours or learning how to curate.

#18. Go on a Walking Tour

Go on a walking tour in your town or city. You never do this when you live somewhere, so act like a tourist for a day and take in a tour. It’ll amaze you the stories you’ll find out and the hidden things you never noticed around the place.

#19. Go Fishing

Borrow or rent a fishing rod and head off to a local stream, river or lake for the day.

#20. Volunteer

Maybe you like animals. Or are happy helping homeless people. You can do this through a local volunteer centre or at a local event or for a local charity, they always need people to help. (PS good for the resume/CV too!)

#21. Help on a Nearby Farm or Stables

Get down and mucky on the farm or at the stables and have a bit of fun. You never know you might love driving tractors and feeding cows and horses. If nothing else, it will give you a good appreciation of what a tough life farming is.

#22. Walk a Dog

Reasons Why Getting a Family Dog is the Best

Walk a dog. If it’s your own, you probably haven’t done this for a while without complaining so this time watch your dog carefully and see how they sniff and stop and enjoy the time with them.

If you don’t have a dog, offer to walk a neighbour or family friend’s dog. You never know, it could turn into a side hustle.

#23. Go Geocaching

If you’re not familiar with Geocaching, it is a modern-day treasure hunt that uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) to guide you to the treasure. People all over the world have hidden trinkets and objects at various locations, which you can go out and find with your smartphone.

There’s a good chance that there is a geocache hidden somewhere that you pass everyday and you never even realised it. When you find the treasure – that’s the cache, you trade items in it, so swap an object of your own that has similar or higher value, before returning the cache to its original hiding place.

#24. Go Golfing or Mini Golfing

Check out nearby golf clubs. Many have good coaching deals for teens and some clubs let members collect stray golf balls as well.

Or head to nearest Mini Golf or Crazy Golf and see how many holes in one you can get.

#25. Listen to a Podcast

If you’ve never listened to a podcast, the whole world of audio awaits you.

From true crime to history to comedy to sport, there’s a podcast for every taste. A good place to start is to ask for recommendations.

#26. Read a Classic then Watch It

Check out our list of 10 of the Coolest Classic Books for Teens. From older classics to more modern ones, all of them are thought provoking and inspiring.

Then see if you can find any adaptations of your book to watch afterwards to compare notes.

#27. Have a Home Spa

Make your own face masks + slice up some cucumber, it’s home spa time.

Get out the manicure set and those unused foot spas for more home spa treatments: mani/pedi and foot soak.

#28. Design Your Dream House

What would your dream house be like? What would it look like outside and in? Where would you situate it? Money’s no object in this exercise in dreaming so fire away with indoor cinemas and swimming pools and separate motorbike garages. Now file it away for when you have made your first million.

Title H3

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#29. Skip Stones

We challenge you to skip 10 in a row on a river/lake/at the sea. And if you can manage 10 in a row, we challenge you to do 15 in a row and tell us (honestly) below on our comments if you managed this amazing feat.

#30. Create Some Street Art

Head on out to a nearby pavement and spend some time with chalks creating a mural.

Here are some ideas for sidewalk art to inspire you.

#31. Capture Sunrise or Sunset on Film

Get up in time for sunrise and record it on video or as a series of Time Lapse Photos (see next idea).

Or head out at sunset, if you are anywhere near water and see if you can capture it reflected on the sea, lake or river.

#32. Take Time Lapse Photos

time lapse city scape

Do a time lapse photo project, e.g. over the space of a week or fortnight take photos of a plant growing or a street scene.

Or get up early and capture the sunrise by taking a picture a minute as the sun rises.

#33. Play a New Board Game

Have you ever played Dixit, King of Tokyo or Small World? There’s a world of new board games to try out. Just round up some friends and invite them over for a game session.

#34. Creative Camerawork

Take your smartphone out for a walk and take a series of photos on a theme. For example, you could try this Alphabet Photography Hunt or take photos of objects of a particular colour.

Then print the best of your pictures and frame them for your room.

#35. Cook Out on the BBQ

Find a safe place to set up a portable bbq and have a simple cookout with sausages and smore’s. Or ask your parents to borrow the family BBQ (under supervision) and perfect some grilling skills.

#36. Build a Catapult Using Marshmallows

Build a marshmallow catapult, trust us, it’s the best fun to work out how to construct and try out.

And you get to eat it afterwards!

#37. Learn to Juggle

teen learning to juggle

Start with 3 things and teach yourself to juggle, if you don’t have juggling balls then beanbags or even oranges are good starters. Once you get good with 3 items, start adding in 1 more item. Can you get to 5 items?

#38. Challenge Yourself to a New Adventure

Have you done any of these things before?

  • Zorbing
  • Ziplining
  • Climbing Wall
  • Kayaking
  • High Obstacle Course

Find your nearest adventure centre and challenge yourself to do something new that you’ve never tried before.

#39. Redecorate Your Room

Try a new colour of paint if your parents are cool with you changing your room.

If not, try a furniture rearrange, a good clear out (put your unwanted hoodies etc on Depop and grab some extra cash for yourself). Ask if there are small furnishings you can take from elsewhere in the house to freshen your room up.

New posters, artwork or photos are all inexpensive ways to change up your walls.

#40. Make a Movie

Decide on your movie’s genre, broad story and characters and make a storyboard. You could film your neighbourhood, a day in your life or get friends to be characters in a fictional film.

Short movies are fun to make as they don’t take too much planning or stop motion animation if you don’t want to ask real people to be in your film.

#41. Play a Game of Footgolf

If you’ve never tried Footgolf, then now’s your chance!

Footgolf is played on a golf course, a football is kicked into a series of large holes, the object being to complete the course using the fewest possible shots. Google your nearest Footgolf location and head out for some kicking fun.

#42. Ride a Flume

Head to a water park or swimming pool with a flume and ride the waters!

#43. Create a Cartoon or Comic Strip

There are lots of free online tools for helping you to create cartoons or comic strips.

Once you’ve perfected your style, why not make a graphic novel?

#44. Organise a Themed Party

What theme will your party have? Here are some ideas:

  • Tropical/Hawaiian
  • Grease
  • Mamma Mia
  • Stranger Things / 80s
  • Glow in the Dark

Now pick the music, food, decorations and don’t forget the invites, use a free online design tool like Canva to make your matchy-matchy themed invites.

#45. Try a New Water Sport

surfing

Have you ever been surfing, body boarding or kayaking? Even if you don’t live by the beach, if there’s a river or lake nearby you may find a company that does water sport training.

#46. Go Biking

Get out your bike or mountain bike and ask one of your parents nicely to drop you off at a cycling trail for a half day or day’s cycling (take plenty of water and lunch with you).

#47. Take a Long, Long Walk

Or if cycling isn’t your bag, then head off with a group of friends for the day (bring a picnic and drinks) for a long, long walk, e.g at least 3 hours long. (Ask your parents to pick you up at the end when you’ll be nice and tired).

#48. Learn to Type

teen learning to type

Touch typing is a fantastic skill to learn, not only will it stand you in good stead for using your own laptop but you will get access to lots of temp jobs if you can type fast and with few mistakes. It also means you’ll get school and college projects done much quicker too.

#49. Learn 10 Phrases of a New Language

Pick a new language, such as Arabic or Mandarin and master 10 phrases well.

#50. Try Knitting

Before you dismiss this one as just something old people too, knitting is a very mindful skill and helpful to take you off your phone for a while. Plus you get to keep the thing you make or make someone happy with a hand-knitted gift.

Starting with a scarf is the easiest option as it’s just a long rectangle. Once you have mastered a scarf you can move onto cowls and hats and even tackle socks and gloves if you really want to challenge yourself.

50 of the Best Boredom-Busting Fun Activities for Teens – Mykidstime

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