I like to believe that my family and I have become talented at finding things to do when there is nothing to do. Beginning in March, we abstained from attending public spaces, as many citizens of Cottage Grove did. Consequently, we were in our home more frequently with tons of freetime. We took walks, baked bread, did crafts; anything to combat our boredom. By September, though, the normal aspects of our lives adapted to COVID-19 precautions. We returned to the busy agendas that we once knew.

Then, December arrived and my family was anticipating winter break. If this were an ordinary year, one would find us dining in at Santa breakfasts, attending Christmas markets, and having company over on New Years Eve for fondue and cheesecake. However, the pandemic proceeded to negatively affect lives. Our traditional plans for winter break were not safe. My family and I grasped that we would need to get creative in our down time once again. Situated at my dining table, I logged into my computer and searched for inspiration. As I was on the hunt for materials that would help us to make the most of our winter break, I discovered Boredom Busters.

According to Community Education’s Winter 2021 Catalog, “Boredom Busters Enrichment Kits are here to break up the day and inspire some creativity, fun & imagination. Each kit will include instructions but can also be used however your child would like. There are no limits to their own imaginations.”

Behind the production of Boredom Busters Enrichment Kits is Sue McKeown, the Youth Programs Coordinator in the Community Education Department of South Washington County Schools. During the spring after the pandemic erupted, she and two of her colleagues established Boredom Busters to serve as a stimulating outlet for young families. McKeown elaborated on their motives, “Since we were not allowed to run in person programming in the spring, and kids were spending a lot of time on their computers with distance learning, we were trying to think of ways that did not involve screens to keep kids engaged.”

The product they came up with was quite impressive, and for many reasons. To begin with, each kit comes with instructions and enough supplies to facilitate the making of multiple crafts. Another notable characteristic of Boredom Busters is that they are affordable. Each of the twelve kits are between $4 and $17. McKeown justified the importance of this low cost. She said, “To be able to reach more kids and give them ideas for fun creative activities.”

In addition to making entertainment accessible to all families of the district, some kits correspond to different seasons. For example, a listing for a New Year’s Eve kit contains materials that are perfect to throw a celebration for 2021.

Boredom Busters seemed to be the appropriate tool for my family to occupy our winter break with! Therefore, we browsed through Community Education’s online catalog, and narrowed down our options before placing the “Friendship Bracelets Kit” in our cart.

Soon after, our kit was prepared for pickup! When I received it, I was too impatient to wait until Winter Break to test it out. My calendar was empty for the following Saturday, so I figured that would be a perfect time to utilize my Boredom Buster.

Saturday morning arrived, and I broke open the box to encounter all of the friendship bracelet supplies that I needed. There were instructions, eleven different strings, safety pins, ring bobbins, and a ring bobbin organizer. Using these goods, I constructed a festive pink and green bracelet. The process passed two and a half hours on a day in which I had nothing to do.

In this creative period of mine, I noted a couple of observations. First, playing a movie or some music in the background was pleasant. I let a Hallmark Christmas movie progress as I crafted and that raised my spirits immensely. Another observation I made was that I could have spent that two and a half hours on screens. However, diving into my Boredom Buster was more enjoyable than scrolling through social media. It is fair to conclude that my kit achieved the purpose that Community Education had in mind.

Boredom Busters has accomplished much more in the backyard of my home as well. McKeown described the success of these kits throughout the district to the Journal. She expressed, “It depends on what topics- some have been more popular than others but in general they have been successful. Families seem to really like them.”

Boredom Buster Enrichment Kits contain a bright future. Community Education is welcome to the feedback and ideas of the public, but they also have some ideas of their own. McKeown illustrated, “I think we will be offering them for as long as they remain popular. We try to add new kits all the time for each season. Our giant bubble kit was super popular this summer. We just added a New Year’s Eve kit with ideas for things like glow in the dark bubbles, and party poppers.”

Readers who are engrossed by this opportunity can direct themselves to Community Education’s online catalog to purchase one. The link is as listed: https://sowashco.ce.eleyo. com/.