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Over 150 Ideas for Bored Teens You’re Gonna Love

We’ve put together over 150 ideas to help during social distancing for teens. Look no further for all kinds of ideas for bored teens to stay occupied!

Teenage girl sitting at table looking bored with smart phone in hand

The world has become a much different place over the past few months.

Suddenly, our teens and college students are finding themselves being asked to stay home, and away from friends, all for the greater good.

In theory, that sounds doable, right?

After all, online and virtual classes with assignments to complete will occupy some of that time.

And then they can enjoy unlimited screen time, binge-watching TV, as much sleep as they want…

But the reality is that they’re missing their friends.

The class of 2020 watched all the fun spring activities, prom, clubs, sports, and even graduations be cancelled.

And now much of the class of 2021 has begun senior year virtually. They’re wondering whether their last day to go to high school was in March of their junior year.

In short, their world has been turned upside down.

Let’s face it, screen time can get boring after a while.

In an attempt to make this time of social distancing more enjoyable (and productive!), we’ve compiled a list of ideas for bored teens can do during social distancing.

Over 150 Ideas for Bored Teens To Do

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We’ve divided our ideas for bored teens into several larger categories: Crafts, Fitness & Sports, Self Improvement, Connecting with Friends, Self Care, Screen Time, Books, Academics, Community Service, Home Projects, and Family Activities.

Crafts

Fitness and sports

Self-improvement

  • Learn a new skill! The sky’s the limit: baking bread, how to cook, origami, hula-hooping, dribbling a ball, hackysack, a new language, how to read music, sign language, the list is truly endless! And Google and YouTube are your friends.
  • Practice an instrument
  • Take a Myers-Briggs personality test
  • Make a 5-year life plan. Figure out where you want to be in 5 years and what you need to do to get there
  • Create a Bucket List of things you want to do, try, experience
  • Write a letter to your future self. It may be hard to imagine now, but you’ll forget some of the details about this time.
  • Spend time on Pinterest: Create a vision board for your dream home, find funny memes and quotes, recipes you’d like to try, plan a dream trip, pick out a new wardrobe, etc.
  • Journal about your experience
  • Start a bullet journal. You’ll love these pens, stencils, and stickers!
  • Start a gratitude journal with 3 things you’re grateful for each day

Connecting with friends

  • Use FaceTime Messenger, Google Hangouts, Skype, etc. to connect with friends
  • Play games with friends on Xbox Live or Playstation
  • Make paper fortune tellers and tell each other’s fortunes (using FaceTime, etc.)

Self-care

  • Take a bubble bath
  • Give yourself a manicure and/or pedicure
  • Practice new ways to style your hair
  • Practice new make-up looks
  • Throw out any old or expired make-up products
  • Take a nap
  • Face masks and other treatments
  • Make sugar scrubs
  • Pray or meditate
  • Create a “Happy List” with all the things that make you happy, no matter how small
  • Clean your makeup brushes

Screen time

Virtual tours

Aquarium Webcams

Zoo Webcams

Netflix | Amazon Prime | Hulu | Disney+

Note: the recommendations for shows are intended for older teens and college students.

  • Get a free trial of one of the streaming services you don’t have and try to watch as many shows as you can!
  • Hallmark movie marathon

Netflix ideas: Atypical, You, The Office, New Girl, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (graphic), Love is Blind, Locke & Key, How to Get Away with Murder, Scandal, Ozark, Cheers, That 70s Show, Blacklist, Peaky Blinders,

Hulu ideas: Suits, Marvel Runaways, Looking for Alaska, Cloak and Dagger, Light as a Feather, Shadow Hunters, Gifted, Euphoria, Pretty Little Liars, Blackish, The Next Step, The O.C., Freakish, The Wonder Years, Tagged, West World

Amazon Prime ideas: The 100, Riverdale, American Horror Story, Just Add Magic, Teen Wolf, Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls, The O.C., Beevis & Butthead, Veronica Mars, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Glee, The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friday Night Lights

Disney+ ideas: Let’s face it: ALL the Disney movies are fun! But a few notables are Frozen 2 and Aladin. Other series or movies to try: Star Wars Clone Wars, 10 Things I Hate About You, Marvel’s Runaways, Phinneas & Ferb, Girl Meets World

Gaming

Clean up your devices

  • Delete unnecessary or duplicate photos from your devices
  • Organize your photos
  • Delete apps you don’t use
  • Unfollow accounts you don’t like anymore
  • Unsubscribe from emails that clog your inbox

Music

Podcasts

Other Ideas on Your Screens

  • Create a Yelp! or Trip Advisor account and leave reviews for your favorite places
  • Go on Goodreads and create a “Want to Read” book list and track all the books you’ve ever read
  • Leave book reviews for your favorite books
  • Back up your phone
  • Clean your laptop’s keyboard and screen
  • Update your Home and Lock screens with pictures that makes you happy

Books

Academic

  • Get ahead in your schoolwork
  • Study for the ACT and/or SAT
  • Start working on college application essays
  • Research about something you’ve always found interesting
  • Fill out paperwork for next semester

Community service

  • Social distancing is the number one thing you can do to help your community!
  • Donate blood or plasma
  • FaceTime with your grandparents
  • Write a letter to family members (especially grandparents!). They’ll love getting something special in their mailbox!
  • Coordinate a neighborhood donation to your local food bank: no contact required. Contact your food bank to coordinate a drop off time. Post about collection efforts on neighborhood social media accounts. Specify a pickup date and have donations left on their front porch. Wear gloves while collecting and dropping off the donations.
  • Offer to pick up groceries or prescriptions for at-risk neighbors so they don’t have to go out in public

Random ideas

We weren’t sure how to categorize some of these ideas for bored teens! They might be random, but they’re still fun.

  • Enjoy the low gas prices and take a drive, roll down the windows and crank the music!
  • Try on your clothes and put together new outfits
  • Sort that LEGO bucket and find all the pieces for different sets. Then put the set together.
  • Write (and mail!) thank-you notes or a letter to friends and family members who don’t live with you
  • Pull out those Christmas lights to spread some cheer and bring light to your neighborhood during this time that can feel dark.

Home projects

In your room

  • Clean out your drawers and closets and remove items to donate
  • Organize your desk
  • Give your room a deep cleaning
  • Rearrange your room
  • Paint your room (with parent’s permission!!)
  • Learn how to fold your clothes like Marie Kondo
  • Paint all your inexpensive jewelry with clear nail polish to help it last longer

In the kitchen

  • Experiment with creating new smoothie recipes
  • Bake cookies
  • Make candy like these gummy Legos
  • Learn how to decorate cakes and/or cupcakes
  • Organize the pantry (check with your parents first!)
  • Make dinner for your family
  • Make popscicles with these great molds

Around the house

  • Wipe down/clean all baseboards and doors in your home
  • Ask your parents about any home improvement projects they’d like you to help with
  • Wash the windows
  • Clean and detail any vehicles
  • Plan (or plant, depending on where you live!) a garden
  • Prep flower beds
  • Give your dog(s) a bath

Family activities

We wanted to complete our list of ideas for bored teens with some fun for the family! After all, teens aren’t the only ones impacted by social distancing. Entire families are shifting to working from home and not socializing with other people. Blow off steam together with some quality family time.

Indoor family activities

Outdoor family activities

  • Go for a hike
  • Pack a picnic lunch or dinner and go somewhere new to “eat out”
  • Play Frisbee
  • Make an outdoor obstacle course and compete to complete it
  • Make and play Giant Jenga (or buy a set here)
  • Play “Glow in the Dark Bowling” (add glow sticks to filled plastic water bottles and use a soccer ball to knock them down)
  • Giant outdoor checkers

We hope these ideas for bored teens help to make the coming weeks more enjoyable for you and your teens! Do you have some other ideas that you’d like to share? Please add them in the comments below to help other parents of teens!

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