13 Brilliant Boredom Busting Books for Children

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We all know that the long summer break can see children out of routine and the long old moans of ‘I’m bored’ or, Mr D’s current fave ‘but mummmmyyyy, I don’t know what to do’.

My reply is always to go and choose a book. Reading a book or finding a book to leaf through often inspires the children into doing something, be it a sticker book or a reading book. Often they’ll draw a picture based on the story or they will invent a game based on the book they’ve chosen. Often I’ll find them engrossed next to a pile of books. I wanted to share some brilliant boredom busting books for kids to help out over the summer holidays.

First up are a couple of books that I will admit I am surpised Mr D and Miss E took to – 10 Reasons to Love an Elephant and 10 Reasons to Love a Turtle  . Despite my initial reticience they really are superb books that are richly illustrated and packed with ten reasons why you can love these creatures. I wasn’t sure if Mr D and Miss E would engage with these, no real reason other than they seem to be drawn more to fiction at the moment. However the format of these books work well and it’s inspired a crafting session I plan to do next week with the children. You could use these books as the basis for their own – get the children to choose an animal and reasearch ten reasons to love them. They’re very classy looking books and the cut out on the front is perfect for using as a stencil to get the creative work on the go.

Who can fail to love a sticker book? Mr D and Miss E have really been enjoying some new sticker art ones. There are four in the series, Jungle, Ocean, Savannah and Woodland and they are brilliant for letting younger children do on their own. The artwork is quite striking and as well as having eight animals per book to decorate there are also facts about each animal. You could get the children to choose another animal and draw it in this same distinctive style.

For a fun reading book we are loving Say Zoop! This is a really fun book and it’s worked well for us as we have linked it to some of the music work Mr D and Miss E are doing in their music group. It’s hard not to read this book without laughing along and it really is a fun book – perfect for children of all ages.

For children a little older, the Vet Academy is a great book that offers children a challenge. The book is great and takes them through the basics of veterinary care and gives a wide range of topics for them to explore. Mr D and Miss E are always playing vets with their various stuffed toys so this was a good book to help them understand more about what the job actually entails. There are some more in this series too including Engineer Academy, Astronaut Academy and Architect Academy.

Our absolute favourites at the moment for rainy days are the truly amazing ‘shine a light’ books. These are perfect for reading together by torchlight in a den – and who doesn’t like making dens? We like to draw the curtains and use blankets and cushions to create a snuggly reading den. I honestly can’t articulate how amazing these books are – we have four in the series and I’ll be looking out for some of the others soon as they have really inspired Mr D and Miss E.

Finally, the STEM Starters series from b small publishing are brilliant. These are well priced at just £6.99 and there are four in the series, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. There is a lot going on in these books and tons of inspiration for children to complete puzzles such as mazes and pattern iddentifying. There are also hands on things they can do and the books are bound to inspire them to go away and make something of their own.