Your classroom or home inevitably becomes disorganized when the child uses the materials throughout the day. Allow the student to organize materials and clean up specific areas of your home or class. Not only does this activity help you out, but it also can improve reading skills. In order to organize appropriately, the child must read labels in order to put the items in their correct storage location.
Drawing or painting provides an activity with many academic extensions. If a child is bored, you can ask her to complete a creative art project based on any book in your school or personal library. Ask the child to paint a picture of a scene or design a new cover of her favorite book. Provide a variety of art materials including paints and markers so the child can create the art project using his favorite medium.
Establish a reading corner in your home or classroom and encourage a child who is bored to choose a book from from your personal library and read quietly. Silent reading of familiar books allows the student to improve fluency. Provide a wide variety of books from which the child can choose, including ones of varying reading levels. Have books on tape and a tape recorder available so that a younger child can read books that would otherwise be too difficult to read.
When a child is bored, suggest he write a thank you letter to any worker at school or in the community. Suggest he acknowledge a person in the community who may not receive recognition on a daily basis but provides a service that directly benefits the child. This might be a cafeteria worker or janitor. Provide the child with stationary and writing utensils. Allow your child to present the thank you gift to the employee to show appreciation for her hard work.