At Scribble, we believe that when kids have the space to imagine, create, and explore their own ideas, it leads to incredible personal growth, academic success, and happiness. We're thrilled to be a part of your child's creative journey. Click below to discover how Scribble can play a vital role in fostering your child's creative spirit.

Footer CTA (Creativity Thought Leadership)

Magically transform Your photos  into gorgeous hardcover books (With just your phone)

In today’s technologically driven world, kids expect things to happen in seconds. Immediate gratification is pretty much the norm, and if something doesn’t happen right away, you hear the words every parent knows all too well, “Mom, Dad, I’m bored!” But is being bored such a bad thing?&nbsp;

Should parents jump through hoops to entertain their kids every second of the day? (Often by powering up a screen or two.) Or are they better off letting children experience boredom now and then?

When you embrace boredom, you open the door to many benefits, including increased creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability. You become more self-aware, as well as more receptive and empathetic to the people around you. Boredom builds imagination and compassion, encourages you to learn new things, and can also help bring goals back into focus.

Understandably, you want to help your kids whenever they’re feeling upset. But it’s worth noting that boredom isn’t something you need to always fix. It plays an important part in children’s overall development.

Is Being Bored Good for Your Brain?

It turns out a little <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3339123">boredom is a good thing</a> as long as you embrace it instead of using a screen to squelch it. When you feel bored, your mind has a perfect opportunity to wander or daydream. Daydreaming provides impressive benefits, including increased problem-solving skills, creativity, improved memory, and stress reduction.&nbsp;

<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3339123">Boredom motivates the brain</a> to work, triggering mental activity that a person uses to find a creative use of their time. You might find that embracing boredom helps you let go of anxious feelings and calm your thoughts.&nbsp;

When your mind’s calmer, it opens to new solutions for lingering problems. It’s no longer in a frenzy or distracted by a computer game, television show, or phone screen.

Why Boredom Is Good for Your Child

Understandably, it’s frustrating when your kids tell you they’re bored. You start thinking about the room full of toys, or all of the video games, or the bike outside. You find yourself impatiently thinking, “Why don’t they just play?” or “Why do I buy all this stuff if they’re just going to say they’re bored?”

Well, feeling bored often boils down to a desire to do something new, something different. The usual activities simply don’t have the same effect anymore, so kids get bored. Parents’ natural reaction is typically to provide some sort of entertainment to alleviate their children’s boredom (and whining).&nbsp;

However, the next time your kid comes running up to you saying they’re bored, remind yourself it’s okay. A little boredom here and there leads to more creativity, improved problem-solving skills, and the ability to engage in flexible thinking.&nbsp;

Children who experience occasional boredom have more opportunities for self-reflection and empathy. When kids get bored, they expand the possibilities of what they can do. All of these benefits contribute to kids becoming more well-rounded individuals.

In each of the following sections, we’ll dig a little deeper into each benefit to show why kids need boredom.

1. Boredom Builds Problem-Solving Skills

Even though boredom has benefits, there’s no denying that it isn’t fun. When you’re bored, you’re bored; it’s the opposite of having a good time. But the reason this has the potential to be so great is that it makes kids face their situation and come up with a solution (or stay bored).

As your mind starts to wander, you begin to open up to new ways of thinking. You start to look at things differently, which leads to solutions you may have never thought of before.&nbsp;

Boredom helps improve problem-solving and critical thinking skills as kids naturally seek out ways to eliminate their boredom. They invent new games, develop ideas, or dream up innovative activities.

2. Being Bored Opens the Door to Creativity

<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130108201517.htm">Being bored leads to creativity</a> and builds imagination. Creativity is an essential part of child development. It’s a skill that leads to innovation, new ideas, higher levels of critical thinking, and self-expression.&nbsp;

Boredom gives birth to cardboard rocket ships, race cars, pirate ships, and playhouses. Kids come up with engaging, detailed play adventures or paint vibrant masterpieces. When children are bored, it opens the door to all sorts of possibilities of things they can do.

Allowing kids to experience boredom, instead of trying to snuff it out as soon as it appears, is a crucial part of their total development. If every time your child tells you they’re bored you jump to entertain them, you rob them of a vital opportunity to grow and develop important skills.&nbsp;

3. Dealing with Boredom Encourages Kids to Adapt

If your child typically paints or draws when they get bored, then eventually, the time will come when they won’t want to do that. You see, always doing the same thing isn’t going to continuously counteract your kid’s feelings of boredom. This is because the more they do something, the less novel it becomes.

Therefore, when kids are bored, it encourages them to find new ways to spend their time. When they can’t readily grab a phone or flip on the television, they adapt by seeking new ideas and activities. This ability to adapt to new situations leads to the development of a very valuable life skill.

When kids are more flexible, they’re better equipped to face challenges life throws their way. Adaptability plays an important role in how people approach obstacles, deal with changes, and handle disappointment.

4. Feeling Bored Leads to Increased Empathy

Typically, it’s common for kids these days to zone out in front of a screen when they don’t have anything to do. The problem is, that too much <a href="https://time.com/3153910/why-access-to-screens-is-lowering-kids-social-skills/">screen time can lower social skills</a> and how kids interact and relate to others. When children fill every second of their time with mindless distractions, they miss developmental opportunities.

Boredom is life’s way of giving children the chance to develop essential life skills. Think about it. If your kid’s bored, and doesn’t have a way to instantly entertain themselves, they have a moment where they just need to be. At this moment, kids daydream, find new ways to spend their time, or simply reflect on what’s happening around them.

They start paying more attention to their surroundings, including other people. They become more in tune with emotions and how others are feeling. Perhaps in that moment of boredom, they decide to call up a friend or family member to chat or invite a friend over to play.&nbsp;

5. Boredom Promotes Self-Awareness

In life, people inevitably face frustrations. When kids get bored, they experience several negative emotions.&nbsp;

It’s important to let them work through these feelings and figure out a solution instead of fixing it for them. Kids learn valuable information about themselves and how they handle difficult and unpleasant situations.

If a child can handle boredom when they’re young, they improve how they’ll handle negative feelings and thoughts when they’re older. The idea is that experiencing boredom leads one to develop more self-control and have a higher capacity to self-regulate.

Tips To Help Your Kids Handle Boredom

Now, let’s be real. Kids are kids, and inevitably they’ll sometimes run out of ideas or need a gentle nudge. One suggestion to help guide them without giving them everything they need is to create an idea list ahead of time. Work with your kids to write a list of activities or suggestions, but keep them very broad.

The next time your kids are bored, they know to check the list instead of grabbing their tablet or complaining. The list might include things like a craft project, an outdoor scavenger hunt, or practicing a sport. It’s up to the kids to decide which option they’ll choose and how they’ll carry it out, or if they’ll come up with another idea.

Provide opportunities for kids to get creative and experience the arts, keeping things like paints, clay, and other supplies on hand. Stock up a few recyclables, like cardboard tubes, empty boxes, and plastic water bottles that kids can turn into artistic treasures.

Parents, talk to your schools about including or expanding their arts curriculum to promote creativity. Support your local PTA and other organizations that help provide funding for arts programs. Show your kids that there are many ways to engage in and experience the world.

One fun idea is to encourage them to create a book showcasing their older art projects. This activity is great for inspiring creativity because it lets them reminisce about their past creative achievements. Parents will benefit because it will reduce a large stack of art into a few hardcover photo books. You can easily accomplish this with the assistance of <a href="https://scribble.art/">Scribble</a> and your smartphone camera.

Don’t Be Afraid to Embrace Boredom

Encourage your kids to embrace their boredom. Even better, invite boredom in every now and then with a digital detox -- put away the screens for a specific amount of time. Letting kids get bored encourages <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810011001978">mind wandering</a>, which helps ease stress and provides a mental rest and refresh.&nbsp;

A bored girl who doesn't realize the benefits of where her imagination can take her

When you embrace boredom, you open the door to many benefits, including increased creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability. You become more self-aware, as well as more receptive and empathetic to the people around you. Boredom builds imagination and compassion, encourages you to learn new things, and can also help bring goals back into focus.

Boredom Isn't Bad; It's a Game Changer

We hope you enjoy using Scribble as much as we have building it. We are constantly working on new features to help parents capture and celebrate their young one’s creativity. If you have any questions or feature suggestions, please feel free to let us know in the chat.&nbsp;Ready to build you own book?

Footer CTA (Product)

Scribble is powered by advanced machine learning and computer vision algorithms that clean up casual smartphone photos by removing backgrounds, straightening perspectives, fixing rotation, analyzing colors, and so much more. The combination of these techniques makes it easy for parents to simply upload photos from our smartphones and let Scribble magically build a book in real-time.&nbsp;

Give it a shot and&nbsp;<a href="https://scribble.art">build your book here</a>. It's easy to get started and you get a free online book you can share!

About Scribble (Inline Post Intro)

Your child’s artwork can take a beating on its journey from the classroom — a lovingly crafted masterpiece often emerges from their backpack with stains, rips, wrinkles, and folds. Your child’s artwork will photograph the best when laid flat on a clean surface. Here are our favorite techniques for getting your kiddos art as flat as possible.&nbsp;

If you have the time, placing their two-dimensional work under a large book or magazine will help smooth the wrinkles overnight. If their painting came rolled up, you can roll it up the opposite direction to counteract the curl.

Cricut adhesive mats are a great option for temporarily flattening kids’ artwork because they're both quick and non-destructive. If you have a Cricut cutting machine, you most likely have their standard grip mat. I prefer the <a href="https://a.co/d/a9gjbYt">Light Grip Adhesive Cutting Mat</a> for most pieces because it separates easier from the artwork and provides enough grip to tame your average backpack-wrinkled artifact. If you’re working with larger pieces, you can place multiple mats together or use their larger 12” x 24” mat.

If you’re mounting for an upload to <a href="https://scribble.art">Scribble</a>, make sure that you don’t mount the artwork right up to the edges. Frame your shot so that you don’t include the edges of the mat otherwise it will think the mat is part of the artwork.

<a href="https://a.co/d/fOayl2y">Blu-Tack</a> is a reusable moderately sticky adhesive putty that can easily tame wrinkles and folds. This is another one of my favorite methods and can usually be found stored in the same drawer as my kids’ artwork. There are quite a few variations made by other companies, such as <a href="https://a.co/d/eAQqFG9">Loctite’s Fun-Tak</a> (pictured below and is actually blue).

You can use double-sided tape or make your own double-sided tape loop to apply on the back of the artwork. Pro-tip: pick up some lint from your shirt to reduce the stickiness and avoid tearing the artwork when removing it.

A hot glue gun is a convenient way to tack down the edges of your child’s artwork. Modern hot glue guns heat up fast, drip less, and can be cordless. This method is more effective on larger pieces made of more robust materials like cardboard. Just apply a couple dots on the corners and anywhere else that needs to be tacked down.&nbsp;

My personal favorite is <a href="https://a.co/d/7PTBh0k">Dremel’s USB rechargeable hot glue pen</a>. It heats up in 15 seconds and is USB rechargeable.

You can use the combination of a foam core board and spray tack as an alternative to a plastic adhesive mat. <a href="https://a.co/d/2GJqeXL">Spray tack</a> is a repositionable adhesive spray that allows you to temporarily “tack” down your piece while photographing. This method has some advantages over using the Cricut adhesive mat including:

Some tips for using this method:

Your child's work is a beautiful mess! While it feels counterintuitive, there is a story behind every creation. Each imperfect squiggle, tear, or crease tells a story of how and what your child was creatively thinking at the time. We strive to offer a supportive and judgment-free environment for our young artists to be creative – we should also embrace this for ourselves when “translating” their works for print in an art book.

Don’t stress about getting it perfectly flat or obsess about trying to obtain that perfect photo. If you’re using <a href="https://scribble.art">Scribble</a> to build your art books, our software will do all of the heavy lifting – you can sit back and watch Scribble remove backgrounds, crop and rotate your photos, get that perfect overhead angle, suggest complementary background colors, and enhance photos for every page of your book.

A Wrinkled Hungry Caterpillar 

Your child’s artwork will photograph the best when laid flat on a clean surface. Here are our favorite techniques for getting your kiddos art as flat as possible. 

How to Flatten Kids’ Artwork for Photographing

If you are a parent of young ones, you’re familiar with the intentions of appreciating and celebrating their creativity. They truck home an endless stream of artwork from school that ends up in a huge pile stuffed into a box or a drawer. <a href="https://scribble.art">Scribble</a> helps parents assemble, organize, and transform a child’s collection of their favorite artwork into a beautifully bound hardcover book. By following our helpful tips below, you can ensure beautiful results when photographing artwork.&nbsp;

Your kids will crease, fold, crumple, and stuff their various creations into their overstuffed backpacks before making their way to you. As adults, we have to remember that these unintentional characteristics help contribute to each piece’s story and help the artwork pop from the pages when viewed in Scribble books.

With that being said, it’s important to try to tame each piece in order for the details of the artwork to come through clearly. Check out our <a href="/blog/how-to-flatten-kids-artwork-for-photographing/633f39bc65e1e70009649a3b/">guide</a> for tips on the best ways to flatten artwork.&nbsp;Our favorite method is using a <a href="https://a.co/dbETCyU?ref_=smi_se_dshb_bk_smi">Cricut LightGrip mat</a>&nbsp;to quickly hold down the curls and folds while you take the picture.&nbsp;

Smartphone cameras are the headline feature of every new phone release these days. Their sophisticated hardware and software advancements enables us to capture artistic photos, even as non-professional photographers.&nbsp;

If your smartphone was purchased within the past 6 years, you have more than enough megapixels to shoot and create a Scribble book with. Gone are the days when everyone had a DSLR or larger camera that required you to invest in additional equipment to take great photos. Make sure you have the following settings:

Artwork photos look the best when taken with natural indirect lighting (usually by a window or door). Avoid overhead lighting that can cast shadows.&nbsp;

If you are using a <a href="https://a.co/dbETCyU?ref_=smi_se_dshb_bk_smi">Cricut adhesive mat</a> to grip your artwork, make sure that you don’t mount the artwork right up to the edges and that it’s reasonably centered on the mat. Frame your shot so that you don’t include the edges of the mat otherwise it will think the mat is part of the artwork.

Place three-dimensional artwork on a table preferably against a clean wall. If your camera supports it, feel free to use “Portrait Mode” as it helps isolate your piece for background removal.&nbsp;

Easy right? Scribble was built to simplify the process of&nbsp;transforming&nbsp;children’s artwork into a hardcover artbook. By following the steps in this guide, you can simply select all the photos from your camera roll and upload them to <a href="https://scribble.art">Scribble</a> – you can sit back and watch Scribble remove backgrounds, rotate your photos, adjust perspectives, suggest background colors, and enhance photos for every page of your book. We’ll even let you take all the credit when your kids flip through the pages the next time the Grandparents come over.

Effortless capturing of images for a Scribble book from your phone

If you are a parent of young ones, you’re familiar with the intentions of appreciating and celebrating their creativity. They truck home an endless stream of artwork from school that ends up in a huge pile stuffed into a box or a drawer. Scribble helps parents assemble, organize, and transform a child’s collection of their favorite artwork into a beautifully bound hardcover book. By following our helpful tips below, you can ensure beautiful results when photographing artwork.