Why Don't You switch off your television set and go and do....:) what can 13-yr-olds do to entertain themselves this summer?

[F1lthym1ndedvixen]

Can we pool our ideas and create a ''have a go'' list?
A couple of days a week my young male teen has had to entertain himself for several hours while I am working. His friends are all coming round and it is increasingly apparant that they are becoming bored with electronica but do not seem to have any clue what to do with themselves with limited funds. I've created a monster, by over-entertaining him obviously and not encouraging boredome and therefore creativity, but to be fair, his friends are the same, so I am not alone :)
Help me kick-start their imaginiations and come up with some low (no) cost activities which they can keep themselves occupied! Please bear in mind they are still YOUNG teenagers. AND they are boys so not lilely to be engaged by quietly sitting and making friendship bracelets.
I want a list, dammit! What did we all do in the 70s??? Remember, when we only had 3 channels and kids' tv stopped 12?

Today I left them playing a bored board game
2: cloud watching
3: baking (can I trust them not to burn the house down?)
4:.........

• Plan, buy and cook dinner (you provide the budget of course)

- Chores, DD1(15) is channelling her inner control freak and ensuring that DC2 & 3 are tidying bedrooms, hoovering etc. You could add something manly to the list like lawn mowing. - Local pool - Local sports centre - ours has a 'youth' gym

Sneak in some toys. My 13 year old ds spent a whole afternoon making a massive face out of lego! Whenever his friends come round they all start playing with DS3s toys - lego, playmobil, kinnex, etc.

I have introduced a ban on TV after breakfast - ie they're allowed to watch it when they come down until they sit down for breakfast & that's it for the day.

So far - this has been bloody marvellous for my 13 yr old.

Today for example - he made breakfast, mowed (huge) lawn, painted a wall in his room, made a bonsai tree with his grandma, cleaned out his rabbits, went to the library , went to WH Smith's and spent his Christmas gift cards on books, went swimming, made toad in the hole for his and his brother's dinner then joined me on a 1hr dog walk.

It seems to have coincided with him being a thoroughly more pleasant chap!

Can they play outside? My DS's design obstacle courses doing totally random things and then get very competitive trying to get the best times.

Ready Steady Cook? They have fun and you get a meal made for you! You could just give them random things out of your fridge/cupboards so it doesn't cost much.

My 12 (almost 13) year old and his mates are all building airfix models this summer

We went to buy new crayons/felt tips for school and they then wanted to try them all out :)

Organise all the digital photos. Get them to learn how to use photoshop.

Depends what sort of area you live in. We used to go to the woods and build dens or go down to the local rec & play rounders or football with whoever was there.
Bike rides?
I think the photography idea is good - is there a camera lying around they could use or have they got decent ones on their mobiles? How about giving your DS and his mates a photography challenge with a small prize for winning picture.
It is a struggle. My DS is 14 and has cost me a small fortune booking him in to organised outdoor activities just to make sure he doesn't spend 6 weeks on PS3 or computer.

They go to the park a fair bit...but the weather is awful at the moment and it is a half hour walk away.

he has no bike as has outgrown his, is too small for his dad's bike and I have no money to get hinm a new one.

Like the photo idea! (the photoshop on would be good butr we don't have phtotoshop)

cooking is great but I do feel I need to be there in the house to supervise a bit (he is still scatty enough to forget to turn over off)

lol at lego - he has obnly 'just' grown out of actually really playing with it hiomself :D

Swimming is expensive here, especially when bus fare is factored in.

I'm still adding these all onto The List though :)

Write a script, and make a film (if you've got anything to record it with).

After the script is written, they can work out how to film each scene, and then edit on the computer adding music in, etc.

Or - take some still photographs, and do a powerpoint set to music of their choice.

If you don't have photoshop use picassa - its free. you can't do as much, but it is a good starting point.

thanks for that, shinyshoes. classy answer. These holidays are long, yes? Never mind, back to school soon, poppet.

Re the phot idea - what about a photo scavenger hunt? For a free online editing programme - try Piknic - loads of effects and lots of it is free :) and very popular with teens.