UNBORED: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun

The UNBORED team — coauthors Josh Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen, and designer Tony Leone — are friends who got tired of lamenting the fact that we couldn’t find any activity books for families who enjoy getting unbored both indoors and outdoors, online and offline. So we decided to make one.

Our inspiration? Do-it-yourself guides from the 1970s like The Whole Earth Catalog, maker/builder websites like Instructables and Make, parenting blogs, old scouting manuals, and even Neal Stephenson's sci-fi novel The Diamond Age.

In creating our first book we drew on our own memories of childhood — the made-up games we played, the rhymes we used to figure out who was “It,” the handicrafts we enjoyed, you name it. We also drew on our experiences as parents of kids growing up in the 21st century… with the Internet and smartphones and apps. And we roped in a couple dozen scientist, activist, and maker friends to help out, too. Perhaps most importantly, we recruited three very talented artists — Mister Reusch, Heather Kasunick, and Chris Piascik — to contribute hundreds of illustrations.

UNBORED
2012
Hardcover, 352 pages

We figured that UNBORED would be our only book, so in its 352 full-color pages, you’ll find everything from our own kids' favorite apps, DIY building/making projects, and crafts to science experiments, and instructions on building everything from a remote-controlled water blaster to a cigar-box guitar.

PLUS
Expert essays by materials scientist Deb Chachra, food historian Tom Nealon, 3-D printing whiz Bre Pettis, and craftster Jean Railla, among others; Best Ever lists; a comic on the secret history of videogames; Q&As with the polar explorer Ann Bancroft and author Kate DiCamillo, among others; Train Your Grownup features; and classic lit excerpts.

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UNBORED
2012
Hardcover, 352 pages

We figured that UNBORED would be our only book, so in its 352 full-color pages, you’ll find everything from our own kids' favorite apps, DIY building/making projects, and crafts to science experiments, and instructions on building everything from a remote-controlled water blaster to a cigar-box guitar.

PLUS
Expert essays by materials scientist Deb Chachra, food historian Tom Nealon, 3-D printing whiz Bre Pettis, and craftster Jean Railla, among others; Best Ever lists; a comic on the secret history of videogames; Q&As with the polar explorer Ann Bancroft and author Kate DiCamillo, among others; Train Your Grownup features; and classic lit excerpts.

BUY UNBORED

When Bloomsbury — publisher of the Harry Potter books — brought it out it in the fall of 2012, UNBORED made quite a splash. It was a bestseller in independent bookstores nationwide, it reached #1 on Amazon’s Family Activities and Parenting book lists, and it received lots of glowing praise.
- “It’s a book! It’s a guide!
  It’s a way of life!”
- "If you can’t find an exciting activity to do in this book, there might be something wrong with you.”
- “Loaded with projects, games, experiments, and just plain fun.”
UNBORED even made it onto New York Magazine’s famous Approval Matrix — in the coveted HIGHBROW/BRILLIANT quadrant.

A number of fun opportunities opened up, after that. For example, Josh was a guest on MAKE Magazine’s Maker Camp videocast; and Elizabeth’s home was featured in the New York Times, as an example of what “fighting the war against techno-passivity” — and allowing your kids a say in home décor — looks like. We wrote parenting advice for Slate. And we were interviewed on the radio a lot.

What came next, for the UNBORED project?

UNBORED GAMES
2014
Paperback, 176 pages

In the fall of 2014, Bloomsbury published the paperback UNBORED Games. In its 176 (full-color, richly illustrated) pages, you’ll find the rules to dozens of indoor, outdoor, online and offline games, including: back of the classroom games, bike rodeo games, jump rope games, alternate reality games, clapping games, apps and videogames, secret-rules games, drawing games, rock-paper-scissors games, card and dice games, backyard games, guerrilla kindness games, stress-relieving games, and geo-games.

PLUS
Expert essays by gamers Chris Dahlen, Catherine Newman, Stephen Duncombe, and Richela Fabian Morgan; Best Ever lists; DIY game-building projects; Secret History Comics; Q&As with Apps for Kids podcasters Mark and Jane Frauenfelder, Anomia inventor Andrew Innes, and others; Train Your Grownup features; classic literature excerpts; and brain-teasing Mindgames.

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Our second book received glowing reviews, too. (For example, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune described it as “chock-full of smart, totally not-lame ideas to amuse and give the brain a workout.”) So our team set to work on a third book…

UNBORED Adventure
2015
Paperback, 176 pages

In the fall of 2015, Bloomsbury published the paperback UNBORED Adventure. In its 176 (full-color, richly illustrated) pages, you’ll find adventure apps, adventure gear, adventure skills (from building a fire to open-mindedness), adventure-building projects (e.g., bean shooter, box kite, ghillie poncho, paracord bracelet, upcycled raft), indoor adventures (e.g., sewing your own ditty bag, survival origami), instant adventures, and outdoor adventures (from the pervasive game Assassin to fire-pit recipes to shootin’ craps).

PLUS
Expert essays by adventurers Chris Spurgeon, BikeSnobNYC, Catherine Newman, and Liz Lee Heinecke; Best Ever lists; Secret History Comics; Q&As with Joshua Foer and Dylan Thuras of Atlas Obscura, Playborhood author Mike Lanza, and urban biking activist Elly Blue, among others; Train Your Grownup features; and classic lit excerpts.

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Our third book was also well-received. We think it’s our best book yet! But a whole new phase of the UNBORED project was just beginning…

UNBORED ACTIVITY KITS
2015

In the summer of 2015, the brainy kids’ toy and game company MindWare produced not one but two UNBORED activity kits!
- The Unbored Disguises kit includes everything you’ll need in order to go undercover. Inside, you’ll find two sets of teeth, two beards, five mustaches, four pairs of glasses, eyebrows and sideburns, an eyepatch and a monocle, fancy gloves, a bandana, and a roll of gauze for fake injuries.
  
  The 16-page Field Guide to Going Incognito suggests a few of the many personae (Urban Pirate, Mountain Jack, Fifties Hepcat, British Boffin, Nerd Zombie) that you might create using these items; it also offers tips on making your own scars and wounds, disguising your voice and style, and changing the way you walk.
  
  PLUS
  There’s a selection of colorful temporary tattoos drawn by Mister Reusch.
  
  Top 10 Toys of 2015 — Family Fun
  
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- The second kit, Unbored Treasure Hunt includes everything you’ll need to create treasure hunts that take place within a single room, throughout the house, or across an entire neighborhood. Inside, you’ll find a paintable wooden treasure chest, a paint set and brush, treasure chest stickers, a compass and penlight, a mapmaker pad, printed and blank clue cards and envelopes, and prize certificates.
  
  The 12-page Field Guide to Hiding & Seeking Prizes explains how to set up various sorts of cooperative and competitive treasure hunts, whether indoors or outdoors — not to mention hacks that involve smartphones, timed hunts, rhymed clues, and more.
  
  PLUS
  Gems of Awesomeness!
  
  Best Games of 2015 — Parent’s Choice Awards
  
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MORE ACTIVITY KITS
2017-2020

Our first kits were a hit in toy stores across America, so MindWare produced three more…
- The UNBORED Carnival kit encourages kids to step right up and get started planning an event full of fun and friendly competition! All of the details you need to host a memorable carnival are included, from tickets and a megaphone to decorations and equipment for midway games. Enjoy a little good old-fashioned carnival fun and maybe even raise some money for charity.
  
  The 12-page Field Guide to Putting on a Carnival offers tips on everything from collecting tickets to organizing a ring toss game and a squirt-gun shooting gallery, to cooking sweet and savory popcorn for carnival-goers.
  
  PLUS
  The box itself transforms into a beanbag toss game!
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- The UNBORED Time Capsule includes everything you’ll need, from stickers and labels to envelopes and boxes to a nifty date stamp, to capture important details that you’d like people in the future (including your future self) to know about. Seal and store your time capsule… and then plan to be amazed years from now by what you’ll rediscover.
  
  The 12-page Field Guide to Making History suggests how to record your current interests and activities, details about your friends and family, and stories about your school and town.
  
  PLUS
  Social Network Document. Predict everyone’s future!
  
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Survive a long car trip while having a blast with a kit packed full of activities! The UNBORED Road Trip kit will keep your family entertained for hundreds of meaningful, memorable miles.
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Kids and parents alike will enjoy the nonstop boredom-busting fun: from car bingo (with bingo stampers), mapping activities, and drawing games the whole family can play. The kit includes containers for collecting souvenirs, a book light, a cinch pack, a travel-size whiteboard, and conversation-starting cards. Kids can even plot their travels with stickers on a map of the USA.
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The 20-page Field Guide to Hitting the Road includes the rules to our all-time favorite car games — including State Plates, A to Z, Wackronyms, Fizz Buzz, and The Mundane Game. Also: Tips on getting the most out of the kit’s contents, and recipes for snacks to pack before the trip.

PLUS
The box becomes a suitcase that you can decorate with included stickers!
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What’s next for UNBORED? Stay tuned!
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— Josh, Elizabeth, & Tony