Letting our kids' imagination run free
Anyone who knows my 7yr old will tell you he is one of the most creative, imaginative kids you will meet. I, unlike a lot of parents, don't just chalk that up to his superior intellect. I think his freedom to think has a lot to do with it.
Unlike a lot of kids we know, we didn't chuck him in preschool as soon as we could. I did a lot of research on the pros and cons of early education. My findings pointed toward restricting free thinking by too much structure too early on. Kids are shuffled from "learning station" to "learning activity". They are told exactly what they can have to eat and when they need to do each event in their day. Some of these kids end up not being able to make a move without asking someone what to do.
In that same regard, I feel coloring books are over used. It tells the child what to color and where to color it. Give them a blank piece of paper, crayons, pencils, safe scissors and tape and who knows what they will create. My son writes stories, makes cartoon pages, cuts out shapes, makes his own board games, stuff I would never think of! He creates his own characters. I myself lack the ability to do that.
He will sit at the counter for hours some times writing his stories or creating whatever comes to mind. He isn't limited by my preconcieved notions of what he should be doing with the activity. He asks how to spell words I didn't even know he knew. He even creates his own codes and languages!
I am not trying to toot my own horn as a parent. I have very little to do with his ability other than giving him the freedom to discover it. So the next time your child says "I'm bored" (and that happens about a million times a day some days) give him/her some blank paper, crayons, etc and let them create.