Best things to do when you're bored in class?
12/15/25 6:23pm
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This post was sourced from submitted reader questions and posted by wikiHow Editorial Staff, based on our article: What to Do If You’re Bored in Class: 31 Creative & Productive Ideas.
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School is not going to be super stimulating at all times, so it’s best if you deal with your boredom in a productive way. If you simply need a brain break in the middle of a dull lesson, spend a few minutes updating your calendar, crafting your to-do list for later, or powering through a homework question or two for another subject.
If you’re just getting fidgety, try doing something with your hands while you listen to the lesson. There’s nothing wrong with folding a paper airplane or messing around with a fidget toy if it keeps your hands occupied while you focus on listening to a lecture or presentation (so long as you don’t bother other people).
If you absolutely need to do something unproductive, like drawing or daydreaming, that’s okay. Everyone needs a break now and then. Just try to hold yourself to a time limit of 2-5 minutes. It’s really hard to stop wasting time in class once you get in the habit of doing it for longer periods of time, so holding yourself accountable will help keep this kind of thing to a minimum in the future.
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If you’re just getting fidgety, try doing something with your hands while you listen to the lesson. There’s nothing wrong with folding a paper airplane or messing around with a fidget toy if it keeps your hands occupied while you focus on listening to a lecture or presentation (so long as you don’t bother other people).
If you absolutely need to do something unproductive, like drawing or daydreaming, that’s okay. Everyone needs a break now and then. Just try to hold yourself to a time limit of 2-5 minutes. It’s really hard to stop wasting time in class once you get in the habit of doing it for longer periods of time, so holding yourself accountable will help keep this kind of thing to a minimum in the future.
I would add that some material is just inherently boring. Maybe one student in 100 can stick with all of that boring material and not have their eyes glaze over at some point, but for most of us, we have to deal with that challenge. There are two things you can do. The first option is to actually talk yourself into liking it, and basically say to yourself, “This passage about DNA is fascinating.” My students laugh whenever I say that, because they know as well as I do that it's not, but you just have to talk yourself into it.
The other option would be to try to find something that can relate to your own life within a passage or within a problem, and say, “I'm interested in this for this reason,” as soon as you find something of interest within a reading passage, a math question, or whatever you’re learning. You're going to be more motivated to solve whatever you’re working on if you find even a tiny reason to care.
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The other option would be to try to find something that can relate to your own life within a passage or within a problem, and say, “I'm interested in this for this reason,” as soon as you find something of interest within a reading passage, a math question, or whatever you’re learning. You're going to be more motivated to solve whatever you’re working on if you find even a tiny reason to care.
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