May represents a beginning.

Nature is donning its greenest shades, birds chatter as the days of school wind down for kids and summer gets its legs. Though there are many options for entertainment once the sun breaks from winter’s gray, anticipating the age-old, adolescent dilemma of boredom, What’s Up has sought out a few summertime projects for parents who are hearing the infamous line from in front of the television, “Mom, Dad … there’s nothing to do, I’m bored.”

Whenever the weather’s warm and my son gets stir-crazy, my first thought is to go outside. Beyond a temperate climate, these outdoors hold such a wide range of entertainment, from exercise to enjoyment, even right in one’s own backyard. The most important element is imagination.

One of the most basic, tried-and-true forms of outdoor entertainment and also the first project on this list is the art of kite flying.

Many different shapes and styles of kites are available for purchase at sports and department stores, but for kid who’s both bored and broke a brown paper bag holds the potential for aerial action.

• Grab a brown paper bag, either grocery or lunch bag depending, a pair of scissors, some decorating materials like markers, crayons, glitter, etc.; also a stapler, a roll of string and optional streamers.

• Cut the bottom of the bag off cleanly. On one end of the bag, staple the string – long enough to allow for flight, but short enough to control. And on the other staple the streamers if you choose. Decorate to put your own stamp on it and you’ve got a rectangle kite, easy on the budget. Enjoy at the park, at home, wherever you can harness the wind.

Now, perhaps this particular child in the throes of boredom isn’t up for the good clean fun of kite flying. Perhaps he/she is looking to get into something a bit more creative, maybe a tad more messy; sounds like a recipe for a backyard mural.

• For this, you will need a large, preferably white sheet (like a bed sheet), a set of paints, a set of “brushes” and imagination.

• Hang the sheet outdoors in front of a sturdy backdrop, use brushes, sponges, shapes and other applicators to create a backyard mural. Fun for one, even more fun for many.

Now, let’s say the weather outside is not so nice, and any attempts at making a mural would likely be washed away by an early summer’s rain. There’s more to do indoors than get hooked on re-runs or the afternoon feature made-for-TV movie.

Case in point, junk percussion – rhythmic recess is just a bucket away.

• Gather buckets of all sizes from around the house and get a pair of quarter-inch or lighter sticks. Invite friends for a drum circle, work up your own drummer’s repertoire or bang along with your favorite band.

So, there are three, inventive, impromptu ideas to avoid staying idle at home. But if one is mobile and hasn’t yet explored all that the Kitsap Peninsula has to offer, Kitsap’s greater backyard holds even more ideas and hours of entertainment.

Local author Meredith Arseneau will be discussing some of these as she is set to speak about the book which she and Christina Rude co-wrote called “Great Adventures for Kitsap Peninsula: Family Fun in the West Sound” at 2 p.m. May 12 at Barnes and Noble in Silverdale.

And while that book can unlock the possibilities of the world immediately around the West Sound, your local Kitsap Regional Libraries hold the keys to unlock worlds beyond. To find the nearest branch along with program listings at www.krl.org or call (360) 405-9100.