For parents: a place to find apps, games and online classes your kid will actually enjoy (ages 2–14)

bored.kids is a free directory of apps, games and online classes for kids 2 to 14, sorted by age and by what your kid is into, with a plain note on what kids actually do in each one. It launches here on October 24. This is why we made it.

It's 5:40. Something's about to burn, someone needs a wipe, and from the living room comes the voice: "I'm booooored."

You know what happens next. The tablet comes out. And somewhere between handing it over and turning back to the stove, there's that small, familiar sting.

A survey this year found 98% of parents of young kids let them use screens, and 84% feel bad about it. So that's all of us, feeling bad about the same thing, mostly alone. As one parent told researchers, "we do not live in a screen-free world."

What's said less often: the guilt usually isn't about the screen. It's about what's on it. Nobody feels bad when their kid spends twenty minutes working out how a bridge stays up, or beats them at chess for the first time, or types their own name and shrieks. You feel bad when it's the forty-ninth unboxing video and you weren't really watching either.

The good stuff exists. Tens of thousands of things in the app store call themselves "educational," and somewhere in there are the ones your kid would actually fall for. Finding them at 5:40 with something burning is not a thing anyone can do.

So we built a place for it. Pick your kid's age (2–5, 6–8, 9–12 or 13+) and what they're into, from early learning to chess, coding and typing, and you get a short list with a plain note on what kids really do in each one and who it suits. Tap a heart to keep a shortlist. No account, no ads, no "educational" sticker taken on faith.

It won't make 5:40 go away. But next time the voice comes from the living room, you might hand over something you'd want to sit down next to.

If you've got a kid, tell us what they got hooked on that you were glad about. Those stories are how the good ones get found. And if you want to know when we go live, follow p/bored-kids.