Fun Things You Can Do with a Pen

We all get bored sometimes. Oftentimes when you're bored you don't have much around with which to entertain yourself. However you almost always have a pen or pencil on hand, so try these tricks and distractions next time you find yourself bored and holding a pen. Some require paper, but napkins, newspaper, and magazines can substitute for this. These are easy and fun to do, so always carry a pen or pencil.

Learn some pen tricks. Search the web and find some tutorials on how to do pen tricks. They are difficult to learn, but once you know them, they are an endless source of entertainments as you can continuously combo the different moves. And you can always strive for better technique and cooler looking combos. As it is quick to start, but a lifetime to master, it's a great way to pass the time and will never stop being a source of new, exciting things to try. A good site to start looking for instruction is Pentrix.com. You can also try a site like YouTube.com for video tutorials.

Write poetry. Poetry is fun to write and takes a lot of time and effort and thus is quite enthralling. You can find a rhyming dictionary online or in a library or you can just wing it. A good online rhyming dictionary is RhymeZone.com. It is also a thesaurus and dictionary. Or you can do rhyme-less poetry. You can try to have a rhythm to the lines called meter, which is when the emphasis of the syllables of words form a pattern such as alternating. An example of this is the sentence, "so lóng as mén can bréath, or éyes can sée," with the accent marking the emphasis. Also, you can write freeform poetry with no meter or rhyme. You can write lines that form shapes. An example would be John Hollander's "Swan and Shadow." Or you can try Japanese haikus, which are three lined poems with the first line being five syllables long, the second being seven syllables, and the third and last five syllable. The sky is the limit with poetry.

Practice handwriting. Beautiful handwriting is a skill people marvel at and takes a lot of time to develop. Whenever it takes times it can be a great hobby as you can spend much time learning new things about it and perfecting it. You can buy a child's practice book (or find a printable practice sheet online) if you want to practice clear, proper cursive or print. Or you can find a calligraphy site or book and learn pretty handwriting. This site allows you to make your own practice worksheets: handwritingworksheets.com. Quamut.com has some information on basic calligraphy scripts. Iampeth.com has exemplars you can copy.