Looking for something to do this evening? There’s no shortage of entertainment apps and guides out there designed to help you figure out where to go out for dinner, drinks, music or any other entertaining event is no longer that much of a hassle. But almost all of these are targeted at adults, especially in South Africa. So what do you do with kids (who constantly need fun and to be kept busy) on those days when you want to relax and have a fun family day out?
You engage in their perennial cry and shout at Google I’m Bored, of course.
I’m Bored is an app created with the entire family in mind. It shows you a list of special offers, events and venues you can head over to where you and your kids kids can have tons of fun.
It’s no surprise that I’m Bored is rooted in family experience. It originated with an 11-year-old boy, Aidan Steyn, and his mum Lorraine, who began putting together a list of great places to go with kids when Aidan was younger. They then decided to share their list with other families, so they could also have a directory of places to go for a family day out.
“As an IT professional, the idea quickly expanded to a vision of a What’s On service incorporating social aspects like recommendations from friends, and being able to share through services such as Facebook and Google Plus,” says Steyn, who works as a technology entrepreneur.
To appeal to a certain market, a product has to know its market well, which is why Aidan himself helped accumulate the photography and the ideas on how to appeal to kids.
I’m Bored currently covers Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban, but Lorraine mentions that they do have plans to eventually cover the entire country and beyond.
To get started using the app, you can sign in using your Facebook or Google Plus account, select your city and start searching. Events and activities are categorized under action, art, theatre, music, eating out, shopping, museums or nature.
Apart from finding events and activities nearby, you can also use I’m Bored to search for service providers like tutors & sports coaches, and kid-oriented products in the Services Directory, add events directly to your calendar to help organize your family time, mark activities as ‘Favourite” to easily find them again. The app also lets you share events on Facebook and Google Plus for other parents to find and enjoy.
There are more features that will be added to I’m Bored in the near future.
“Soon to be released, is the ability for people to submit their own events to I’m Bored. We will still curate all the events that are posted,” Steyn (senior) says, “But we hope to increase our coverage, particularly of community events. We are already the most comprehensive event listing service for kids’ activities in the cities we cover. Events can be listed for free, and we only charge if additional promotion is desired.”
“We are also building more social features that will tell you when your friends like something. We believe that families are looking for information that they can trust, and having I’m Bored tell you when your friends enjoyed an activity, helps you to decide where to spend your precious time and money.”
I’m Bored launched at the end of last year there are plans to turn the app into a business that becomes the one-stop service for families and family oriented promoters. For now, it’s only available for Android users and as an in-Facebook App for easy web access, but the iOS version will be launching in about four months time.
[Top image – Shutterstock]
