Things to do
Walk a route you have never taken
Pick a street near you that you have never turned down and walk it for 20 minutes.
Random Idea Generator
Bored or stuck? Get one thing to do, make or try, with a first step.
151 ideas · 7 types · No repeats · Free, no signup
150 unseen in this selection (151 total). No repeats until you have seen them all.
What a random idea generator is for
A random idea generator removes the hardest part of free time: choosing. Press the button and you get one specific idea, such as building a blanket fort or a birdhouse, plus a first step you can take right away. There are 151 ideas across things to do, creative projects, drawing, writing, building, cooking and plans with friends.
Random idea generator facts
| Ideas | 151, each with a first step |
|---|---|
| Types | Things to do (22), Creative projects (22), Drawing ideas (22), Writing ideas (22), Projects & side projects (21), Cooking ideas (21), With friends or family (21) |
| Idea of the day | One shared idea per calendar date |
| Repeats | None until every idea in the selection has been shown |
| Cost and data | Free, no account; nothing leaves your browser |
How to beat boredom in 3 steps
- Pick a type that fits your energy: Things to do for low effort, Projects for a full afternoon.
- Draw one idea and do its first step within five minutes, before you can talk yourself out of it.
- If it does not fit, draw again; there are no repeats until the list is used up.
Updated · Written and checked by the RandomTopics editors · How we curate · Site facts
All 151 random ideas
Every idea the generator uses, by type.
🎯 Things to do (22)
- Walk a route you have never taken — Pick a street near you that you have never turned down and walk it for 20 minutes.
- Learn 10 words in a new language — Choose a language, learn greetings, numbers 1–5 and 'thank you'. Say them out loud.
- Do a 15-minute declutter — Set a timer and clear one drawer, shelf or bag. Donate what you would not buy again.
- Watch a sunrise or sunset on purpose — Look up the time, go outside 10 minutes early and leave your phone in your pocket.
- Try a free online course for one lesson — Pick a topic you know nothing about and finish just the first lesson.
- Visit a place in your town you have ignored — A museum, a park, a library branch or a shop you always walk past.
- Have a no-screen hour — Put devices in another room for 60 minutes. Read, tidy, stretch or nap.
- Write a letter to your future self — Describe today, what worries you and what you hope for. Open it in a year.
- Learn a card trick — Search for one beginner trick and practise it until you can show someone.
- Make a playlist for a specific mood — Rainy Sunday, a road trip, focus time. Ten songs, and give it a title.
- Do a home workout with no equipment — Squats, push-ups, lunges and planks: 3 rounds of 10 each.
- Rearrange one room — Move the furniture in one room. Sometimes it feels like a new home.
- Learn to identify five birds or trees near you — Use a free ID app or a library guide and look out of the window.
- Start a one-line-a-day journal — Write one sentence about today. That is the whole habit.
- Fix something that has been broken for weeks — A loose button, a squeaky door, a dead light bulb.
- Go to a free local event — Check your library, community board or council website for this week.
- Plan a dream trip in detail — Pick a place, then plan the route, the budget and three things to see.
- Practise a 2-minute talk on any topic — Draw a random topic, think for one minute, then talk for two.
- Stargaze for 20 minutes — Find the darkest spot you can reach and let your eyes adjust.
- Take yourself on a solo café date — Bring a book or a notebook. No laptop.
- Try a meditation for 10 minutes — Sit, breathe slowly and count breaths to ten, then start again.
- Learn to juggle three things — Start with two soft balls; add the third when you can do 20 throws.
🎨 Creative projects (22)
- Make a collage from old magazines — Pick a theme, like 'my perfect day', and cut and glue for an hour.
- Design your own board game — Use paper, a coin as a die and three simple rules. Test it on someone.
- Film a one-minute documentary about your street — Shoot five clips on your phone and add a voice-over.
- Make a zine — Fold one sheet of paper into an 8-page booklet and fill it with a topic you love.
- Start a photo-a-day challenge — One photo per day for a week on one theme: shadows, red, or circles.
- Paint rocks and leave them for people to find — Write a kind word on each one.
- Write and record a short song — Four lines, one chorus. Hum it into your phone.
- Make a stop-motion video — Use toys, clay or paper cut-outs and a free stop-motion app.
- Create a family recipe book — Ask relatives for one recipe each and the story behind it.
- Knit, crochet or sew something small — A coaster, a bookmark or a patch is a good first project.
- Redesign the logo of a brand you use — Sketch three versions and pick the one you like best.
- Make a mood board for the next year — Images, words and colours for how you want the year to feel.
- Turn a box into something — A dollhouse, a robot costume, a marble run, a cat castle.
- Build a terrarium in a jar — Gravel, soil, moss and a small plant. Close the lid for a mini-world.
- Write a comic strip of your day — Four panels: morning, problem, twist, ending.
- Make a time capsule — Fill a box with objects from this year and label it with an opening date.
- Learn calligraphy basics — Practise the downstroke-thick, upstroke-thin rule with any pen.
- Make a short podcast episode — Ten minutes, one topic, one friend. Record it on your phone.
- Design a flag for your household — Pick colours and symbols that mean something to the people who live there.
- Upcycle an old T-shirt — Turn it into a tote bag, a headband or a cleaning rag.
- Draw a map of a place from memory — Your school, your childhood street or your favourite park.
- Write a poem in a form you have not tried — A haiku, a limerick, a sonnet or a pantoum.
✏️ Drawing ideas (22)
- A cat that is also a teapot — Mix the shapes: handle tail, spout nose, lid ears.
- Your hand in five different poses — A classic exercise: open, fist, pointing, holding a pen, waving.
- The view from your window, in 10 minutes — Speed matters more than detail. Try again tomorrow.
- A dragon who is afraid of fire — Show the fear in its face and posture.
- Your favourite food as a character — Give it eyes, arms and a personality.
- A house for a tiny creature — Under a mushroom, in a teacup or inside a shoe.
- A self-portrait using only shapes — Circles, triangles and rectangles only.
- An object from three angles — Pick a mug or shoe and draw it from the front, side and top.
- A city floating in the sky — Think about how it stays up and how people travel.
- A monster made from random scribbles — Scribble with your eyes closed, then turn it into a creature.
- A robot that does one silly job — A sock-matching robot, a toast-butter robot.
- Your street 100 years in the future — What stays, what is new, what is gone?
- A plant from another planet — Decide what light, water and soil it grows in.
- A shoe designed for an animal — Boots for an octopus, heels for a giraffe.
- A scene using only three colours — Limits make better choices.
- A blind contour drawing of your face — Look in a mirror, not at the paper, and never lift the pen.
- An emotion as a landscape — What does 'nervous' or 'calm' look like as a place?
- A vehicle for a wizard — It cannot be a broom.
- A pattern you could print on fabric — Repeat one small motif across the page.
- A character's room that tells their story — Show who lives there without drawing them.
- The inside of a giant's pocket — Draw what is in there at human scale.
- A still life of what is on your desk — Draw it exactly as it is, mess included.
📝 Writing ideas (22)
- Write the first line of 10 different stories — No need to finish any. Pick the best one tomorrow.
- Write a review of your day as if it were a restaurant — Stars, service and the specials.
- Describe a smell from your childhood — Where were you, who was there, why do you remember it?
- Write a letter from your pet's point of view — What does it think of you?
- Write a story in exactly 50 words — Count them. It must have a beginning, a middle and an end.
- Write instructions for something ordinary as if it were magic — How to make toast, as a spell.
- Retell a fairy tale from the villain's side — The wolf, the stepmother, the giant.
- Write a conversation between two objects in your bag — Your keys and your phone are not friends.
- List 20 things that made you smile this month — Small ones count most.
- Write a news report from the year 2100 — One headline and three paragraphs.
- Write the speech you would give if you won an award — Pick the award; thank three people.
- Write a poem using only words from a cereal box — Or any packaging you can reach.
- Write a diary entry from a historical figure — One ordinary day in their life.
- Describe your town to someone who has never seen it — Use all five senses.
- Write an apology from the weather — Sorry about last Tuesday.
- Write a story that ends with 'and that is why I never went back' — Work backwards from the ending.
- Write your morning routine as an adventure — The quest for the last clean mug.
- Write a recipe for a feeling — Two cups of patience, a pinch of nerve.
- Write a six-word memoir — Like 'Lost my keys, found my calling.'
- Interview yourself — Write five questions a journalist would ask, then answer them honestly.
- Write a story set in a single elevator ride — Two strangers, three floors, one secret.
- Write a thank-you note you will never send — To someone who helped without knowing.
🛠️ Projects & side projects (21)
- Start a blog about one niche thing you know — Write the first post: 'Five things beginners get wrong about…'.
- Build a simple website about yourself — Free builders take an hour. Add a photo and three links.
- Make a budget spreadsheet — Track every spend for one week, then look at the totals.
- Build a birdhouse or feeder — A milk carton or a few planks is enough.
- Start a small vegetable or herb garden — Basil, mint and cherry tomatoes grow well in pots.
- Learn to code a tiny game — Free browser tools can make a clicking game in an afternoon.
- Make a family tree — Ask the oldest relative you can reach; record names, dates and stories.
- Start a small online shop for something you make — Photograph three items and write honest descriptions.
- Organise a neighbourhood swap — Books, toys or plants. Put up one notice.
- Build a shelf from scrap wood — Measure twice, cut once, sand everything.
- Create a habit tracker — A simple grid on paper: habits down, days across.
- Teach a skill in a 5-minute video — Anything you can do well: tying a tie, folding a shirt.
- Make a personal reading list for the year — 12 books, one a month, mixed fiction and non-fiction.
- Start a compost bin — Fruit peels, coffee grounds and dry leaves. No meat.
- Build a Lego or cardboard model of your home — Get the room layout right before the details.
- Start a newsletter for friends — One email a month with three things you liked.
- Restore an old piece of furniture — Sand it, paint it, change the handles.
- Build a simple app idea on paper — Draw five screens and the button that links each.
- Organise your photos into albums — One album per year; delete blurry duplicates.
- Make a cheat sheet for something you are learning — One page that fits everything important.
- Learn basic bike repair — Fix a flat tyre and adjust the brakes.
🍳 Cooking ideas (21)
- Cook a dish from a country you have never visited — Look up a home-style recipe, not a restaurant one.
- Make bread from scratch — Flour, water, yeast and salt. Patience is the fifth ingredient.
- Recreate a dish from your childhood — Ask whoever used to make it how they did it.
- Cook only with what is already in your kitchen — No shopping. Search 'recipes with' plus three ingredients you have.
- Make homemade pizza with odd toppings — Try one new topping on half.
- Have a blind taste test — Three brands of the same snack. Guess which is which.
- Make a fancy breakfast on a weekday — Pancakes, eggs any style, fresh juice.
- Learn to make one sauce properly — Tomato, cheese, pesto or a simple gravy.
- Bake cookies and give half away — A neighbour, a coworker, a friend.
- Make your own ice lollies — Blend fruit, pour into cups, add sticks, freeze.
- Cook a three-course meal for under $15 — Plan the menu before you shop.
- Make dumplings — Folding is the fun part. Invite someone to help.
- Try a new fruit or vegetable — Pick the strangest one at the shop and look up how to eat it.
- Host a soup night — One pot, bread, and whoever is free.
- Make a smoothie from leftovers — Banana, yoghurt, whatever fruit is going soft.
- Pickle something — Cucumbers, onions or carrots in vinegar, water, salt and sugar.
- Learn to fold a proper omelette — Low heat, a lot of butter, and a calm wrist.
- Recreate a restaurant favourite at home — Compare the cost and the taste.
- Make a picnic and eat it outside — Even if outside is a balcony.
- Plan a week of meals in 20 minutes — Seven dinners, one shopping list.
- Make hot chocolate from real chocolate — Melt it into warm milk with a pinch of salt.
👯 With friends or family (21)
- Have a themed movie night — Pick a theme, like 'films from the year you were born'.
- Play a board game you have never tried — Borrow one from a friend or a library.
- Do a group puzzle — A 500-piece puzzle and some snacks.
- Start a two-person book club — Read the same short book in a week and talk about it.
- Have a karaoke night at home — Lyrics videos on any screen are enough.
- Plan a scavenger hunt — Ten clues around the house or neighbourhood.
- Cook a meal together where everyone brings one ingredient — Decide the dish when you see what turns up.
- Have a debate night — Draw random debate topics and argue the side you disagree with.
- Play charades or Pictionary — Use a word generator so nobody has to think of words.
- Go on a photo walk together — Same route, then compare your best three photos.
- Have a 'teach me something' evening — Everyone teaches a 5-minute skill.
- Make a family quiz — Questions only your group would know.
- Have a talent show — Any talent counts, including folding a fitted sheet.
- Do a video call game night with faraway friends — Trivia, Would You Rather or Two Truths and a Lie.
- Write a story together, one line each — Pass a notebook around the table.
- Have a picnic in an unusual spot — A rooftop, a lakeside, your living room floor.
- Build a blanket fort — Add fairy lights and watch something inside it.
- Have a question night — Draw deep questions and everyone answers honestly.
- Do a kindness challenge — Each person does three small kind things this week and reports back.
- Have a no-phones dinner — Phones in a box until dessert.
- Try a new sport together for one hour — Badminton, climbing, frisbee or table tennis.
Random idea questions
What is a random idea generator?
It gives you one concrete thing to do, make or try, so you do not have to decide. This one draws from 151 ideas written by our editors, in 7 types, and each idea comes with a first step you can start in five minutes.
What can I do when I'm bored at home?
Pick Things to do (22 ideas) or Cooking ideas (21) for something you can start with what is already in the house. Most ideas need no shopping and no screen.
Are there drawing and writing ideas?
Yes: 22 drawing ideas and 22 writing ideas. For longer lists, use the drawing prompt generator or the story prompt generator.
Can I use it for projects or side projects?
The Projects group has 21 small builds, from a birdhouse to a simple personal website, sized for a weekend.
Will I see the same idea twice?
Not until you have seen every idea in your selection. The round is kept for this browser tab only.
More idea generators
Find something to draw with the drawing prompt generator, write with the story prompt generator, play a word game with the random category generator, or start a conversation with the random topic generator.