Just for fun..what Do You All Do with Your Kids on Week nights..getting Bored;)

My 3 year old goes to bed by 7:30, so we usually don't have a lot of time for activities. We eat, he puts on his Pjs, brushes his teeth, goes pee, adn then we read books. If we eat an early dinner and we have time, he will wrestle with his dad, or we might do a puzzle or play a game, but like I said, we rarely have time for activities after dinner. It's usually straight to "get ready for bed" time. We will usually read for about 15 minutes.

Would you be able to do something outside the home if it was once a week? Like a gymnastics class or swim lessons?

Read
O. quick errand
Empty water bottle bowling
Toss balls into paper sacks or bowls/garbage cans
Flip playing cards
Toss/roll small bouncy balls into a circle
Build something with blocks/Lincoln logs/mega blocks
Make a little craft--soup can pencil holder, oatmeal tub drum
Marshmallow launcher (cut bottom off red Solo cup, cover that opening with a balloon & launch marshmallows
Cups, spoons, measuring cups in bathroom sink
Paper boats in the tub
Tub paints/crayons
Go Fish!

gosh....i get off at 4:30, go home, dinner, clean up, bath, bedtime routine - he's in bed by 7:30, collapse on the couch. there's not a lot of time for us to entertain. i think at age 3 he was following me around a lot, "helping" with dinner or household chores. reading books, playing with blocks. we are not ones to have huge amounts of toys or movies. sometimes it's good for them to have that time - it lets them stretch their imaginations and "find" something to do. when they're little it is fun and easy to spend hours on end entertaining them and playing with them, i remember when my son was around this age, "I" started getting a little uninspired, playing with cars, too lol. it's a good age start to wean from the constant need to be entertained by someone.

I always got my kids involved in whatever I was doing, especially cooking and cleaning.
Make dinner time family time, he can help you get dinner ready, measure, pour and stir. Most kids LOVE being in the kitchen and it gives them good health and safety habits to do it at a young age.
After dinner, he can help clean up and then he can play while you and hubby do whatever you need to do for a bit. Then maybe play together (just build blocks, something simple) watch some TV, read a book or two, then bath, pj's stories and bed.
And remember, you don't need to play with him to engage him, little ones love helping to fold laundry or clean out the garage (enjoy it while it lasts lol!)
I would think between dinner, down time, bath time and bed time there's not much time to fill!
ETA: you could also take a nightly walk around the neighborhood after dinner, exercise is another great daily habit :-)

I agree with books and puzzles! Those are fun, interactive activities but are still mellow so it won't get him all riled up before bed.

Also, start teaching him some board and card games. My daughter was much better at it at 3 than my son is (I think it's a boy thing) but he still loves playing with me. Candy Land is great, so is Go Fish or memory.

Play Doh. It's messy but also quiet and creative. You could also do other easy craft projects like just stickers, stamps (self inking) on paper, coloring, or watercolors. We buy the books that are characters and have watercolors attached to the front (Barnes and Noble or Target) and I tear out pages for my kids to do. They both love it.

Some nights maybe you guys could make an easy dessert together. My kids love to help in the kitchen.

I also agree that you may consider looking into an activity to start him in like gymnastics or Karate or something. One day a week isn't too bad and it keeps him active and burns energy! We also go to the indoor pool once a week and that is fun too!

We don't have TV and only watch movies when we're sick. I only mention that so you know we've come up with a lot of things to do in the evenings.
Winter: puzzles, board games, evening walks, treasure hunts, helping cook dinner, playing in the bath, help to wash dishes, drawing/painting in the art room, read, looking up what to plant when
Spring/Summer/Fall: doing all of the above, but outside in the garden much more right up until its time for bed

Now that she's six, I feel like we have so little time in the evenings. I treasure the one on one time!

how much time do you have between pick up at day care and bedtime.. by the time we get home from school (430) we do free play.. dinner bath every other night.. generally one page of homework.. then play a game.. and read a book lights out nighty night..

It varies, but here are some of the things we do after we get home from work:
- play board or card games
- do puzzles
- engage the kids in some of their other toys. Basically play with some of the toys that they have with them.
- build up a Thomas the Train track.
- build something with cardboard blocks. Sometimes we make roads for the various cars they have to travel on. Sometimes we just build something big to knock down. Other times we have each kid take turns and sit down and have us build around him. Then he knocks it down from inside.
- play hide and seek. Sometimes we turn off the lights and do this in the dark with flashlights or headlamps. Or we put a blanket over one and make him the ghost and he chases the others around.
- play soccer in the hallway using soft, stuffed soccer balls. We got some from ikea. There is nothing in the hallway that can really be broken except the light. We close all the doors in the hallway first.
- play hockey in the play area or kitchen floor. Our kitchen is small but we make it work. We got some soft hockey sticks and pucks or balls (NHL team ones) and we play with those. We sometimes use the plastic golf clubs but it's easier to get whacked with one of those.
- read books. My kids are into playing teacher so they take turns being the teacher and "reading" the books.
- color, playdoh, stickers, or other crafts.
- I have twins and they have a child size foosball table so we sometimes play that.
- One of their toys is Hockey Guys and Soccer Guys (little figures) so we may do play time with those.
- Lincoln Logs or Lego/Duplos
- Fill the kitchen sink up, put bubbles in, and let them play.
- If it's not too cold or wet one night, you could do an evening walk with flash light.

And if we are particularly tired, we might end with a tv show or iPad games before bed, but we try not to do that too much. There is probably other stuff I am missing.

When my daughter was that age she loved for me to read with her. She even had some of the simple books memorized. She's 10 1/2 now and I wish I could still read to her ;-) Ummm...at 3, I didn't do too many activities during the week. Just playing together, games, reading, toys, that seemed enough for her at that age, Just spending quality time together (I also worked FT and it stinks you don't really get much quality time M-F) -- Reading some other answers helped me remember, we also used to play outside , I had a big red wagon we'd go on walks and I'd pull her in the wagon.

My kids are of school age so after homework and dinner we are off running to whatever activity is that night. All I can say is enjoy these days. You sure will miss them!

At this age, you do not need to spend money on lessons or activities outside the home or neighborhood. Books, puzzles or games are fun. Physical activity like bouncing a ball back and forth, hopscotch, Simon Says, Mother May I, Hide and go seek, Tag. The classic games we played outside as kids. They are free, loosely structured, and basic and don't involve electronics. You can do them for an hour or fifteen minutes, whatever you have energy and your child has the attention span for. Art activities are great too--water paints, playdough, coloring, finger paint. Have fun!

I remember those days... Putting on music and dancing was a good one. I think they'd dance on the king sized bed and have a ton of fun. I stood there making sure they didn't fall off. Puzzles as someone said. Also a balloon and playing "keep it up" type thing. Priceless has been a small bouncy house we bought and we'd put it up in the garage. If you can do that, great way for him to burn off some energy.

Puzzles. Big on puzzles in my house.

Also spent a lot of time building forts...
..... and playing catch...yup, I said it, we play (and have played since all the kids were sitting up) catch in the house! Gasp! It started with a soft foam ball, progressed to nerf type balls, then wiffle balls, then tennis balls and now that the boys are 9 & 7 and have had quite a few years of baseball under their belts, they/we have an (almost) nightly game of catch with a real 'soft' baseball in the hallway! True Story! Ha!

Reading is our go to activity, and we could probably stock a small library. Not only did my parents shower me with books as a child, they saved them all for me, and I have done garage sales and library sales and every holiday, I spend most of my budget on more books. :) My toddler (2) is in fact, right now, sitting in a chair reading books.

Reading is the best...not only does it stimulate them much more than toys, tv, etc, you also get automatic cuddle time the whole time you are reading...which for me is a huge bonus because my toddler isn't particularly affectionate. :) I love to have her in my lap!!

I think that's the best quality time night time activity...I am so biased, though, because I love to read.

Some really awesome books to start with are "The Spooky Old Tree" and "The Picnic" by the Berensteins, "Go, Dog! Go!" by P.D. Eastman, mother goose books, etc...we also recently discovered the Little Blue Truck books and a book called "Goodnight Goodnight Construction Sight" that my toddler is enjoying because she loves trucks. Her favorite book is "Mother Goose in the City" which is a Little Golden Book from my childhood. If you can find it on Amazon, every child I've ever met has fallen in love with this book and memorized each little poem.

When we do play at night, we will play grocery store or sometimes we sit and play video games together. In fact, my hubby just went to rent me a new game...I usually save it for when the kids are in bed, but sometimes we play together. My oldest child used to just love to lay on the couch with me and watch me play Zelda. Not very stimulating, granted, but still some good snuggle time when we'd had a busy day.

The activities in our house may vary: practice math with beans or his toys, play dough, puzzle, Lego, arts/crafts, train and the driver game, movie, and etc. we read books a lot, also he loves helping me in the kitchen especially baking cupcakes. Once or twice a week, I prepare tomorrow's dinner half way done the night before, and take him to the park for an hour.
He also taking swimming lesson once a week.

I would just do something that is relatively mellow and relaxing etc.
The reason I say this is: I have a boy. And if he is very active or does a lot of horse-playing before bed, he cannot... wind down nor sleep, well.
So I have to keel down things, before he sleeps.
If not he gets too wired.

Just do some connecting/bonding with your son in the evening. My son even just likes when we lay on a sofa, and read or I let him chat about his day. Because he is a chatty boy. Or I let him... show me things that HE wants to or play with.

I'm sure your son doesn't think you are "boring." Its just how you make think you appear to be, to your son.
But, even if tired, interact with him. That is what a kid needs. Even if it is just mellow things.

My son is 3 1/2. We usually have about half an hour to 45 minutes between the end of dinner and bath time. If we have 45 minutes, we play a game like Uno Moo, or Ladybug Game. We might be able to do three games in a row depending on our luck in the games. We also have a Light Bright type thing that's made for preschoolers and that's pretty fun to play with in the evenings. It takes awhile with lots of counting pegs to make the pictures.
With a shorter amount of time, sometimes we do Play-doh and teach our son how to make simple things. Like we'd show him how to roll simple shapes and stick them together to make a car or airplane. And then practice it and play with them lots. Or sometimes he want to read. If we don't have much time at all, we play hide and seek.
And like everybody else, we have the occasional night of Total Meltdown Screaming for No Reason just to keep us on our toes ;)

Our YMCA has drop in programs every night. My boys can do rock climbing, floor hockey, soccer, dodgeball, arts and crafts or gymnastics, and they have swim lessons one night a week. They run these programs for kids 3 years and up. They can also just go and play on the playstructure or the bouncer. In summer weather we would just take a walk to the playground after dinner.

Three's probably a little young for this, but when he gets older, charades is always fun.

We have puzzles. I dont know if your 3 year old is into them, but we just got a bunch for Christmas we've been having fun with.