Long Lasting Bubbles

• 1 bottle liquid detergent
• 1 small bottle of glycerine
• Water (amount will vary depending on number of children)
• Wire loops

Mix 1 cup of detergent with 1 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of glycerine.  Mixture should be smooth.  Test by dipping in the bubble wand and blowing.

Nibble Necklace

Use a large-holed, blunt needle and thread to string dried fruit bits, cheerios, puffed rice, popcorn and small pretzel knots.  Wear your “jewellery” while exploring a park.

Ahoy Matey

 

Use scissors to make a small slit in the middle of a kitchen sponge, and cut a triangle-shaped sail out of construction paper.  Make two small holes in the sail – one at the top, one at the bottom – with a hole punch.  Hoist the sail by inserting a drinking straw through the holes.  Poke the straw into the sponge, then set sail.

Flutter Butterfly

To make pretty monarchs, flatten a coffee filter into a circle, then paint with markers and spray them with water.  Once dry, clip the centre with a hinged clothespin.

Summer Boredom Busters Part IV

Creative

• Show children how to make tree bark rubbings with paper and crayons pressed sideways.
• Set recycled boxes aside for one week, then let children “build” box creations (car, train, house, instrument, etc.).
• Provide children with wide paint brushes, paint rollers or spray bottles,  and show them how they can “paint” the house or fence with a bucket of plain water.
• Give children sidewalk chalk and pavement limits to create beautiful murals.  Wait for the rain to wash them away, and start all over again.
• Let children put up stage sets outdoors, buy a couple of throw-away  cameras for a day of  “say cheese please”.  After photos are developed, let the children scrapbook them into an album or book.
• Collect old magazines, coloured flyers, scissors and glue for children to create collages.  This could be done outdoors as long as it is not too windy.
• Don’t wait for Christmas to build those gingerbread houses, buy some graham crackers for walls, shreddies for roof tiles, icing to hold it all together, and candies for decoration, and have your children build “summer cottages”.
• Have children join you in making playdough, and let them create a playdough zoo or bakery.
• Bake cookies with children.  They can make Peanut Butter Puppy cookies for the family pet by mixing 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 cup peanut butter with 1 cup milk.  Roll out dough to 1/4 ” .  Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, and bake until lightly brown (20 minutes) on a greased sheet at 375 F.

Rainy Day Suggestions

 

Rainy days are here again!  Two words.  Plan ahead.

 

Have a box full of special craft items or a few toys that are just for rainy days.

 

The TV can be a lifesaver on long rainy days, but use it sparingly.  If it is on all the time, children will watch it all the time and end up tired and cranky.  Save the TV for late afternoon or for when you are getting lunch ready.

 

Rearrange the furniture to create more space and different play space.

 

Save certain activities for rainy days such as a scavenger hunt, an unbirthday party, an outing to the museum or library.

 

Plan your day so that the children can have your full attention for certain periods of the day.  Children find it easier to let you do chores if you have been fully involved with them for at least part of the day.

 

Rotate toys so that toys that seem boring can be put away and “new” ones brought out.

 

Vary high and low-energy activities.

 

 

High-Energy Activities

·        Make an indoor obstacle course using cushions, blocks, blankets over chairs for tunnels, mark areas with tape, etc.

·        Have a “play bath”.  This is a bath where you just play with all those fun bath toys and lots of bubbles.

·        Play “puddle jumping”.  Use carpet squares for puddles, and jump from one to another.

·        Sing and dance to music.  Freeze positions when music stops.

·        Make musical instruments and form a band or have a parade.

·        Play musical cushions.  Each time the music stops, you remove a cushion until all children have to pile onto one cushion.

·        Have paper fights using crumpled newspaper.

·        Have a flashlight expedition where you explore the house with a flashlight and all house lights turned off.

·        Have an Olympics – children can crawl or hop instead of running races.

·        Spiderweb the room with yarn using doorknobs and furniture to attach yarn.

·        Rearrange your child’s bedroom with their assistance and ideas.

·        Play balloon tennis.

·        Hide the button (or whatever – children can take turns hiding and finding it).

·        Play hide and seek.

·        Exercise to a fitness video.

 

 

Quieter Games and Activities

·        CRAFTS

·        Have a camping expedition.  Throw a blanket over a table, some pillows and sleeping bags under it, and have a camp-out.

·        Play dress up using Halloween costumes or old clothes.

·        Have a tea party.

·        Play house in a different area.  Use tape to mark out rooms on the floor or set up the house in an unusual spot.

·        Sort the button jar or count pennies in the penny jar.

·        Have a puppet show.

·        Bake together (requires a lot of patience) or make a simple snack with your child; e.g. fruit salad, coloured toast, cream cheese on bagels.

·        Build a fort with cushions

·        Have an indoor picnic on the floor.

·        Read storybooks.

·        Clean the playroom – children usually find something they have not seen for a while that they will want to play.

·        Teach your child how to play a card game such as Go Fish.

·        Play board games.

·        Get out the playdough. 

Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle – and Save Money!

 

 

As our lives focus more and more on our battered environment, we face the challenges and opportunity to teach our children the four R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover.  One of the ways to achieve this is in using recyclable materials for children’s crafts projects.  This offers a great many advantages, not the least of which is saving money, as well as demonstrating to the children the conservation of resources and the challenge of reusing everyday materials.

 

Challenge your own creative thinking, as well as your children’s, in discovering unique crafts from the following “junk” boxes, coffee and juice cans, egg cartons, fabric, wood scraps, margarine lids, Styrofoam trays, and packing chips . . . the list is endless.

 

Boxes

·        Art Frames – Use the tops of tissue boxes to frame small pieces of art.  Collect the tops from a variety of gift boxes.  Cut out the centre so that the opening is slightly smaller than the art to be displayed.

·        Cereal Box Puzzles – Cut the front of a large cereal box into pieces (the number and complexity of the pieces will depend on the age and ability of your children).  Store the pieces in a large envelope with an identical cereal box front pasted on it.

 

Cards and Catalogues

·        Pack your Suitcase – Use a 9” x 12” piece of construction paper (better still, recycle computer paper) for each suitcase.  Have the children paste on pictures of clothing, shoes, etc.  Fold in half and add paper handles.

·        Salt Cards – Choose holiday cards with winter scenes.  Paint the snowy area with glue and then sprinkle it with salt.  When the glue is dry, the salt will look sparkly.

·        Junk Mail – Save old envelopes, junk mail and magazine stamps for dramatic play about mail carriers and the post office.

 

Egg Cartons

·        Paint Sets – Put leftover tempera paint into the cups of styrofoam egg cartons.  Let the paint dry thoroughly, then the children can use the cartons like watercolour paint sets.

 

Margarine Lids

·        Mobiles – Use a large plastic lid as the base for a mobile.  Punch a hole near the top to hang the mobile, and punch three or four holes around the lower edge from which to hang mobile items.

 

Milk Cartons

·        Traffic Lights – For each traffic light, cover a quart milk carton completely with black paper.  Cut out red, yellow and green circles and have children pasted them in the appropriate places.  Add string to the top so that the children can hang them outside and play ‘traffic games’ with their tricycles.

 

Styrofoam Chips

·        Pussy Willows – The children draw dranches with cotton swabs dipped in black paint, then they paste on pieces of chips to represent pussy willow blossoms.

 

Supermarket Fliers

·        Fishing Game – Make a fishing pole from a dowel or a long paper towel tube.  Tie a magnet to one end of a string, and tape the other end of the string to the pole.  Paste food pictures on heavy paper pieces and put a paper clip on each piece.  The children can fish for food pictures.  You can also ask them to fish for a particular colour of food or for a food in a particular food group.

·        Lotto Game – Obtain several copies of the same flyer.  Make individual game boards from heavy paper.  Divide each one into six sections.  Paste a picture of a food item in each section.  Make a corresponding single game piece for each picture on the game board.  Have the children match the playing pieces to the food pictures on the game boards.  Cover the game boards and the pieces with clear contact paper for durability.

Let’s Make Toys – Spoon Puppets

 

Materials:

Wooden, plastic or metal spoons

Fabric

Pipe cleaners

Paper

Felt

Yarn scraps

Paint

Markers

Glue

 

Paint, glue or draw basic features such as mouth, eyes, and hair onto spoon.  Add a hat if you wish.

 

Make simple clothes from a circle of fabric with a hole cut in the middle for the spoon to slip through.

 

Add arms made from pipe cleaners or paper.

 

Make a puppet or a family of puppets for story telling!