Summer is coming and I don't know about you, but I have a lot of children and a lot of children's friends that hang around all the time.. hearing that they are bored is not on the top of my list!.. and trying to find something that everyone loves to do is a bit chaotic as we have varying ages around the old barn here.. sooooooo I have been brainstorming ideas to try this summer, I have read a lot of blogs and I have looked at way to many pinterest pins.. but here's what i've come up with.
Boredom Busters (please note that these may not fit all ages)
1. Golf Ball Ants - Take 3 gold balls and paint them whatever colors you would like , because seriously, who wants a boring old black or red ants when you can have orange or teal or periwinkle colored ants!!.. Next hot glue them together (supervise the little ones). then take heavy craft or florist wire and cut them long enough to be sturdy enough to hold the ants up. Bend the bottoms to make feet. Use some more wire and curl the end to make and hot glue on the top or head are for antennae. Glue on some googly eyes and VALLA! instant ants.. you can even spray them with a sealer if you would like to put them out in the garden.
2. Painted Rocks/Sticks - take the kids on a nature hike, or to a park or beach, wherever you may want to go and collect rocks and thick sticks of varying sizes. Grab all that left over craft paint and pout them out into some paper plates and throw out the old news paper on the table. Let the kids go crazy painting them different colors.. even get out the craft odds and ends of strong and yarn and glitter, some stickers and away you go let them be their creative selves!. again if you have sealer and want to show their creations off tot he neighbourhood, spray those rocks and set them in the garden or on the window sill. The painted and fancied up sticks can be hung on the porch or in the windows..
3. Summer Snow jars - all you need for this craft is some mason jars, the small ones work the best.. some 3D stickers, glitter confetti, water and veggie oil (cheaper than glycerin and works too!). take your stickers and press them firmly in the inside of the jars, as many as you want(stickers from Michaels work best) . Fill the jar half way with water and the other half with veggie oil, or if you don't have a lot of oil, fill the jar with water almost to the top and then add a few drops of veggie oil(works both ways). Add the glitter (if you have sequins kicking around those are awesome to!). Seal the jar and then shake up and watch the amazement happen!.
4. Homemade Paint - grab a few containers and some cornstarch and some water.. mix 1 cup of cornstarch and 1 cup of water together really good and then just add the food coloring until you have colors you want (we are looking at the neon colors this summer) . take your little ones and yes even the big ones out tot he side walk and let them go crazy because the best part about this paint, it washes right off of everything!.
5. Mosaic Rocks on flower pots - you just need some glass rocks from your local dollar store and some terra cotta flower pots and a glue gun(supervise the little ones please) . using the glue gun you just take the rocks and cover the pots in them, you can be creative and do whatever design you would love to. Best thing about these pots is that they are ready to go outside right away, no spraying with sealer needed!.
6. Googly Eye Pictures - start with gluing googly eyes to a piece of paper and let the kids go at them with markers and crayons and whatever else they can get there little paws on!. its great fun and some great creations come out of these times..
7. Write and Illustrate a Book - Give your kids a list of ideas for a book , doesn't have to be much just one or to words of something creative such as - cats in suspenders(only if they cant think of something to write about themselves) and let them go to it.. this is a quiet activity, it might take a couple hours, it may take a couple weeks but the end result will be fantabulous! .
8. Scavenger Hunt - have a list of nature things for the kids to go out and hunt.. this is especially fun at your cottage or trailer, or at a conversation area.
so this is my list so far, I'm sure there will be lots more to come as I think of them.
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