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Rainy Day Ideas

“Mommy, I’m bored,” my 4 -year-old son says to me one winter afternoon.  Just three words send shivers up my spine, as I begin to frantically sort in my mind how to keep him (and his 2 -year-old sister) occupied for the two hours that remain before dinnertime.  Play outside?  Too cold.  Read books?  Already read three after pre-school.  And since they’ve both already spent a mind-numbing, guilt-inflicting hour watching Noggin, TV isn’t an option.

 “I know!” I say enthusiastically, “let’s make something!”  And before the words are out of my mouth, I’m regretting it.  It’s not that I don’t like arts-n-crafts.  As a matter of fact, as a kid, coloring and making art projects was my favorite thing to do.  It’s just that, as an adult, I remember what a mess I used to make.  Now that it’s my own house, the thought of glue, paint and glitter all over my sparkling wood floors and earth-toned carpets is terrifying.  So, I quickly devise a plan for “arts-n-crafts” hour that will be fun for the kids, but doesn’t have me on my knees with Resolve carpet cleaner for hours (my son and his friend once put their little feet in purple ink pads and stomped around on my white carpet like dinosaurs, but that’s a story for another time).

Step I:  Pick your spot.  I designate the basement floor (non-carpeted area) for my arts and crafts spot.  Just to be safe, I take an old bed sheet and spread it on the floor.  Then, I put old extra-large T-shirts on the kids (and me) to protect our clothes from any stray paint splatters.

Step 2:  Pick your craft.  Today, we’re going to make hand puppets out of brown paper bags (remember making them in grade school art class?).  Everyone gets a paper bag, some markers, pipe cleaners, paint and a brush, glue, glitter and yarn.

Step 3:  Pick your colors.  To keep things simple (and neater) everyone gets TWO color choices.  We decide ahead of time who is going to use which colors, that way there’s no fighting over who gets what.

Step 4:  Start your craft.  We begin by drawing or painting the face of our puppets with eyes, a nose and mouth.  Then we color in the “body” of the paper bag and gluing on glitter “buttons.”  In my daughter’s case, this means a “sparkly skirt.”

Step 5: Next, with help from me and some scissors, we put pipe cleaners through the sides of the bags for ears, arms and feet (you can cut very small holes in the bag, feed the pipe cleaners through, and bend them inside so they won’t fall out).

Step 6: Finally, we glue some yarn on top of the bags for “hair.”  The whole craft takes about 30 minutes, but we have about a half-hour of fun after that “naming” our puppets, making up silly stories and even singing with them.

Step 7:  Clean up.  I try to incorporate clean up into every activity we do.  I make it a game by setting a timer for three minutes and having the kids race to see who can put the most things away.  I have a tub of moist wipes nearby the wipe their hands and anything that may have spilled.

Mission accomplished.  The entire process took only an hour, but, most importantly, the kids and I had fun together and I get to keep my floors clean.  Time to start dinner!