Reduce Your Kid's Boredom with Crafts and Activities

That's what I was always told, as a kid anyway. I would come home and plop down in a chair and complain I was bored. My mom would simply reply, "Well then get un-bored".

Maybe I can help reduce your kids agonizing boredom with these few solutions I have come up with. Some of which are crafts and others are activities. Either one your child picks they are bound to get un-bored.

Here is one of my favorites, gather some flowers Carnations and Queen Anne's work best. Put them all in separate vases, and then fill with water. Then add a few drops of different colors of food coloring in each vase. In a few hours you'll have blue, green, red, and yellow flowers for your dinner table.

Next, my kids just loved this idea. You'll need some paper, sticks (light weight) balsa wood works best, and a lot of string. Now that you have your materials your kids can make home made kites. They can decorate them any way they like. Open fields and the beaches are the best places for blowing breezes. This will keep them busy for hours.

A real creative idea is to get an unused shoe box and a few old socks and turn it into a tossing game. Cut about three different sized holes in the shoe box. Decorate the box with paint and add as many embellishments as you like. Now it's time for those old socks, fill them with more socks, or sand, what ever you can come up with. Don't forget to tie the sock in a knot and now you have your bean bag. Your bean bag tossing game is completed, enjoy.

Depending on the season, get them into making crafts. Here's a craft that will work for every season and is easy to make. How about a special seasonal wreath all year round. You can start by deciding on buying a real wreath or an artificial wreath. When the season changes the wreath changes. Just use your imagination and a little creativity.

Maraca's anyone? No, well then let's make our own. You'll need at least 2 old light bulbs, lots of newspaper, water and flour to make glue. The first thing you want to start doing is cutting or tearing the newspaper into strips. When you get al that done, put the strips of newspaper into the" glue" mixture. After the strips are all wet place them on the light bulbs. Keep doing this until the bulb is covered with three or four layers.

Let the bulbs dry completely. Gently tap the both maracas to break the bulb inside, but be careful not to damage the paper mâché so the glass doesn't escape. Now you can paint your maracas with festive colors and dance around the house.

Tired of buying clay just to have it dry out on you. Well, now you can make your own. This is will be a potter's clay. You'll need to mix two cups of baking soda, one cup corn starch, with one and a quarter cups of cold water in a medium sauce pan. Stir until it's completely smooth, bring the mixture to a boil. You should let it continuously boil for one minute or until the cay is the consistency of mashed potatoes. Then you need to pour it onto a tray and cover with a damp cloth until cool. Knead lightly, if you would like a few different colors just add a few drops of food coloring. Now you can mold it into shapes, vessels, or roll it out on waxed paper and cut with cookie cutters. When the clay dries you can paint it.

You can even put some holiday spirit intro it by using Christmas cutters, make a small hole in the top to thread a ribbon through, let dry paint, then you can bake it at 350 degrees for about thirty minutes. Now you have yourself an ornament keepsake.

These crafts and activities are sure to keep your little ones busy.