August 08, 2009
With older children returning to school many will be left with younger children to entertain. This is also the time of the year grandparents and friends return to after school day care duty. If you are in either situation now is the time to prepare to entertain those little and not so little charges.
When I was young my mom worked full time. Summers were awful for my sister and me. The woman who cared for us was not exactly a nice lady. We could sit on the cough in the living room, no TV of course, or we could play in the basement, no toys, of course, or we could go outside. On rainy days it was the basement. Life was miserable for us and for my mom who also hated the situation.
Entertaining kids does not have to be expensive. I posted about school sales two week ago and encouraged you to stock up. I hope you did. Yesterday I was at our local CVS and all of the school supplies were grouped together and marked down so continue to check the clearance isles.
Purchase a roll of newsprint. I purchase these all the time at Costco for use as packing materials for Totally Ready but they are great for many uses. Have children make banners. You may want to write a message on the paper first and then have the children add the decoration, Happy Birthday, Welcome Home…etc. This is also great when an older child has a big accomplishment. When our daughter was elected to a school office we made a big poster and hung it up in the entry way so it was the first thing she saw when she got home from school.
That same paper can be rolled out and the kids can make their own wrapping paper, either for use now or for future use. Begin now and prepare for future needs such as birthdays and Christmas. The paper can then be personalized for the recipient. Use those inexpensive crayons you purchased at the back to school sales or make stamps from potatoes in the shapes you need. You can carve Christmas trees, stars, balloons, letters, whatever you can imagine into the potato to make your stamp.
Speaking of paper…When I was a college student I wanted to surprise my sister with a new look for her bedroom. As an assignment in art class I made a rug for her room. That just did not accomplish my mission so I went to the store and purchase a couple of roll of wrapping paper. I then used that to wall paper a wall in her room. I simply stapled the paper to the wall at the ceiling and then in a few locations in the center and again to the floor. It looked great and was completely unique. Recently one of the kids had a poster that needed a frame. I had a frame but it was too large so I simply used my wrapping paper trick again. I covered the cardboard backing in the frame with the paper and then centered the poster on top. It really looks great. With wrapping paper a dollar a roll at the dollar store this is a fun, easy, and cheap solution to liven up your decorating. It also make fun book covers for school books.
Cleaning out closets not only declutters and makes you feel better but it can also provide hours of entertainment for kids. Take those old clothes and shoes and use them for dress up. The gaudier the better. If dresses are too long either hem them with iron on hemming tape or just cut them off.
Hold a toy swap with friends. Ask your child to choose two or three toys they no longer want. Get together with friends and trade. The kids will love getting new stuff.
Making a potato stamp
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Potato
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Sharp knife
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Paint
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Paper
- A shallow dish
Method
Wash the potato and cut it in half. You can cut the potato lengthwise for a larger pattern or widthwise for a smaller pattern and easier handling by small fingers. On the cut surface of the potato draw your pattern with the tip of a knife, or draw a pattern on a piece of paper and using straight pins pin it to the potato as a pattern. Cut away the potato surrounding the shape, so that the shape protrudes at least 1/2 inch. Children can now use this shape as a stamp. Place poster paint in a shallow dish, so they can ‘ink’ the stamp in the paint. You can also use stencil paint and dip or brush it on.
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I whole heartedly agree with the idea for playing dress-up.
One of our children’s favourite imaginative play things was the dress-up box that I made one year for our middle daughter’s birthday. We didn’t have a lot of money that year, so I bought one of those large plastic totes on sale. That was the only out of pocket expense. I decorated the outside of it with stickers and pictures I’d cut out of magazines then decoupaged on. (If you weren’t giving it as a gift, this would be a great project to work on with the kids) Then I gathered up some old dresses, bead necklaces and shoes.
At that time in Canada, there was a children’s morning TV program called Mr. Dressup and he had a trunk with costumes in that he would dress up in. His trunk was called the Tickle Truck because sometime it wouldn’t open unless you tickled it. So I glue the letters Tickle Trunk to the lid of the tote.
It was a huge hit at the birthday party.
We added to the box as time went by with halloween costumes as well as cowboy hats and old army hats that our son loved wear when he was old enough to join in the play.
They would play with the things in that box for hours.
Another great imagine toy that ours played with a lot were puppets. Making the puppets and then creating plays for them is another activity that will keep children happily occupied for hours.
If you live close to a newpaper printing office it is possible to get newprint for free or very cheap. Just ask if they have any newpaper end rolls. In our area they are free and in another the cost is $3.
Love your ideas for playtime for kids. Something my father did for my kids was to take several large boxes, painted them with leftover latex paint then gave the grandkids markers and asked where they wanted doors and windows cut. Then they decorated. They made tables and chairs out of smaller boxes, a car out an oblong box and so on. He even let them have a picnic lunch in their house.
The only problem was leaving the boxes at Grandpa’s house – we were visiting from 1200 miles away !!