Boredom Busters

Self Portrait

Materials:
Little person sized peice of paper (moving paper, newsprint roll etc.)
Pencil
Crayons, markers, paint

What to do:
Have your toddler lie down on the paper.  Outline their body in pencil.  They can get up and colour or paint their self portrait as they like.  Help them print their name on it.  Cut it out and hang it on their bedroom door.

Foamy Fun

Materials:
Table or flat surface
Shaving cream

What to do:
Spray shaving cream on the table and let the little ones play to their hearts content.  It's easy to clean up and actually takes layers of buildup off of wooden tables.

Pudding Finger Paints

Materials:
Your child's favourite flavour(s) of instant pudding
A safe, clean surface that can get messy

What to do:
Make up the pudding(s) as directed on the package.  Put dollops of pudding on the surface of choice (high chair tray is great) and let your child go to work making a design.  They can eat their work!  If you use more than one pudding, use opposite colours (like vanilla and chocolate) for contrast.

Broken Crayon Fun

Materials:
This isn't quite a craft, a recipe or an activity ... it's just a little tip for dealing with all of those broken bits of crayons that accumulate in your house.

Here's what to do:
* Pam or very lightly grease muffin tins.
* Take all those broken crayons bits and place them in the tins
* Place in the oven at a low heat until they melt together.
* Take them out to cool and your done!

Notes & Alternatives:
- The amount of crayons you use depends on how thick you want your new crayons to be.
- You can keep the colours separate
- Or put two in the same tin
     * don't mix it for a two sided crayon
     * slightly swirl while melted for a cool effect
     * mix them up to create a new colour (usually turns out brownish when you do this)
- You can use metal molds to melt the crayons in for fun shapes
- If you have small metal cookie cutters, you can put them in the muffin tins to hold the melted crayons

Hands on Heirlooms by Robin

Materials:
*washable food coloring
*2 cups water
*4 cups flour
*2 cups salt

Method:
1. Add a few drops food coloring to the water. Then mix in the flour and salt for a batch of homemade play dough.
2. Help your child mold a 1/2-inch-thick flattened circle for each heirloom. With a pencil, make a hole through the top of each.
3. Have your child press their hand firmly into the dough disk, clearly imprinting his/her hand.
4. Use a spatula to place the discs on a foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Flip them and bake for another 30-45 minutes, or until dough is dry.
5. Identify and date each disc with a permanent marker. (i.e. "Shayna 1999.") You can tie ribbons through the holes to hang them.
6. Plan to repeat every year-and watch how kids' handprints grow. This can make a nice personalized Christmas gift... can be hung on a wall or maybe the Christmas tree.