Snow Painting

Here is a great way to get the kids outdoors for some fun in the wintertime. If you have snow on the ground, you have a blank canvas just waiting to be painted. Pick up some spray bottles from a dollar store. Fill them with water and then add food color to create a variety of colors. Head outside and let the kids create wonderful art creations by spraying the snow. Your yard will be beautiful!

Note: food coloring has been known to stain clothes, so supervise younger kids when they are painting.

You can also use this to create a painted "obstacle course." Spray a path that will take the kids all around the yard, around trees, zig-zag, hopping from spot to spot, etc. Then paint an S for the start and an F for the finish. Have them run the course... ready, set, go!

Play Food For Free

Sometimes the most simple ideas are right under your nose and you just don't think about them. I went to a birthday party and the mom had her kids play kitchen totally stocked. But it wasn't plastic food and miniature cardboard food boxes. She had stocked the shelves with the empty boxes and containers from her own kitchen. What a brilliant idea!

When I got home, I went through all the stuff I had saved for potential rainy day craft material - macaroni and cheese boxes, rice a roni, poptarts, cardboard oatmeal canisters, juice containers, egg cartons, plastic spice shakers, pizza boxes...the list could go on and on. I taped them shut and stocked the shelves in my girls room. Wow! They were excited! They did nothing but play store and cooking for the next 3 days. The best part is that if items get squished or ruined, you just throw them away and replenish the next time you empty a packaged food item. What a great way to recycle what used to go straight to the trash.

You may need to experiment depending on your kids temperament. My kids didn't like having the containers taped shut. They ripped them open so they could "pour" the contents out and cook. I think they will last longer if they are taped closed but not if they tear them up trying to open them!

editors note: 1-14-09

My kids are now content to leave them taped shut, which does indeed prolong the life span.