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Help with Kids
Before
giving medicine to the kids let them suck on a piece of ice for a few minutes to kill the tastebuds.
Lay an extension ladder across the end of the driveway to keep children
fom riding their bikes out in the street.
Put a clock in the window when kids are outside playing. That way they won't keep coming in to check the time.
To remove crayon marks from a chalk board, place a paper towel over the
marks and press with warm (not hot) iron. After the towel absorbs the melted wax, was the board with a little detergent and
water to remove what may be left.
Keep a list of chores and fees on your refrigerator door. When the kids
need extra spending money, they can choose a chore and get paid for it.
Post a list on the door for school mornings. Do you have....money, lunch, notes, etc?
Make "yes" and "no" cards to answer kids questions while you are on the
phone.
On the last day of school, have your child take an old pair of sneakers
to class to get autographed. Great keepsakes. My child actually has a pair of pants signed by her theater friends. We are
considering stuffing the legs, adding shoes to the bottom and poles of some sort into the legs. Put a board on top and you
have a table. We haven't experimented yet, but this is our idea.
Rub baby oil around the edges of a bandage to remove it easier.
If you need to waterproof mattress and do not have a rubber sheet,
split a large garbage bag and place it under the bed sheet.
Clean dolls witha paste made from liquid dish soap and baking soda.
It will even remove ink. Get into the crevices by dipping a toothbrush in baking soda and scrubbing.
To clean a stuffed animal or fabric toy that can not be washed in the machine,
shake it in a bag filled with baking soda. Shake or vacuum the excess baking soda off.
Attach a helium balloon to your toddlers wrist when out in a crowd to help
keep track of him/her easily.
Make your child or grand child a story book and cassette set. Read a story,
record it on a cassette tape. Ring a bell every time you turn a page
Sew pieces of bathtub appliques to the bottom of pajama sleeper feet
to prevent falls on slippery floors. For slippery socks, paint some designs on the bottoms with puff pant.
Stick bathtub appliques to the bottom of the kiddie pool to make it less
slippery.
Cut a rectangular hole a few inches from the end of a long cardboard tube.
Your small children can hook this over the switch and turn off or on the lights by moving the tube up or down.
Cover scuff marks on childrens white shoes with correction fluid.
Use an emery board to rough up the hard slippery soles of new shoes.
Use an emery board to clean a pencil eraser.
Store outdoor toys in a large plastic garbage can.
When you have three or more children, arrange a color-code system for towels,
toothbrushes, pencils and other personal items. It will save confusion.
When you buy puzzles for your kids, mark the back of each piece with a
different color marker. That way, when they get mixed up, they will be easier to sort.
Use a large plastic storage bag with zipper to store puzzle pieces and
game items.
Keep a craft box stocked and handy for when children are bored. Store items
such as crayons, construction paper, paints, markers, colored pencils, buttons, sequins, lace, yarn, Styrofoam balls, clean
Styrofoam meat trays, plastic lids, etc.
Use coffee filters as disposable holder for popcorn, tacos, hot dogs or ice cream cones. Poke the stick of a frozen
treat through the center of a coffee filter. The drips with fall onthe filter and not on the child.
Hot lunch idea: Wrap a cooked hotdog in plastic wrap. Drop inside a thermos of hot water. Add a bun wrapped in plastic
wrap to the lunch bag. Throw in mustard or ketchup packets that you saved from a fast food restaurant.
An old piano bench make a perfect table for children. Crayons, books, etc and be stored under the seat
GAMES
For more game ideas, you can look under travel tips.
Sardines
At least 5 players, 6 yrs and above
This is a little like hide and go seek. One player hides and
the other ones seek. As each player finds the hidden player, he or she stays in the hiding spot, until the last person finds
them all. The object is to stay as quiet as possible until everyone is found. The last person is the next hider.
Mr. Bear
Before the game begins, a place needs to be chosen as "home". A tree or a porch for example. One person is
Mr. Bear. He is trying to sleep in his den. The other players sneak up to Mr. Bear and whisper "Mr. Bear, are you awake?"
Mr. Bear pretends not to hear. The players then yell "Mr. Bear, are you awake?" Mr. Bear jumps up and tries to catch them
before they can run to home. Everyone tagged by the bear before reaching safety becomes bear cubs. They go back to the den
with Mr. Bear and the game begins again. After Mr. Bear wakes up again, the cubs help catch the other players. When everyone
has been caught, Mr. Bear chooses a new bear.
Bowling: Collect and fill two-liter soda bottles with sand or water. Set them up like bowling pins and use a basketball
to knock them down. You will need 10 soda bottles.
Soccer Dodgeball: Good with 6 or more players. Players form a ring around one player in the middle. The players forming
the circle take turns kicking the ball at the player in the center, who dodges the ball and tries not to be hit. Try to keep
kicks low so no one gets hurt.
Tic-Tac-Toss: You can play this game by making the game board either in the grass with masking tape or on the driveway
with chalk. Use homemade bean bags of two or different colors, such as red and yellow, or put beans in plastic zipper bags
and put the bags in colored socks. Tie socks with yarn, twine or string. Throw the bean bags into the squares, trying for
three colors in a row.
Hop-along Tag
Before beginning the game, designate boundaries of where the game has to be played. No one can go out of bounds, so it
will continue to be fair for every player. Next, choose a "toad". To play, there is no running, only hopping. The toad tries
to tag the other players. When the first person is tagged, they have to link arms with the toad. Together they hop to tag
the next person. Each time a person is tagged, they link arms with the last "victim" until everyone is caught.
Table Top Hockey
Cut a plastic berry container in half. Put one half upside down at the end of a table. The players stand or sit at the
other end and shoot button hockey pucks at the goal to see who can score more.
Make an obstacle course and have timed races. Each person picks the obstacle, as
an example: Run around the rose bush three times the go down the slide. Make it harder and harder.
Use clean milk cartons (different sizes) to make giant blocks. To make them extra
sturdy, cut off the bottoms and slip the open end of one into the open end of another. Cover with contac paper to decorate.
If your kids have a hard time holding playing card, make a holder from two plastic
lids, such as from margarine. Line up the lids evenly and secure with a brass fastener or a button sewn on with fishing line.
The cards can slip through the space between the lids.
Marble Games
TURN OFF THE TV
1. Get library books on magic tricks. Practice and perfrom for your family and friends. Make a black cape from a
piece of material or an old skirt, and make a wand from a stick or cut piece of an old thin broom.
2. Start a hobby or collection. Examples:
Stamps. You can buy a special book to keep them in or keep them in a photo album with the magnetic
sheets.
See how many different types of rocks you can find, or even ones with fossils. Learn all you can about
them and build a rock garden in a small section of your yard.
Some collections are not so easy to collect, so start a scrap book on your favorite subject, such as outer
space, a favorite place, or favorite animal. Include newspaper and magazine articles and photos, notes from reading
on the subject, your won drawings, poetry on the subject, etc.
Find penpals your own age, with your interests. It is fun to exchange ideas and experiences with other people
in different places.
Start cooking or baking.
3. Learn some words in another language
4. Memorize a poem and recite it for the
family
5. Learn to spell three unusual words,
then try to fit them in your conversation during the day.
6. Write a comic strip about your family
7. Write your autobiography
8. Write a letter to the President
9. Start a journal. Write down your thoughts,
dreams, ideas, and feelings each day.
10. Write a poem about the current season
11. Get a picture of yourself. Paste
the photo on thin cardboard and cut it into puzzle pieces. Send it to your grandparents with a nice note
12. Create a band….A guitar—put some rubber bands around an empty tissue box; a drum—strike an empty
plastic milk jug with a pencil eraser; a tambourine—glue together two paper
plates or bowls with pebbles or beans inside; chimes—tie some nails together with string; castanets—tie bottle
caps on your fingers
13. Make bean bags—with a little
scrap material, a needle and thread you can make bean bags by cutting material into any shape and sewing it inside out, leaving
a small opening. Turn it right side out, pour in some beans, and sew the open end together. You can make cute gifts or use
them to play games, such as trash can basketball, or tic tac toe marked on the carpet or floor with masking tape or outside
with chalk.
RECIPES
Invisible Ink: Dissolve 1 teaspoon baking soda in 2 teaspoons water and
use them as ink to write an invisible message. When the ink is dry, hold the paper near a light bulb. The writing will turn
brown and you can read it.
Homemade paint: mix 1 tsp water and 1 tsp dishwashing liquid with ½ t.
food coloring.
To make a simple sand box, make a square using cinder blocks. Leave the
holes facing up and the kids will have places to hold their sand tools.
Best Bubble Recipe: Mix 1 cup of water, 1/3 cup of Dawn dishwashing liquid,
and 2 Tbs of light corn syrup (or glycerin)
How to blow a double bubble: Balance a bubble on the wand. Wet the bottom
two thirds of a straw in bubble mix. Put the straw through the side of the bubble until the straw’s end is in the center
of the bubble. Blow gently.
Make bubble wands:
Paper Clip: Bend a paper clip into a bubble wand shape.
Flyswatter: Use a clean flyswatter and use a flat bowl or Frisbee for a
container.
Coat Hanger: Bend a metal hanger into a circle and a handle. Wrap the circle
with string to make it easier to hold. Use a trash lid for a container
Straw: Dip a straw in the bubble soap and blow. Make sure you don’t
drink
*If you already have store bought bubble mixture, you can make it last longer by continually adding water
and a little dish soap.
*Another bubble idea: put one quart of water in a shallow tub. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar until it dissolves.
Add 1/2 cup dishwashing liquid and stir again. Use fly swatters and swing them into the air to make many bubbles at one time.
Homemade Stickers
Ingredients:
8 tablespoons white vinegar
4 pkgs. Unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon peppermint extract
Preparations:
Bring vinegar to a boil and add gelatin. Reduce heat to low and stir until
the gelatin is dissolved. Add extract. Brush on back of paper designs for stickers. You can use cutouts from wrapping paper,
magazines, cards, or draw your own pictures. Let dry. Lick and use as regular
stickers. Store remaining sticker juice in an airtight jar and it will keep for several months. It will solidify, so just
warm jar gently in a pan of hot water, and use again.
Play Clay: Mix 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup salt. Add 1/4 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar, tint with food coloring and knead
to blend. (Kneading it in a large plastic bag will keep the mess down.) Store clay in tightly sealed containers in the refrigerator
and let the clay come to room temperature before using again. If you prefer, let the little art sculpture air dry.
Silly Putty: Combine 2 parts liquid white glue with 1 part of liquid starch. Mix well and store in an airtight container.
Be careful about getting this on clothes or carpets.
Homemade GAK: Equal parts glue and liquid starch are similar to GAK.
Sand Dough:
1 cup sand
3/4 cups liquid starch
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 package dry drink mix (such as Kool-aid or Wylers)
Old pan for mixing
Mix sand, starch, and cornstarch in pan. Stir over medium heat until thick. Remove from heat. Let cool for
5 minutes, then knead a bit, until it is just right to work with. Use as play dough or clay.
Homemade Paper
Large mixing bowl
Egg beater
Cup
Big spoon
Old newspapers
Water
A screen about 3 inches square or bigger
Flat pan a lilttle bigger than the screen
Starch
Tear up half a page of newspaper in very small pieces. Put the paper in large mixing bowl full of water.
Let the paper soak for one hour.
Beat the paper with the eggbeater for 10 minutes. The paper should be soft and mushy, which is called pulp.
Mix 2 tablespoons of starch in one cup of water. Add this to the "pulp". Stir well.
Pour the pulp into the flat pan
Place the screen in the bottom of the pan
Put the rest of the newspaper on a table. Place the screen covered with pulp on one half of the newspaper.
Fold the rest of the newspaper over the top of the screen. Press down very hard. Use a glass jar to help
press it.
Fold back the newspaper so you can see the pulp and let it dry overnight
When it is dry, peel your recycled paper from the screen. Make a special picture or write a letter on your
homemade paper.
CRAFTS
Reuse broken crayons—all the same color a mixture can be placed in a foil lined muffin tin, then melted on a
warming tray. It will make muffin shaped crayons for the kids to enjoy.
Figure Sculpting
Mix plaster of Paris according
to package instructions, then mix with an equal amount of the soil enhancer vermiculite, sold at garden centers. Pour into
a milk or juice carton. (add more vermiculite if you like a softer block). Let dry and pull off the carton to expose a block
that is easy for kids to sculpt with household spoons.
Refrigerator Magnet
Use the lids off a juice concentrate
can. Glue a magnet or a piece of magnetic tape to the back of the lid and your picture on the front. You can decorate the
edges with lace glued to the back, or sequins around the front. A good source for magnetic tape is from the strip from an
old refrigerator door.
· Decorated Pillowcase
· Mix acrylic paint with
water in equal parts and apply with sponge brushes. Once it is dry, it is washable
Potato Stamps: Cut a potato in half. With a felt tip pen, draw a sample design
on the potato, like a heart or a house. With the tip of a small knife, cut on the
lines you drew. Carefully cut the potato from around the outside part of the
design to make the design higher than the rest of the potato. Press the design
onto a stamp pad or into a flat dish of poster paint. Press onto paper. You can
also decorate paper bags, cloth book bags, t-shirts or make your own wrap-
ping paper.
Apple Stamps: Slice apples in half. Blot the cut side with a paper towel to
make dry. Paint the apples cut side with a paint brush and tempura or craft
paint. Test the apple on test paper or fabric. Press apple on final surface, which
can be a t-shirt, a paper bag, or homemade wrapping paper (using brown
paper or butcher paper). Paint in stems, seeds and leaves. Let dry.
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