Here is a list at what we have been doing over the last few days, to help you SAHM's like me figure out something to do with your kids (when you can't rack your brain anymore) and keep them happy and you happy too!


1) Make a Contact Paper Wall Mural.  Yes, it sounds hard, but it is really easy.  Buy some cheap Contact paper, I bought the faux wood grain one for $5 at Home Depot.  Cut out a life size tree trunk with branches and stick to kids wall.  Then cut out a bunch of leaves and let the kids color them with pastels.  Then peel off the back and let the kids decorate the tree with their little leaves of art.  They'll love it!

2) Visit the local nature center, or if your like us, take a hike up the mountain behind your house. If you go to the nature center, don't just stay inside, venture outside to check out the 'nature'.  Some centers have discovery backpacks or their equivalent that contain items such as magnifying glasses or crayons and paper for sketching. If your leaving from home for a hike, pack a snack, and a blanket and some paper/pencils, and have a picnic at the top and sketch some of what you see.  Your little explorers will love it.

3.)  Magazine mix and match.  Cut out heads, bodies, feet, hands, hats and purses out of some of your old magazines.  Then let the kids glue new pieced together bodies and make a silly pictures of funny people.  They will get a kick out of the funny looking people they will create.


5) Picnic in the Park, with a little excersise to boot.  If you have two kids like me, have one ride his bike and you load up the jog stroller with the other child and snacks, put on your run shoes and off you go. Run to the closest park, let the kids play and eat a snack, while you bask in the sun with a mag, and then run home.  Fun times.

6) Take the kids to the river, or to a park that has water.  Kids love water, especially when it is water from somewhere else.  There are many parks now with new fandangled water features that are great for the kids to just get crazy with.  Let it go, strip them down to their undies and let them scream and get wet.

7)  Open a Cookbook, choose a recipe together with your kids, write down the ingredients and take a trip to the Farmer's Market & Health Food Store.  Picking out the ingredients to their own special cookbook creation is so exciting for kids.  And, going to the Health food store is fun anyway, isn't it.  Free samples, neat things to look at, nice people.  Gottaloveit.

8) Roof top gardening anyone.  Ok, it may not be rooftop for you, it may be patio container gardening, but for us it is rooftop since that is where our sun is.  Go to the nursery, get some biodegradable poop containers, buy some starts, we bought tomatoes, beans, and greens and your good to go.  Have the kids help you from start to finish in planting the starts in the containers, and then make it their chore to water them every day.

9) Paint.  I know, every time the kids say they want to paint, you cringe and say, 'not today kids'.  But don't.  Buy some real canvas's, get some acrylic paints, and nice brushes (just say no to the plastic oval paints and crappy brushes, the kids get board with that after 5 minutes), buy a second hand picnic tablecloth they can ruin, and let them get wild.  If your worried about their clothes, let them do it naked or get them some aprons to wear during the activity.  When finished, send the creations to grandma, she will adore you forever.

10) Make Hot Apple Cider when it is raining, or make frozen yogurt sundaes when its hot. (Just freeze in recycled yogurt containers non-fat yogurt with berries/agave syrup layered between for an amazing  little healthy treat.)