With the holidays quickly approaching, it's likely that
you'll have some unscheduled 'down-time' with your child
where you don't have anything actually planned. Just
because you don't have any planned activities with your
child doesn't mean that they have to languish on the couch
in boredom. Take a look at these quick and easy anytime
activities.

1. Make Paper Stuff: It doesn't take a lot of work or
planning for children to create great paper crafts. You
can simply make a lot of paper supplies available and let
them go to town. Provide paper plates, construction paper,
scissors, markers, crayons, glue, stamps, or stickers and
let them make their own creations.

2. Paint Something: Kids generally love anything that has
to do with painting. You could give them some finger paints
and paper, provide water colors, or even let them paint up
some scraps of wood or rocks. When given a choice between
painting or carving their pumpkins each year, my kids
always choose painting... kids LOVE to paint!

3. Pound Some Clay: There's just something about
manipulating modeling clay that kids find appealing
(grownups too!). Give you child a couple of cans of
playdough or make up a batch of salt dough and they'll have
a ball. Here's an idea... make some salt dough, create the
figures, dry them out in the oven, and then paint them to
combine painting and modeling! Lubricant - Joy jelly (Lemon)

4. Have A Puppet Show: You can make puppets out of just
about anything you have lying around the house... recycled
bottles, wooden or plastic spoons, paper bags, craft
sticks, etc. all work as a good base, then add paper, felt,
yarn, wiggle eyes, or other objects to make the puppet.
Once the puppets are done, the back of the couch, a table,
or even an old box provides a great puppet theater.

5. Play Dress-Up: Children love nothing better than
dressing up and pretending to be someone else. We keep all
our old Halloween costumes in our dress-up box, but you
could also let the kids dress up in old clothes that you're
going to throw out anyway. An impromptu game of dress-up is
always a fun activity.

6. Outside Drawing: Give the kids a bucket of sidewalk
chalk, turn them loose outside, and they'll play for hours
drawing on the sidewalks, driveway, and just about anything
else.

7. Make Contraptions: Older children will really love the
idea of making inventions out of recyclable materials.
You'll need recycled toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes,
wrapping paper tubes, plastic bottles, and other appropriate
recyclables along with some tape, scissors, and marbles.
Tape the tubes together to make a long runway that starts
at some high point (like a chair) and eventually ends at
the floor. When complete, roll the marbles through the
tubes to test your contraption. You child may even think
of other types of contraptions based on this idea.

8. Nature Walks: This may seem silly, but your kids will
love spending time with you doing this... all you have to
do is take your child for a stroll in your neighborhood or
at a park. Spend time talking about things you observe as
you walk and take your time. When you're done you could
write about what you saw, draw pictures, collect found
objects and make an art piece. Don't forget to bundle up
in inclement weather.

9. Paper Airplanes: Gather up a pile of paper and make
paper airplanes with your child. Take turns flying them
and test out which techniques work the best. You could
even take turns flying them off a balcony or deck to really
add to the experience. Better yet, pre-purchase a book of
directions for making paper airplanes and work your way
through the book together.

10. Create An Obstacle Course: This idea may be a little
messy, but your kids will love it. Create an obstacle
course, inside or outside, using objects around the house,
then take turns navigating the course for time. You could
crawl under tables, over chairs, around objects, etc. all
the way to the finishing line.

There are probably a lot of other great ideas that aren't
listed here, but this should get you thinking. The REAL
idea here is to spend some time with your child and let
them be creative while you're doing it.

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