Please Delete - Winner Notified

[Sparky0704]

my fellow couponers! Once again my son is BORED!! Although I dread the fact that he will start second grade in 3-4 weeks , at least he won't be bored anymore. I am running out of things to do to keep him busy. I will be giving away a mystery envie on the morning of July 14th. All you have to do for a chance to win is provide me with an idea of something that isn't too costly to keep him busy for the next few weeks (Arts and Crafts, Outdoor Play , etc.) :thanks9:, I really do appreciate it. s like Mom is BORED too, LOL!

[blossomed]

My mom made us clean if we came to her bored in the summer. Mom - I'm bored. Out came Grandma's silver tea set! Either we helped her clean it and spent some quality time with Mom or we scurried! Worked like a charm.

But let's see!
1. Find a mom of a two year old and have son entertain for an hour or two, My dd loves boys about that age and they are gentle enough to not hurt her but energentic enough to wear her out!
2. How about write a letter to a penpal?
3. Go to library.
4. Go for a walk in the neighborhood and pick up litter
5. Make christmas presents and take the family photo for the holiday card
6. How about have him help you make dinner complete with cupcakes - make theme nights.
7. build a huge domino design and then knock it down
8. is there any type of museum in your town
9. put pictures in photo albums - or make a scrapbook!! If you dont scrapbook with your children, I highly recommend it!! Capturing family memories is so great!
10. Make a gift for his new teacher. something like an easy stitch sampler.

or go polish grandma's silver set...

[MsSweetCheeks]

My ideas:
1. Make things out of popsicle sticks.
2. Make picture collages with construction paper.
3. Have him make up a game and then have him teach it to the rest of the family.
4. Have him play hangman with a friend or some board games.
5. Walk neighbor's dogs
6. Look for bugs
7. Collect rocks
8. Decorate a lunch box or lunch bag for when school starts
9. Paint leaves
10. Let him draw with chalk on the sidewalk.

[Coupon_Girl_Shelly]

Here are a few things you could do together......
1. Gather up a few friends, and have a picnic in your back .
2. Go on a walk and take pictures of trees, flowers, dogs, etc.
3. Volunteer at the local animal or homeless shelter.
4. Bake some cupcakes and deliver them to friends and family.
5. Make fresh, homemade fruit juice.
6. Plant flowers in your yard.

Thanks for a chance!!

[XUfan]

Here's one that has lots of steps to it...so it lasts more than 15 minutes! LOL!

Gather up some pictures from magazines, coupon insert ads...or wherever. Get a cheap photo album from the dollar store (the kind with the plastic sheets you just slip pictures in.

Have your son pick a picture, then take turns telling a story about it. For example, let's say it's a picture of a lake with a boat on it, and someone inside the boat, fishing. You could start out with, "One day, Bob went fishing..." Then your son has to tell the next part of the story.

It's creative, fun, uses up some time, and helps get his brain moving again before school starts! Also, you can do it anywhere! In the house, at the park, in the car...

[Gertie2u]

Instead of reading all the others, I just tried to think what I did with my kids in the summers and here's what I came up with:

We had a picnic table on the porch in the shade. Although there were many projects I wouldn't want to contemplate in my living room, they were fine out on the porch where the worst clean up only entailed hosing things down. Summer was the time for outdoor projects. Most of these work great with a friend.

1. Finger paint. You can use vanilla pudding if you want it to be edible. Just use water in place of milk and only about half the amount. Food coloring gives you your colors. When finger painting is over, it is play in the sprinkler time.

2. Take a picture from a coloring book and a package containing a variety of colors of sand. 'Color' the picture with the sand by spreading glue on the picture. This works best with very simple pictures. Again, sprinkler time comes after sand time. Place rocks on the corners and leave the pictures out until they are dry. Next, get some spray glue and spray it down pretty good. Let that dry for a long time, probably inside as it will probably be night by then. When it dries, the picture should be safe to hang somewhere it won't be disturbed much. We had a couple of frames and would just replace the picture in one periodically and hang it back on the wall. If you can find the sort of frame where it lets you put several layers, you can sort of end up with a history. We even put school pictures in them over the years and now the kids enjoy looking back at their old masterpieces!

3. Chalk art on the driveway is a great way to welcome dad home from work.

4. If your child (and possible guest) can eat peanut butter and milk - Mix 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 1 cup dry milk powder, and 1/2 cup honey. I've made it with 1/4 cup sugar as well, but it gets a little tricky to mix up. This makes a great edible modeling clay. You can give each child a piece of wax paper to work on. This is usually a very popular activity for Sunday School classes and birthday parties, but you have to make sure everyone is able to eat peanuts and milk.

5. Kids love making messes they eat. Tell him if he eats a good lunch, he can make sundaes with you. Place his favorite chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, some whipped cream, maybe a banana sliced up, and a couple of maraschino cherries on a tray. Dress your son in his swimsuit and fix a couple of bowls with a scoop or two of ice cream. Take it all out to the picnic table outside and let your son make his sundae however he likes and as messy as he likes. It is just ice cream and you can wash it off in the hose.

5. Go for a walk and look for nature things to use in a collage. This is usually especially great in a large park of some sort or around something like a lake or the ocean, but you can find wonderful things in most any neighborhood if you search. Make sure he understands not to pick anything living. Besides not wanting to kill something just for a collage (very sad making!), things that are living or damp won't stick very well. You are looking for dead leaves, dry twigs, colorful rocks, dry seed pods, and the like. Take a small basket and when it is full, it is time to go let your son glue the bits to a piece of poster board.

6. Make a list of chores your son can do himself to help you, such as transferring the clean clothing from the washer to the dryer, getting the clothes from the dryer into the clothes basket, sweeping the floor, wiping out the bathroom sink if he's left tooth paste in it, and whatever else you think he can handle. The goal is to have a list of enough chores which if done for ten cents each will result in his having enough money for an ice cream from a nearby quick stop or the ice cream truck. If you like, this can be an any day you do these things, you get this money to spend as you like, but at his age a definite goal that is fulfilled very soon usually works best.

7. Mini-sandbox in a dish pan.

8. Magic sand. You can pay a lot for the commercial product, or just try 4 parts fine sand. 2 parts corn starch, and 3 parts liquid starch. Cook in an old, heavy pot over medium heat stirring constantly until it looks like a thick paste and let cool. Wanna be really fancy, put a couple drops of gel food color to make your colors. Molds like modeling clay but dries to look sort of sandy.

9. Have him gather up all his left over crayons. Place several in each of several foil cupcake cups after breaking them to fit in the cups, or chop them and no more than half fill each cup. Heat at 400 degrees F for five minutes then cool. Your rainbow crayons are ready for coloring.

10. If you divide the light colors from the dark colors in item 9, you can also show him how to color a page of paper with the lighter colors all over. Then color all over with a black crayon or with very dark colors. Now take a fingernail, coin, orange stick, or ice cream stick and scrape off the black to form colorful patterns. Best done outside due to the mess.

11. Get some Plaster of Paris and an small old butter tub. Take another nature walk and get things to make a nature collage statue. Mix up the Plaster of Paris according to instructions. About half fill the old butter tub and let your son arrange his treasure stuck in it. Let it dry and cut the butter tub off for him. Can also work on a smaller scale using two foil cupcake tins stacked together as your container, although in that case I would just cut it down to the depth you want your base and leave it on there as it would be glittery and attractive.

12. Google recipes for some home made lip gloss or bath bombs. He can have fun helping you select packaging at the dollar store and making the actual products for Christmas gifts. Have him work outside and hose off in the sprinkler for ease of cleanup.
.

[Steph0079]

Homemade playdough

• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups salt
• 3 cups water

• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
• a few drops of food coloring (color of your choice) OR 1 package of unsweetened Kool-Aid

Instructions

1. Mix ALL of the ingredients in a large saucepan.
2. Cook over medium low heat, stirring intermittently, until the dough comes away from the edges of the pan and becomes thick so it is difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat.
3. Let play-dough cool in the pan until it can be handled.
4. Turn play-dough out on counter or on wax paper and knead 3 - 4 times.
5. Play! Store in an air tight container.

Homemade Gooey Goo
Materials

• 1 cup liquid starch
• 1 cup white glue (like Elmer's)

• 4 drops food coloring (your color of choice)
• medium-sized bowl

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients together in your bowl with your hands; it will be stringy until you mix it well.
2. Use your hands to work the goop and form a ball; if it's too sticky, add a few more drops of liquid starch.
3. Play with your Goo

[rteacher2]

Wow! Tons of great ideas!
Arcademic Skill Builders: Educational Games This is a great site for online fun!

[Sparky0704]

Thanks everyone for the awesome ideas. I liked each and every one of them, my son will definitely not be bored for the next few weeks. ~The winner of the RAOK is Gertie2u~