Fighting Cabin Fever on a Rainy Day!
It's raining, the kids are home from school, and cabin fever is inevitable. The easiest thing to do might be to turn on the TV but we wanted to give you some fun and interactive activities to do at home with the little ones.
Piggy Paint Home Manicure Party
Create a relaxing atmosphere by putting on a new age music station from Pandora. Have your kids soak their hands in a mixing bowl with warm water and any type of soap. Let them pick out their favorite color polish and start painting. Kids sometime have a hard time keeping their fingers separated, so if you have a foam toe separator, it will work perfectly!
Our favorite polish for the kids is from Piggy Paint. Piggy Paint is a natural, eco-friendly nail polish designed for kids! Its non-toxic, hypoallergenic formula makes it safe to use on all little ones. We sell individual bottles, kits, and packs.
Home-Made Playdough
It's easy, requires only household ingredients, and takes just 10 minutes. Gather flour, water, cream of tartar, salt, vegetable oil, and food coloring, and in just a few minutes, you'll have long-lasting, nontoxic, homemade playdough! Here’s what you need:
Materials
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
Food coloring
Saucepan
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
Food coloring
Saucepan
1 cup flour
Directions
- Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring in a saucepan and heat until warm.
- Remove from heat and add flour.
- Stir, then knead until smooth. The cream of tartar makes this dough last 6 months or longer, so resist the temptation to omit this ingredient if you don't have it on hand.
- Store this dough in an airtight container or a Ziploc freezer bag.
Crayon Canvas Art
This artwork might look complicated, but it really just involves a canvas, some hot-glued crayons, and a hair dryer. Trust us, it's easy, quick, and pretty mess-free — though we'd avoid carpeted rooms. The kids will have a blast sorting out the crayons and arranging them but will need help with the hot glue.
Get your supplies. You will need a canvas (your choice of size), crayons (your choice depending on the size of the canvas), a hot glue gun, and a hair/blow dryer. You'll probably want to lay newspaper or an old t-shirt or blanket under the canvas in case the wax splatters, too. Whatever area you think will get messy, cover up a bit more on each side. Don't forget to cover up yourself too! Hot colored wax on your skin and nice clothes shouldn't be part of this project.
Sort the crayons out. Sort depending on what you want. A rainbow is a popular design, so if you choose it, place the crayons in the order of the rainbow. Some people order their crayons lightest to darkest, others use different shades of the same color. The arrangement is totally up to you. Just make sure you have enough to cover the entire top of the canvas. Repeating colors is just as beautiful.
Hot glue each crayon in order on the top of your canvas. Some people keep the wrappers on and some take them off, but either way works. You can opt to unwrap the crayons and cut them in half. This makes it look more natural and keeps the top three inches of your canvas from being obviously lined with crayons.
Slant the canvas so that the wax will drip. A common idea is to lean it against a wall. If you do lean it against a wall, tape newspaper onto the wall to avoid any accidents.
Use your blow dryer and blow the crayons. It's best to point the blow dryer downwards so that the wax will drip. Take note that this will get messy! However, it doesn't really matter how messy it gets, as long as your newspapers are laid out correctly.