A day home with sick kids calls for more crafts:
I’ve saved the corks from milk cartons and some jars for a while, not quite knowing what to do with them. But since our daughter is getting more and more interested in games, we decided to make a game of our own. We mixed memory and scavenge hunts (that no time for flash cards often makes and reminds me of but that I haven’t really gotten around to do).
If I had gotten my way, I would only have painted something on the inside of the cork to create a DIY Memory. But since this was team work and a joint effort, we first painted the corks in pairs, and then, during nap time, I hid one of them and they searched for it, brought it back to the starting plate to the other one collecting a pair for themselves. They absolutely loved the search!!!
(We actually made more cork pairs than these but not all where available for a picture)
I was thinking of drawing a map for the older one too but decided nap time is for naps… Come to think of it, training the use of a map may actually work better when we get on our camping trip and we get to hide the corks outside by trees and stones.
Anyway, an easy and pretty relaxing way to spend time with enough variation to keep the younger one (2,5) also focused.
Free But Fun 
Oh, brilliant! Yeah, sick kids can be tough to entertain, especially when they’re starting to feel better (and bored with being in) but not quite well enough to go out yet. Helps to have some novel activities.
I keep meaning to try geocaching and never getting around to it. If I end up doing any, I’ll let you know 🙂
Please do tell me how geocatching works, if you get into it!
I still love scavenger hunts… In fact z and I have still been searching for plastic Easter eggs almost every day! It’s so fun to see her face when she finds one, she looks so proud and happy. 🙂
That’s cute, a prolonged Easter egg hunt 🙂 !
You always have so many fabulous ideas! Have often do you do crafts with the kids? Trying to learn from you on time management! 🙂
How often I do crafts with the kids varies a lot. Sometimes something every day, sometimes there are weeks without crafts. Most days we at least draw, paint or write. I don’t know about the time management skills though… as I usually take kids to daycare and hubby pics them up, the evening is short: I come home at 5 and around 7 we get ready for evening story and bed on daycare nights (sooo early!!!). With meals and baths too I find the time very scarce, but I try to be completely present that time; no phone (unless we play together) and no internet (due to this it’s taken me 2 months to find time to call a friend.. 😦 ) but I prefer to do crafts than e.g. play with cars or Barbies. We try to keep cooking and cleaning in moderation during that time; partly I believe it’s good the kids see we do house chores and that they participate in them, partly I don’t want to spend the whole evening sharing my attention with chores too. So often after their bedtime the vacuum cleaner comes out and I prepare for simple meals for the next day. At the moment it helps that hubby works reduced hours (30hrs/week) due to small kids, which means he is home 1 day a week and often eg shops and does laundry for the week. But that fun ends mid June. We’ll see how we do next year, hope our kids wouldn’t be quite so tired after daycare. It’s all a balancing act, isn’t it?
You are amazing to do crafts so often. I hope I can but there are so many things to do, plus the 2 elder 2 kids are now in school and it’s exam week this week. I just wish for it to be over and start my crafts again. I haven’t been doing crafts for quite some time. I like it that your crafts are so simple and do not take much time, it’s easy and not many materials. Simple craft work would be more manageable. Thanks for sharing your after work schedule and motivating me again. I shall think about what to do after the kids’ exams 🙂
It must be even harder to manage the time with kids in different ages and with school work! But yes, crafts in the evening definitively need to be simple and fast in order to be enjoyable for everyone 😉
Btw, you had a good post with great ideas on how to thank teachers or something like that. What was it called? Can’t find it now but ideas would be welcome 🙂
The teacher’s day gift box is not exactly a from scratch craft work, but easy for working mums 🙂
These 2 should be simple for your kids 🙂
Thanks for the links! I’ve forgotten about the salt art even though I thought I’d definitively do it when you first wrote the post. Will be great for a card, hopefully I’ll manage to try it with a work trip coming up…
We tried doing a box out of ice cream sticks a while ago, but my kids where too small to finish it. Maybe I should try again though? That paper clip jar is a good idea too. We decided to give a shopping bag witht he apple prints, could be nice if we’d decorate a jar to fold it in. we’ll see… Thanks!
What a great idea – and I bet they loved it even more because they got to decorate them!
I hope so 🙂
They’ll be geo-caching next. (I say that like I really know what it is) 😉
Yeah, I’ll tell you when they’ve taught me what exactly it is… I think it involves technology, so I’m always a few years behind everybody else 😉