Winter Boredom Busters #3 & 4: Magnets and Marshmallows

Neither of these are new ideas, but they are nice because you may have what you need on hand.

I grabbed a spare cookie sheet (my husband decided to buy 2 one day at the store, even though we don't bake cookies ever) and a bunch of old flat magnets off the fridge. I also had this stained glass looking contact paper in my craft stash. I think I got it at a thrift store a long time ago, kinda weird. I stuck the magnets on the sticky back and then cut them into random shapes.

I guess I was thinking that Hendrix could be all artsy and make want he wanted out of the abstract shapes.

Which was fun, but I think he might tire of this quickly. In the near future I may reuse the magnets and glue actual shapes and recognizable things on them, made of colorful felt or craft foam. I think he would enjoy making scenes with animals and other things he knows a bit better.

There are really tons of variations on this one. Here's a magnetic scene I created for my niece last Christmas complete with paper doll outfits. In college, I was an education major and I did a project where I recreated scenes from kid's books by copying the pictures out the books, cutting out and laminating, and then smacking some magnets on the back. This would be really fun to do with your child's favorite books if you have access to a color copier.

And then there's the tried and true classic, marshmallows and toothpicks. This is Ryan, who is three and quickly exclaimed, "I love this!" a couple minutes into the fun. He had brought the supplies home from preschool with him on a day I was watching him and his sister, so we did it when the younger ones were napping. I don't know how well it would go with someone Hendrix's age, but we might try it before the winter hibernation is over.


I've seen several other bloggers with winter boredom on their minds. Here is a post from Mini Eco that has a ton of ideas just in the comments. (Plus her site is full of really fun stuff, you should look around.)
And if you like the artsy activities, have you seen The Artful Parent or No Time for Flashcards yet? Tons of things to do.

So it's still the dead of winter and 27 degrees, but on the bright side:

• The sun was shining a lot today.
• Hendrix is now accepting after-nap videos which aren't Fantastic Mr. Fox. (I love that movie, but we must have watched it every day for a month.)
• The Superbowl is Sunday, which I don't care at all about of course, but it's a good excuse to have a party and make yummy appetizers. What are you making?
• It is now February, which means March is next, which means April is after that, which means warmth, the Reds, and a baby girl!