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Indoor Crafts from The Kitchen

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When the rainy days keep kids inside, it's not long before there are complaints of boredom, followed by whining and complaining: in other words, a relapse of the Play Inside Blues. What's the best way to treat it? Head to the kitchen! Here are a bunch of nifty things to do with your kids.

Use your noodle!
There are oodles of activities for kids to use their noodles, and yours too! Speaking of noodles, they can be painted with color, glittered, strung on a necklace or glued into a design. If purple pasta sounds palatable, add a few drops of food coloring to the cooking water.

Or, how about some dough? It's easy to cook and smells good enough to eat. This easy recipe can be doubled. Or perhaps you'd like to make two different flavors. Although it's not tasty, it is not going to hurt little ones should they try it. You'll need:

1 cup flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 package unsweetened drink mix
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup water

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, cream of tartar and the drink mix) in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add water and oil. Stir three to five minutes, until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, turn onto flat surface and knead until smooth. Store in a zipper-type plastic bag in the refrigerator. Then gather the cookie cutters, the glitter, and the rolling pin and use your imagination.

Unsweetened powdered drink mix can be used in making lots of kid-friendly crafts. Add it to water to make scratch 'n' sniff paint. Add it to 3/4 cup of shortening (or melted bees wax), put in little tins or old film canisters to harden in the fridge and bam, great smelling lip balm.

Peanut butter makes great edible glue. Try a spider cracker sandwich using eight straight pretzels as legs four on each side. Give the birds a needed mid-winter treat with a pinecone frosted with peanut butter and then roll in birdseed.

Other creative crafts kids really enjoy

Try the ancient Ukrainian art of egg blowing and painting. Use a needle to make small openings on each end of the egg and blow the insides out. Rinse with white vinegar, pat dry and draw, paint and glitter.

Make your own rock candy. Heat 1 cup of water until boiling and slowly add 2 cups of white sugar, stirring constantly and carefully. Use a candy thermometer and heat to 240 degrees (Ours only got to 210 degrees and it worked fine). Carefully pour into deep clear container (mayo jars work well).

Hang strings from a stick over the top of the jar, making sure not to let the strings touch the sides, bottom or other strings. Let sit at least 48 hours, or for larger crystals, up to a week.

Create a special greeting card or booklet by "binding" construction paper folded in half, punching holes in the middle and tying with string or ribbon.

Frozen juice concentrate lids make great magnets when decorated. Cut out round photographs and glue on lids. Add sparkles, glitter or stickers. Glue (or by magnet tape) a magnet to the other side. These are great gifts.

Did you know that sterilized Styrofoam meat trays make great Shrinky Dinks? Draw on them and cook on a cookie sheet at 325 degrees F for a few minutes.