Keeping Kids Busy

We all know that toddlers/preschoolers and teenagers have much in common, not the least of which is that if you don’t keep them busy doing something constructive, they’re going to find something to do, and it may not always be the best choice. I have evidence of this in the playroom right now – yesterday when I was busy with my little nephew (almost 7 months old), the grandboys and my 3 year-old niece were in the playroom having what sounded like a wonderful time. The laughter should have been a warning to me. That much fun means trouble… Oh, and I’m sure it was lots of fun to color on the walls, the mirror, and the carpet! Argh.

The boys weren’t here today, but I still have the niece to keep busy, so we made cardboard “gingerbread” houses. The original blog post about these and the template can be found here. I keep most of the cardboard from food boxes to recycle, and while we don’t eat much cold cereal, I did have two boxes in the recycling stash, as well as one from granola bars that was a good size.

 

After printing and cutting out the template, I traced it onto the inside of the boxes and cut it out. It was easier to fold on the fold-lines when I scored them, so I got out the scoring board. Gotta say, that was a good use of my birthday gift card, I use it all the time.

I folded the lines, then hot glued the whole thing together. The template does not include a roof, but the side panel of the cereal box is the right width for that. I gave mine a bit of an overhang, and also added gingerbread trim by cutting a strip with decorative scissors and gluing on the front at the roofline.

By now the niece was getting pretty excited to decorate this little house. We finished construction, added the scratchy side of Velcro to strategic spots on the house, then sorted through my box of felt pieces to cut some decorations. She was especially enamored with the idea of using pompoms, and I happened to have a few, so we got those out as well.

While she played with decorating, I cut out and glued together three more houses. She’ll take hers and another for her sister, and I’ll have two here for the grandboys. I think they’ll enjoy playing with them, especially since the crayons will be “grounded” for awhile…