Rainy Day fun!!!

Potato Stamps!

This is such a simple,cheap,fun activity of mine! My own Mother introduced it to my brother and I when we were kids and then I carried it on through my years of babysitting,teaching,nannying....and as I was making potatoes the other day it dawned on me that Id never introduced it to my owm kiddos! So, when we found ourselves stuck at home today  on a gray rainy day, just perfect for some creativity...out came the potatoes! All you need for this is some potatoes,and some paint. The first part is for us Moms (or other adult).  Just halve your potatoes,  and then carve out some simple shapes into the center. I used a knife to trace out my shape and then hollow out the inside of the shape. I went with a heart,star,lightning bolt and what was supposed to be a flower,although the result was somewhat debatable. Thats the great thing about doing things with kids,they're very forgiving and easily impressed! Now,onto the fun! Choose a few fun paint colors,squeeze them out onto a paint pallet or even just right onto the paper you will be stamping on. Take your stamp,dip until the surface area is covered. You'll probably want to do a couple practice stamps to get the excess paint off...or just go with it! 😁 My kids favorite was using a combo of colors on one stamp. Hope you enjoy!

        I figured I would also share a couple of other simple fun ideas that cost little to no money while on the topic anyhow. Recently, in the dollar section of our local Target, we found this fun craft tape designed to look like a road. You can also find it at Craft stores. I did nothing other than stick two long, straight strips of the road tape onto my sons bedroom rug and then grabbed a couple of his matchbox cars and let the races begin!! It seems like such an obvious, old news sort of thing, but something about it being new made it so exciting to my son, and siblings can all join in of course! The laughter that ensued while racing Mommy was the best though....pure joy...worth the rug burn. 😂😂

Our all time top fav' though is DANCE PARTY!!!!  This is our go-to activity for sure! Ive always loved to dance,plus this way Mom gets a workout in while simultaneously entertaining everyone! All we do is turn Pandora or iHeart radio on the TV, find a good beat,crank it up and go crazy! Im sure we are quite the sight....and sound as we belt it out into our hairbrush mic's,but who doesnt love a good laugh right!? Its a blast! Its the ultimate way to get the energy out,burn some calories,pass the time and make memories that will not soon be forgotten. 😊 If you really wanna get creative,bring out the pots&pans&big spooons and start banging to the beat as you march in a parade. My kids like taking turns as parade leader and making our marching band parade upstairs and downstairs and in/out of rooms or on/off the couch! If the banging isnt your style, theres always simon says...dance version! Simon says "do the funky chicken" "now twist" and so on! Karaoke battle, pass the mic, lip sync contest, show your best moves, conga line, name that tune, the list goes on! If you have access to music you can pretty much be busy all day. 😁It entertains playdate friends as well. When it comes to dance party time its definitley the more the merrier! 

Of course being we homeschool Im always needing ways to keep learning happening in fun ways as well. For my youngest,he is still working on his preK skills,especially letter recognition and sounds. He instantly becomes much more into it if it involves a game,so we often do our "letter hunt" game. Choose a letter,or for us whichever letter his workbook is focusing on that day, and he hunts around the house for either the letter itself or items that begin with that letter. His sister likes to help out by following him around and making checkmarks on paper as he finds them. When we decide we are done he counts how many checks he got! Again, so simple and ordinary but they love it. 

We have so many more that Id love to share,but I dont want to make this blog post any longer! 😁😁 So, another time! Until then....keep it simple,keep it healthy and always keep it FUN!!