Crafts with the Kids!

If you’re anything like me, during quarantine you ended up getting stuck with your younger siblings or family members for way longer of a time than you were emotionally capable of. Even worse, you were also enlisted as a pro-bono babysitter, forcibly offering up your free time to take care of these little monsters. And let’s admit it, after a while, Disney+ and hide-and-seek begin to bore you more than quarantine ever could.

Well, you’re in luck. Here are two easy DIYs that you can do for the tiny people that will keep them (and you!) entertained for hours.

1) Oobleck. An oldie, but a goodie. I’m sure all of us remember being in the third grade and our teachers showing us the one substance that was both a solid and a liquid. If not, please find your third grade teacher on Facebook and link them to this blog, because clearly they need it. What’s great about this craft, is it’s just mixing all the ingredients into a bowl, which, with enough of your patience, any kid can do.

You’ll need:

· A bowl

· A pair of grubby hands

· 1-2 cups of cornstarch

· 1 cup of water

· Food colouring, if you like to live life on the fun side

1. Start by measuring out the cornstarch and placing it into the bowl (little hands can help you do this as well.)

2. Add a cup of water in while simultaneously mixing, until the mixture is thick hardens when you touch it (don’t get your own hands dirty, so leave this one to the munchkins.)

3. Add your food colouring here if desired.

4. Free play

If you’re up for bonus points, ask the kids questions about the Oobleck. Ask them to squeeze it in their palms and to tell you what happens. Ask them what other things they can do to the Oobleck to get it to change consistencies. Anything to get their minds going. And there you have it, a fun craft that is a trip down memory lane.

Introducing our first video! Jenny and Alison take on making Oobleck by themselves, so that you get to see first hand how cool it is, even for two third year university students!

2) DIY body paint. Slightly more involved, but infinitely more creative. Going to stores right now for arts and crafts supplies is not always feasible, but you can still paint without a canvas…or paint. And it’s easier than you think.

You’ll need:

· Bowls

· Moisturizer

· Corn starch

· Water

· Food colouring

· Q-tips or paint brushes

1. Mix together the water, cornstarch, and moisturizer until you get a liquid mixture (the texture of whipping cream) than can be painted onto skin. Stir in food colouring.

2. Give the kids paint brushes or Q-tips and let them go crazy.

To make it extra fun for them, you can let them mix in their own colouring. An added bonus of this craft is to clean the kids up, give them a bath and have them set to go for bedtime. They’ll be so excited after using the body paint that they won’t even protest having the bath. Extra points if you pass of the bath duties to somebody else. We won’t tell.

There you have it, two easy crafts that use similar ingredients to placate the kids you’re baby-sitting into being distracted for a couple hours. They’re honestly so fun that you’ll probably join in on the crafts, too. While quarantine has been hard on all of us, there are still things we can do to have a little fun, indulge your creative side, and be a kid again for a few hours. We all need it.