Spend Less with Simple Activities

In times when you want activities to do with your child but do not want to have to spend too much money on board or video games, consider some of these:

• Make your own play dough that can be molded into different shapes and sizes. All that is needed for this is 5 cups of flour, ¼ cup cooking oil, 3 cups of salt, 3 or more cups of water and food colouring. Once you have mixed all of these ingredients together, you and your child can build your own homemade creations.
• Another simple activity that every little one loves is stamping. Potato stamps can be made very simply, by cutting a potato in half, carving a design into it such as a star or other shape, dipping it into food colouring or finger paint and stamping it onto sheets of construction paper.
• Always keep plenty of colouring books in your house. Colouring books and crayons are a very simple but effective form of entertainment on a rainy day or a long trip. Get involved yourself by asking them why they chose the colours that they did and seeing if they know what other options could be used.
• Get your child to trace different shapes and objects onto pieces of construction paper. They can start with their hand and then move onto different household items that you have.
• Start painting. With simple, inexpensive finger paints, your child can make many masterpieces.

By Chris Giardino