4 Entertaining Activities With Everyday Items… Re-Created by Kids

4 Entertaining Activities With Everyday Items… Re-Created by Kids

The following was created in partnership with RX Kids Protein Snack Bars, the perfectly simple snack for the perfectly simple activity.

Parents might have some pretty good ideas when it comes to designing DIY projects to do with their kids, but kids ultimately get the final say. Where a cardboard box, scrap fabrics, scissors, and glue might sound to you like the start of an excellent craft activity, in the hands of a child it is instead the makings of an evil fortress — one that must now forever live in your shoe closet.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Does it really matter as long as the number of ways for kids to get creative in their free time just doubled? To find out exactly what little ones see when we give them a parent-inspired project, we asked them — and suggest you do the same. And while you’re letting your kids re-create activity time, let them dictate snack time with RX Kids Protein Snack Bars, a simple snack made with simple ingredients that kids won’t feel the need to change.

Adult Activity: Spoon Golf

What you’ll need:

  • Punch bowl serving spoon
  • Tennis ball
  • Cardboard box
  • Glitter glue

How to make it:

  1. Using a cardboard box that is bigger than the tennis ball (a shoe box should work), cut or tear off one side, so that the box is three-sided.
  2. Decorate the box with glitter glue.
  3. Place the box at one end of your den or yard.
  4. Use the large serving spoon to knock the tennis ball into the open side of the box. (Take as many passes at it as necessary.) Once one kid gets the ball in the box, it’s the next player’s turn. The person who gets the ball in the box with the least number of “strokes” wins.

Kid’s Take: Actually, It’s a Magic Scepter and Royal Pet

We turned this over to the kids and, it turns out, this is no golf game after all — it’s the trappings of a princess and her pet. Here’s what we learned:

What’s the spoon for? “You carry it like a princess,” —Alice, age 5

What about the ball? “It’s her pet.”

Pet dog? “No, mouse!”

And the glitter box? “Where the mouse lives.”

Ah, of course — the royal mouse house!

 

Flying Saucer

What you’ll need:

  • Frisbee
  • Colorful tissue paper
  • Tape
  • Scissors

How to make it:

  1. Cut the tissue paper into long, narrow strips (about 12” long and 1” wide), so that you have 30 strips.
  2. Alternating colors, tape the tissue paper around the edges of the Frisbee.
  3. Give it a whirl. Your flying saucer is ready for travel to a new planet.

Kid’s Take:  Actually, It’s a Colorful Hat

Apparently, this flying saucer has a landing pad… your head, where it doubles as a colorful hat.

Here’s how that works:

What do you do with this? “You put it on your head.” —Alex, age 4 (“almost 5!”)

Why? “It’s a hat.”

What do you do with the paper? “It goes under your head so the hat stays on.”

So you tie it like string? “No, it’s paper!”

 

 

Match the Numbers

What you’ll need:

  • Construction paper
  • Markers
  • Dice
  • Deck of playing cards

How to make it:

  1. Write a number, 1-6, on six pieces of construction paper. Draw a diamond around each number. Set aside.
  2. Repeat numbers 1-6 on six new pieces of construction paper. Draw a heart around each number. Repeat two more times, drawing a spade around one set of numbers and a club around the other set. You should end up with 24 pieces of paper, with four sets of six numbers.
  3. Randomly space the sheets of construction paper out around the floor. Take the deck of playing cards and remove number 1-6 for each suit (24 cards total). Shuffle these 24 cards, then deal them out evenly between two players.
  4. Using a single die, have each player roll a number. Whatever number appears on the die is the number the player must then find in his cards, then match that playing card’s number and suit to one of the numbered sheets on the floor. When a match is made, the player places his playing card on top of the numbered sheet, reducing the number of cards in his hand. (Only one card can be used per roll.)
  5. If a player cannot match the number on the die to a number in his hand of cards, he must wait a turn to try again. The game ends when one of the players is able to match all his playing cards with the numbered sheets on the floor.

Kid’s Take: Actually, It’s Hopscotch

Number scattered on the ground mean something else entirely to six-year-olds — namely, a game of hopscotch.

This is how to play:

What do you do with all the paper on the ground? “The kids have to go from one to the other.” —Charlotte, age 6

How do you know which one to go to? “It’s the number on the square (dice). You jump it.”

Jump? “You jump to your number and you can’t fall or you are out.”

How do you win the game? “When you jump to all the numbers!”

And what about the playing cards? “When you win you throw them all in the air.”

 

Tower of Colors

What You’ll Need:

  • 5-7 cardboard boxes, varying in size from small to large
  • Scissors
  • Paint and wide paintbrush
  • Glue

How to make it:

  1. Start with the largest box. With the open size facing down, cut out arches (upside-down U’s) in each of the four sides.
  2. Lay newspaper or an old painting tarp on the floor. Paint the cardboard box a bright color and let it sit to dry.
  3. Grab the next-largest box. Repeat process (cut out arches on all sides; paint new color; let dry). Repeat with each box.
  4. Once dry, apply glue to the four “feet” (bottom corners) of the second-largest box, then center it so its arches line up above the arches of the large box below, then place it on top. Press down gently to help it stick.
  5. Repeat the glue, center, place, and press process for the remaining boxes, organizing them in size from biggest at the bottom to smallest at the top.

Kid’s Take: Actually, It’s a Rocket

It seems this tower is powered by rocket fuel, and it’s about ready for lift-off.

Here are the details:

What do you do with the boxes? “You make the into a big pile.” —Alex, age 4 (“almost 5!”)

What’s the pile for? “They go on top of each other. Like a spaceship.”

A rocket? “Yes! A rocket!”

Do you paint the rocket? “Only the very top.”

Really. Why just the top? “Because it’s a rocket!”

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