I’m not afraid to admit it; I love Pinterest, but here’s the problem: I don’t have time for Pinterest. Back in the day, before twins (B.T.), I made time for crafts. A lot of time. I loved crafting for birthday parties, baby showers, a Tuesday…I didn’t need an excuse to find a Pinterest activity. With my first born I spent hours on Pinterest pinning ideas like, “24 Creative Uses for a Cardboard Box!” and then I actually started making things out of cardboard boxes for him. Mind blown. 
It was a beautiful time, people. Now, after the twins, ( A.T.) I get a package from Amazon {I love me some Amazon Prime} and then throw the empty box on the floor for the kids. Sigh. It’s not that I don’t want to continue to do these things, it’s just that, with a 3-year-old and twin 17-month-olds, I am all about easy. I didn’t use to be this jaded. I loved complex projects with multiple steps. You must let glue dry before moving on to step 12, but alas those days (for now) are mere memories. This morning I fed the twins like dogs, sprinkling goldfish on the floor around their feet.
So here’s the deal. With Pinterest on hiatus in my house, at least as far as every day crafts go, I needed activities that would engage at least one of these rug rats for longer than a nano second so I could go to the bathroom or maybe throw in a load of laundry. And I needed clean up to be EASY, with a capital EASY. So here are a few activities my kids love because they’re fun and I love because my kids give me a few minutes to inhale my lunch in peace. So hey, maybe your kids will love them too and we can all get a moment to drink a cup of coffee without having to reheat it five times. {Not just me, right?!}
The Buddah Board: This is an art activity that uses water (EAS
Y). You fill the little container with a bit of water and kids can go to town painting on the board (brush included). This is a great way to introduce painting without all the mess. We bought the first board at The Denver Art Museum gift shop (which you can access without paying to get into the museum!) and, after the children nearly fought to the death over it, I purchased a second board on Amazon. The second one may or may not have been cheaper… They also make a mini version of the board available at both places.
The Water Table: Our water table finds it’s way indoors on most days. I fill that bad boy with anything, and I mean anything. Kids love exploring with new materials. Last week was wine corks {yes we have a lot of them, don’t judge}. This week, the sky’s the limit! Maybe I’ll throw all our junk mail in there. They’ll love it. No seriously, they will.
Car Wash: Now I don’t mean have your kids go out and wash your car. Although that’s not a bad idea. My son loves matchbox cars and he loves water. So we fill a big bucket of water, toss in some soap and he will clean those cars for hours. Sometimes I’ll toss him a sponge or a brush and quite often he will go find “cleaning utensils” on his own.
Kinetic Sand: This is probably the messiest of the four activities. But before you go running for the hills, consider this: Kinetic sand isn’t like regular sand. It is 98% pure sand and 2% non-toxic polymer causing the sand to stick to itself. I am no scientist, but I do know that equals easy clean up! When my son begs to play with play dough I cringe inside thinking about the inevitable: me on my hands and knees picking up tiny pieces of play dough for the next 14 hours. When he asks to play with sand, not so much! Because it naturally attracts to itself, most of it stays on the table. What does make it’s way to the floor is easily swept up and thrown away. You can check out the sand here. There are lots of varieties of this sand, so shop around!
These four activities keep my little ones engaged and off the iPad. What more can I ask for? I’ll save my Pinterest crafts for special occasions like birthdays and that random Tuesday when I’m really inspired and caffeinated.
