School Holiday Fun

I really enjoy school holidays. I stay in my PJ's until i HAVE to go out, and i don't have to prepare school lunches. (My most detested chore)
The July ones are the most challenging for me, given that it is the rainy season, so all activities have to be indoorsy ones.
The solution came to me whilst browsing Pinterest. Theres a ton of craft ideas on there suitable for kids. I made up a list of crafts that won't break my small budget, and so far we've done quite a few of them.

Here a couple of them that really captured their attention.

Wild bird feeders.

You need:
Bird Seed
Peanut butter
String
Old toilet rolls

You cover your roll in peanut butter.

Then you roll your buttered roll in a tray of bird seed

The you thread your string through the middle and tie it at the top. Hang it from a tree, when you are done.

The children have enjoyed watching the birds come and eat from it.

Rainbow Rice

Although this one is intended for toddlers/preschoolers. I knew my kids would still use it, as they are a tactile bunch, and they love to get involved.

You need:

1kg of long grain white rice

A selection of food colouring

A lidded lunchbox

You divide your rice into as many portions as you have food colouring.

You add a batch of rice to your lunchbox, and a few drops of food colouring. (A little goes a long way)

You put on the lid tightly and shake the box up.

We borrowed a trough from the toy library and filled it with our rainbow rice. The children used it for various things. The littler ones like to swish about with it, and the bigger ones liked the feel of it running through their fingers. It kept them occupied for hours, and best of all, even though the trough went back last week, i have the rainbow rice stored away to play with another time.

Fizzy Bath Bombs

These were a heap of fun to make.

You need:

2 cups of baking soda

1 cup citric acid

A few drops of fragrance (essential oil)

2 tsps water (or witch hazel)

You add the dry ingredients to a big bowl, and get out all the lumps. the you add your fragrance, then you add your water and mix it really quickly. It will fizz up a bit, but work fast until your mixture resembles wet sand. Then you put it into molds. We used chocolate molds. you leave them for a minute or two, then carefully pop them out of the molds.

The children want to give them away as gifts, they have to be left overnight to harden, so tomorrow we will make them up with cardboard and cellophane into little gifts.