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Community Corner

Fun and Games for Rainy Days

Your guide to low- and no-cost fun at home this summer!

School’s out, and thankfully, after eight months of misery, the weather is cooperating. Pools are open, camp’s in session, playgrounds are buzzing. But what about those inevitable days of rain, the mornings before the pool opens, or the afternoons when you’ve had too much sun? What’s a mom to do to entertain the kids without spending a lot of money or working like a circus clown? You may have discovered some of these games in your own home, but this is what we do to mix things up when boredom strikes.

Crafts
Check the Clearance section of craft and book stores for inexpensive little projects you can put away for a rainy day. I recently scored a paint-your-own miniature tea set at Barnes & Noble for 75% off. My 3 ½ year old was too young to do it justice, but for the low price, who cares? She had a ball painting it and I got an hour to read the paper. My son needed a shelf to display his animal figurines in his room, so I got one for $2.50 at Michaels, bought a small can of stain, some sandpaper, and a few $.30 foam paint brushes and we made our own shelf for less than $7. He’s really proud of it and also learned how to sand and stain! (Now if only I can get around to hanging it…)

Beauty Salon
Girls will love the chance to brush mommy’s hair and stick every single hairclip and barrette they own on your head, and believe it or not, boys enjoy getting in on the action, too. Try adding manis and pedis to the routine: Fill a basin with water and bubble bath for a foot soak. Add a few marbles to a bowl of water for a hand soak. Get out the nail brush and take this chance to clean little hands and feet, lathering up the brush with bar soap to make it a “spa scrub”.

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Take turns giving each other hand and foot massages. Try Johnson’s Bedtime Lotion, which is lavender scented, for added luxury. Or, make your own aromatherapy by putting a few drops of essential oil in jojoba oil (just don’t use oil on bottoms of feet–too slippery!). Lavender is calming, peppermint invigorating. I like Young Living oils best, and jojoba is available at Stop & Shop in the organic aisle as well as the health food stores in Denville and Morristown.

If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can search Google for recipes for homemade face and hair masks. (There are some gentle ones you could even use on children’s skin). My kids helped me whip up a face mask with honey, banana and orange juice and although they chickened out of trying it on themselves, they loved slathering the goop all over mommy’s face.

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Water Play in the Sink
You can’t put kids in the bathtub to play by themselves, so I let them play in the sink. My daughter fills it up with Barbies and plays "pool"; my son uses animal figurines to play "watering hole". They stand on a step stool, fill the sink with water (and sometimes bubbles) and are content to play for thirty minutes at a clip. Just make sure to lay an old towel on the floor to catch spills, make sure they know not to overflow the sink, and possibly help them choose which toys can get wet.

Circus Parade
Dress up stuffed animals or dolls in elaborate costumes and put them in strollers, wagons, etc. for a parade around your house or lawn. Moms and kids can dress up, too. We don’t usually even get to the parade part because we have so much fun putting dresses on teddy bears and the kids’ old baby pajamas on the dolls. I submit to the kids gussying me up in whatever strikes their fancy. This allows me to sit still for a nice chunk of time and yields hilarious results. I don’t know why we started calling this Circus Parade … must have something to do with the outfits.

Birthday Party
I made a birthday cake for Baby Jesus on Christmas morning when my kids were one and three. I grew up Jewish and married a Catholic, so it was my way of trying to celebrate the holiday "authentically." I’ve since learned that that’s really not done, but it sparked a tradition of birthday celebrations in my home.

My kids will look for any excuse to celebrate birthdays. We look up birthdays of famous figures (children’s book authors, the cast of iCarly, animals born at the local zoo) and when there’s no legitimate birthday to celebrate, we find a stuffed animal or doll and make a birthday party for it. We hang streamers and make cards, party hats and a birthday crown. We dance to festive songs. (Our playlist includes "Happy Birthday" by The Ting Tings, "Birthday" by the Beatles, "I Like to Move It" by Reel to Real, "Please Don’t Stop the Music" by Rihanna, and "Hey Soul Sister" by Train.)

We play pin the tail on the pig: I draw a pig, tape it on the wall, and the kids try to tape-on pieces of yarn tails. We make a “fruit cake” and blow out candles. For fruit cake, arrange cut fruit in circular layers and put a candle in the center. Bananas, cut lengthwise, and melon slices work great. Use berries and grapes for embellishment.

Cooking
When I grow tired of shuttling back and forth from the kitchen with snacks all day long, I recruit the kids to help out. We search the Internet for healthy snack recipes or make up our own. Children can help with many steps, without using knives or other dangerous implements. They can peel fruit, break up foods like bananas with their hands, line muffin tins, wash veggies, measure and pour. Whether or not our concoctions turn out edible, we have loads of fun in the kitchen, and my kids are more willing to try healthy foods when they’ve had a hand in creating them. Just make sure to have a bowl of grapes, cut veggies, or popcorn on hand for snacking while cooking to stave off grumpiness.

Our favorite and most successful snack creations are fruit smoothies and whole fruit popsicles. See recipes below.

Homemade Whole Fruit Popsicles 

Ingredients
Any whole fruit you want to use. Good ones are pineapple, watermelon, strawberries, nectarines, mango, cantaloupe, and bananas. Try mixing flavors!
Water
Agave nectar or apple juice

Directions
1. Cut fresh fruit into small chunks.
2. Combine fruit pieces with a few tablespoons of water and puree with a hand blender, food processor, or regular blender.
3. Add more water if needed for less watery fruits, like bananas.
4. Taste the puree… If it’s too sour, sweeten with a few drops of agave nectar, or omit water and use apple juice to sweeten.
5. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for several hours before serving.

Tropical Smoothies

Blend 1 banana, a handful of frozen pineapple, a handful of frozen mango, and ¼ to ½ cup milk in blender or with a hand blender.

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