“MAAAAHHHMMMM… I’m bored.”

Are there more nerve-wracking words to be uttered by a child?  I think not!

This of course is usually said in a very nasal voice on a very rainy day after every jigsaw puzzle in the house has been finished, the stack of World Magazines have been read cover to cover, and the only thing on TV is marathon of Inside the Actor’s Studio.

What to do? Well, CRAFT of course!

I’ve rounded up a few dandy kiddo crafts that would keep your wee one busy for perhaps an hour or two. And allow you a bit of free time to attack your own crafts or take well deserved nap. Oh, that sounds so great, doesn’t it? Or get a massage. Or get a mani/pedi while getting a massage. A girl can dream.

I remember picking up stones on walks as a kid.  Usually that was the extent of the fun. But oho–not if you take this very clever idea from Maya at Maya Made, who has this grand tutorial on making these stone dolls. Aren’t they adorable?

Our darling Allison over at Petit Elephant shared her dandy recipe for making sidewalk paint that looks so cool and easy that I might have to try it out for myself, regardless that the Peach can’t even hold a paint brush yet.

If ever there was a time to make a fancy fan, it would be during this heatwave back east. And this pretty fan tutorial looks so easy and breezy from Zakka Life.  Heck, you could prolly make enough for the whole family even. I’m sure they would appreciate that. And perhaps you can eat all of the popsicles needed to create it as well to cool you down, eh?

Sometimes, you gotta go old school and return to your own childhood for some of the best craft gems out there, like the old turn-the-milk-carton-into-a-birdfeeder trick.  No hot tub time machine needed for this blast from the past. But it still is great today because it involves recycling something that would be landfill and turning it into something that helps nourish wildlife. I like this version with the Moorish architecture undertones.  And this version with the little shingled top is so button cute.

This last craft might need some parental guidance, but it  just begs to be done for summer.  Make your own fishing poles from Imagine Childhood by way of the Crafty Crow.  Hmmm… looks like you have to drink a bottle of champagne to get that cork.  The things you do for your child…

So, even if rain isn’t in sight yet (as much as it is begged for like it is back East right now) just remember these craft goodies for later in the summer when you hear those dreaded words…