4 Sure-fire Boredom Busters

The best defense for when your kids start hurling, "Mom, I'm bored" bombs your way, is to come heavily armed with crafty ammunition. BabyCenter has an impressive database filled with craftastic activities to help save the day!

Regina Clarkinia

What you need

10 recycled water bottles of similar size, colored electrical tape, small ball

Instructions

Wash bottles and remove labels as best you can. Use tape to decorate bottles with stripes to resemble bowling pins. Set up bottles on smooth floor, hallways are best, in V-formation. Use ball to bowl over bottles.

Additional tips

Find someone who knows how to keep bowling score. Watch out for the cat!

Regina Clarkinia

What you need

Clean socks, ribbon, number tags, dried beans, white construction paper, rubber bands, bucket

Instructions

Fill socks with beans, leaving room at the top to secure with tightly-tied ribbon. (Tie ribbon in knot.) Make number tags by cutting circles in construction paper and drawing the number in with a black felt pen. (If you have enough socks you could do numbers 1 to 10 and use this game as number recognition practice.) Thread a piece of string through hole in top of tag and attach numbers by tying the string to the ribbon. Take turns tossing socks into strategically placed bucket. Keep score by adding up numbers in bucket.

Regina Clarkinia

What you need

New sponges, drinking straws, craft foam, hole puncher, scissors hot glue gun

Instructions

Trim sponge into boat shape-- pointed at one end-- with scissors. Use craft foam to create triangular sail. Punch two holes, one above the other, in sail for drinking straw mast. Push straw through holes. Make hole towards front of sponge boat with scissors. Push straw into sponge until mast stands straight. Turn sponge over and hot glue straw and sponge together. Find peaceful indoor body of water and set sail. If sponge gets waterlogged, squeeze it.

Regina Clarkinia

What you need

Felt squares, scissors, oversized buttons, magnets, glue

Instructions

Cut out car shape from felt. Use different colors for windows. Use buttons for monster truck wheels. Glue magnets to back of buttons.

Options

Get fancy with car styles. How about a swagger wagon, or Hummer? Or, for the more flowery kids, you can make felt flower magnets. Just cut out teardrop shapes from the felt, and glue to back of button, then glue magnet to the button.