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Show I ! i V-DENIECESCHOFIELD Quick tips to . eliminate kids' Rummer blues I By DENIECE SCHOFIELD -1 1 It's summertime and the living is easy-unless the kids are bored. Here are a few quick fix solutions tfjat take very little of your time and efcergy and require little preparation. prep-aration. 11 Molded styrofoam packing frnis offer an endless variety of cfeative possibilities. They become . caves, condos, boats, robots, carsT njeket shq, or forts for action figures fig-ures or dolls. Also, the soft styrofoam is easy for young hands to sculpt into a myriad of creations and designs. - ., ' Cooked spaghetti is another art medium. Arrange the pasta on colored sheets of construction paper. It sticks as it dries. . , 4 - Tell the kids it's okay to play with their food-at least mis time. Using things like gumdrops, raisins, ntarshmallows, o-shaped cereal; shoestring licorice, macaroni, fruit leather, crackers, cookies, icing (for i glue), toothpicks, and straws, they can create monsters, unusual inventions, inven-tions, aliens, skyscrapers, animals-: ot whatever they can think of. ! Even if a child is too young for card games, a deck of face cards, UNO, Rook, or Old Maid can be used for the child to categorize or to leant numbers. I An oblong cake pan filled with cracked wheat (or cornmeal) is a ctean and wholesome indoor sandbox. sand-box. The wheat becomes a desert for small action figures or a surface j fdr printing ABC's. To make a min-iature.tpwn min-iature.tpwn .use, twigs for. trees,,' furrow roadsand pile up hills. A , small mirror becomes a pond. The kids can . pour the wheat into different sizes and shapes of containers, con-tainers, funnels, and sieves. Have a scavenger hunt without leaving home. Give the kids a stack of old magazines and a list of things to find. Or, give a small child an old magazine and tell him to tear out pictures of anything that starts with the letter F (or whatever). For a greater challenge, have the children find a picture for every letter of the alphabet Make up a batch of soft clay. In , a saucepan combine 1 cup flour, 1 - ' cup water, V4 cup salt, 2 tables- : poons oil, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, tar-tar, and a few drops of food coloring. color-ing. Cook and stir over low heat until un-til dough forms a balL Turn out ' - onto board and knead until cool. Store in a plastic bag. - , v To make stiff paint for three dimensional pictures, beat 2 cups of ; soap flakes with V4 cup of water and food coloring. Design pictures on colored construction paper. r- Using a permanent felt marker, number the cups in an egg carton from 1 to 12. Give your chid 78 beans and have him count out just the right number per cup. (Not recommended rec-ommended for children under 3.) . i Fill a bucket with water and , give your child a clean paint brush. ; He can 'paint sidewalks,' " driveways, bicycles, toys, or outside . walls. , t Flashlight tag is an up-dated . version of an old standard Every- . one hides while the person who is 'it' covers his eyes. Hiding players have to run to the pre-detennined point of safety before being 'hit' with the flashlight beam. ; Budding sculptors can mold creations from shredded wheat clay . ' Thin some white glue and pour it over crushed shredded wheat, adding ad-ding just enough glue to make it ' manageable. " ':'y.'. : Older kids would enjoy organizing a neighborhood garage stls with other children in the nc:hborhood. Not only will the ac-tiv;y ac-tiv;y keep them busy but they'll i: ,!y get so-j 'r.ew C.L-s at fce s; ; C-t will pi ; 3 c lr interest for Tea fcs U'li r ccund the t: Jzt-i v.-' ; a lit cf ev - :rj t y s-; C.J. I v.li C.2 I "r D r ccur.t hew ry I --i t!.lrcs t! y-3.,,.-.' ' ' :ce's t"f r r L .ite c. ' ' i- r ' 7 11. I' r i ; i - ) |