Powered By Blogger

Sunday, October 24, 2010

An Apple a Day - Boredom Buster

An apple a day keeps the boredom away!  If your kids are like mine, they like to throw the “I'm bored” phrase out at you if there's the slightest lull in the day.  My typical reaction to that is to assign them a chore to do.  Miraculously they usually become “unbored” almost instantly, suddenly remembering something that they wanted to do after all.  But from time to time, I surprise them with a fun activity I've been holding up my sleeve for the next time they tossed “I'm bored” my way.
Here's one boredom buster that most kids will find “a-peeling”! All it takes is an apple and a little imagination.  Start by peeling the apples.  Depending on your child's age and skill level, you may want to take care of this step for them.  Next, take a knife and carve out a face on the apple.  A plastic knife or even a butter knife can be used by younger children to do this.  Tell them to think pirate, witch, or maybe even Grandpa when creating their apple character.  Deeper holes for eye sockets and prominent noses make for the best (or worst!) looking apple people.  Once your children are satisfied with their creation, place the apples on a baking sheet and bake for 3 hours at your oven's lowest temperature.  Then allow the apples to rest for a few days in a warm, dry place.  
Be sure to have some other activities up your sleeve while you wait for the apples to get ready for the rest of the fun! Then, in a few days, when the kids toss out the “I'm bored” again, pull the apples out and finish them by using dried black beans for the eyes, and grains of rice for teeth.  You can use bits of yarn or felt for the hair, or scraps of fabric for a bandana.  Use your imagination and see what you can come up with!
You can further spark your child's creativity by placing a wooden dowel into the apple to create a puppet of sorts.  Bodies can be drawn and colored onto thin cardboard and taped to the dowels.  And your children can become playwrights by making up stories to act out with their apple puppets.  Challenge them to present a play for you after dinner that night!  You may be pleasantly surprised at what their little minds can come up with!
These apple heads also make neat decorations for Halloween.  Think shrunken heads or ugly witches or perhaps an ogre.  Your kids may come up with their own ideas of things to do with them.  Be prepared to help guide their creative genius into what you can handle as the parent!
Remember, when raising kids it's a good idea to be ready for those lulls in the activity and turn them into moments of creativity and family togetherness.  So keep a few apples on hand, tuck this idea up your sleeve, and wait for the next time you hear that little phrase!

No comments:

Post a Comment