The other day, I found myself in every mother's worst nightmare: It was three o'clock and my kids were bored! OK, maybe that's not every mother's very worst nightmare, but it's pretty bad. It was still hours before Kevin would be home, we had already had our outing for the day, and the boys had played with every toy they own. It was way too early for them to be restless.
Fortunately, I remembered an idea I had seen on the internet a few days before, for how to entertain whiney kids during the dreaded witching hour: a "sensory bath." I'm not really sure of the pedagogy behind them (I'm sure there is one, though), and some of these baths looked like huge messes. But there is nothing my little boys love more than making messes ... with water ... and their food. So before you could say "Long John Silver," we had made ourselves a "Deep-Sea-Diving, Treasure-Hunting Sensory Bath."
Surprisingly, this was the easiest, cheapest, and mess-free "craft" we have probably ever done. The ingredients were all things I already had on hand, and it took maybe 10 minutes to put together (or however long it takes you to boil pasta). I just added blue Kool-Aid to a warm bath, added a little vinegar and a lot of green food colouring to pot of boiling spaghetti, and found a few bath toys and treasure loot for the kids to "dive" for, and, Voila!
And when it was all over, I just dumped the spaghetti and drained the tub. The best part was that Colin said, as he got out, "Mama, you made a really amazing thing!"
Next time: Black-Light, Space-Foam Sensory Bath?
If you're interested, check out my Pinterest board for some other "sensory" activities I plan to try in the coming weeks.
What are your favourite ways to get through the witching hour?
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