Easy Needs to Mean Easy

So I’m seeing a plethora of blogs and pins spouting “Easy Kid Activities” and such lately as everyone is trying to entertain their munchkins now that school is out. I already shared that we don’t really have a hugely different schedule during the summer around here, but I am always on the lookout for EASY things to do.

Yet I often feel incredibly let down when I read these posts because my idea of easy does NOT include 10 steps, 5 ingredients, or specialty items that have to be purchased *just* for the activity.

For awhile I felt lame for not often doing anything extravagant, and I would try to be a more “fun” Mom and do these kinds of things with my kids. But to be honest, it most often felt like I spent more time prepping the activity than my kids actually spent doing it.

Artist just came in and asked for scissors and tape and paper so she can make wings, and I thought, YES!!! That is a great easy kid activity. Not extravagant, fancy, Pinterest worthy wings that I would plan and prepare and give intricate instructions on how to make, but spontaneous wings that she just decided to make (probably because she was bored…I believe bored kids are creative kids).

Last week I grabbed a couple empty bins and for a couple days whenever I came across something I thought my kiddos would like, I dropped it in. Then one afternoon when the girls started bickering about something, I handed them each a tub. I think each one included things like an empty toilet paper roll, a couple cotton balls, a small roll of leftover streamers, and a clothespin. They played and created for hours, and I basically felt like a super mom! 😉

Here are a few of our favorite actually easy activities!

Shaving cream play…fun either outside (followed by washing off with a hose) or in the bathtub.

Building forts…the simple kind from pillows, blankets and chairs. (I’ve recently started helping them clip their top sheet or blanket to chairs with these cheap clips that I have on hand for photography to help prevent it from falling off and causing distress.) 😉

Making paper dolls. Sometimes using pieces of patterned scrapbook paper for the clothes.

Cutting paper. Oh my word, I don’t know WHY, but Boo looooves to cut paper into tiny pieces. I’m trying to teach her to do this above a basket she can easily dump into the trash, but apparently half the fun is scattering the tiny pieces all over the house…so clean up here isn’t always as easy as I’d like. :p

Painting ALL THE THINGS! Honestly just painting with watercolors or fingerpaints is always a hit. But for Boo, it’s extra fun to paint random things like an empty juice bottle.

And basically anything super lame simple. I feel like the more open ended the activity, the more likely it is to actually engage my kiddos (and even morph into other creative play).

I’d love to hear what your kids like to do for fun. Just know that if it requires more than 3 things, or if I have to spend more than 27 seconds prepping, it will most likely not end up happening here…cause I’m just that lazy into simplicity. 😉