Fun kids' crafts from Boredom Busters

Next time you’re looking for something to occupy your kids, look no further than your kitchen.

Caroline Fernandez’s new book, Boredom Busters, provides over fifty crafty ideas that use many materials that can already be found in the kitchen and other areas of the home.

The book’s five chapters—Art, Craft, Science, Food, and Travel—feature projects that cater to all types of interests.

Art teaches how to make pictures using crafty supplies such as coffee filter paper, homemade paint, recycled crayons and even shaving cream. Turn to Crafts to learn how to transform a baby food jar into a beautiful snow globe! Science provides ideas for all kinds of cool experiments, such as “lava” cups and plastic bottle tornados. Parents and kids will love the easy and delicious recipes in Food, such as the chocolate mug cake and ice cream cone cupcakes. Lastly, Travel allows for activities to be taken on the road, including making a T-shirt pillow and wooden spoon puppets.

Read more: First family trip: Travel tips needed

The best part of the ideas in Boredom Busters? They’re sure to keep your kids busy while reusing supplies that would otherwise be thrown away.

Here are instructions for the cereal box travel desk, baby food jar globe, and egg carton organizer—just a few projects from the book that will keep your kids’ boredom at bay.

Egg Carton Creature

This craft gives egg cartons another function.

Make it in: 1 hour

Boredom buster: One time activity (but keeps forever)

Acitivity level:★

Things you need:

•Art mat or old newspaper

•Apron

•A cardboard egg carton

•Paper plate

•Acrylic paint

•Paintbrush

•Pencil and colored paper

•Scissors

•Marker pens or felttipped pens

•Glue

1. Protect your activity surface with an activity mat or newspapers. Roll up your sleeves and put on an apron

to protect your clothes.

2. Pour some paint onto a paper plate and, holding the egg carton over the activity mat, paint the egg carton all

over, top and bottom. Let the egg carton dry.

3. In the meantime, draw eyes and teeth on colored paper. To help you draw circles, use a small pot, button, or lid to draw round. Make two sets of eyes on different colored paper then cut them out, along with the teeth.

4. Using a marker pen or felt-tipped pen,draw the pupils in the middle of the eyes. Position the pupils in different places to give your creature a fun expression.

5. When the paint on the egg carton is dry, glue on the eyes and teeth in the middle of the front edge, creating the face of your Egg Carton Creature. Open his jaws wide and your desk-pet is ready to use!

 Baby Jar Snow Globe

Give empty baby food jars a new purpose.

Make it in: 2 hours

Boredom buster: One time activity (but keeps forever)

 ACTIVITY LEVEL:★★★

Things you need:

•A glass baby jar with lid

•A glueable figurine (plastic, crystal, or ceramic), ideally with a flat base, that is shorter than your jar

•Waterproof superglue

•Glitter

•Water

1. Take the lid off the jar and ask an adult to help you to superglue the figurine to the inside of the lid. Set aside to let it dry.

2. Fill the jar three-quarters full with water, then add about half a teaspoon of glitter.

3. Carefully put the lid on the jar, inserting the figurine as you go. Ask an adult to help you to apply superglue around

the lid to seal it. DO NOT TURN OVER YET. Put the jar to one side, out of the way, and wait for the glue to dry.

4. Shake the Baby Jar Snow Globe and watch the glitter shower down around your figurine! Stop for safety! Ask an adult to help you when using superglue.

Cereal Box Travel Desk

Old cereal boxes can make great desks to play with on long journeys.

Make it in: 45 minutes

Boredom buster: One time activity (but you can use it again and again)

ACTIVITY LEVEL:★★★

Things you need:

•A large, family-sized cereal box

•Scissors

•Marker pens

•Ruler

•Duct tape (Optional)

 1. Put the cereal box on your work surface. Using one blade of the scissors, carefully score the outside top rectangle of the cereal box (score means to mark a line along the cardboard using your scissors, but not to cut all the way through).

2. Carefully push the scissors through the scored line and cut along the lines removing the outside top rectangle of the cereal box.

3. Use the scissors to carefully neaten the edges of the Cereal Box Travel Desk. Set aside the cut-away cardboard rectangle in your art area.

4 Using a ruler and markers, draw on the inside of the travel desk—see the box on the right for ideas on what to draw. If you like, using scissors, cut pieces of duct tape to cover the bottom and sides of your Cereal Box Travel Desk to cover up the cereal pictures.

Ideas for things to draw inside your Travel Desk:

•Road lines or train tracks

•A house with rooms

•A city with buildings, parks, and roads

•A school with classrooms and desks

•A map to track your travels

•Leave it blank and use it as a work surface for coloring

Want some more boredom buster crafts? Check out this video about making your own decorated desk caddy: