I know I told you I would post about Soph’s Elsa costume but then I watched the weather & saw we’re getting ANOTHER snowstorm! I feel like at this point I should be all annoyed & disgruntled that school is going to be canceled AGAIN & everyone is going to go crazy & buy every last darn loaf of bread off the shelves, (from what I hear from my Minnesota peeps we’re a bunch of snow ninnies) but I’m not. I’m still 1000% geeked out that it’s going to snow, & as of now, it’s going to snow ALOT. Florida girl, remember?

Regardless if you’re in my area, the deep south or heck, the other side of the world (hello my Australia friends!) we all have days we get stuck inside with our kids. We can usually handle it for the first 24hrs but after that it starts to go downhill quick. At least for me it does! I’ve been meaning to do a post on what you need to have stocked in your house so you’re always ready for such an occasion (works for chicken pox quarantine too!) & with our upcoming weather, today seemed like the perfect day.

First up, snow paint! Such a “why the heck didn’t I think of that idea??” I actually haven’t tried this one yet but I can tell you it’s on my Target list for today! I’m going to try it with squirt bottles & kool-aid so it will smell yummy too! This post & this post are from other ladies who have written about their snow paint experiences. (also the image sources)

Next on the list is a product called “Living Sand“, you may have also seen a similar product at Brookstone. I actually have had them both for a little over a week & can honestly say my kids have asked to play with them EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Not even exaggerating. It’s hard to say if I’d recommend one over the other because they each have different qualities. The Living Sand (white one) has a lot more elasticity to it & almost feels like a very light-weight dough whereas the Brookstone product is more similar to actual beach sand. In fact on the label it touts that the only two ingredients are sand & polyurethane. (which is probably what makes it so pliable) I really like that the experience is more beachy but unlike actual sand this one hold it’s shape. I know exactly what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours right now, “IS IT AS MESSY AS SAND?” and the answer is….NO! Not at all. It doesn’t crumble but it also doesn’t stick to anything. You can see in this video how I roll it up & none of it stuck to my fingerless gloves, so cool!

My girlfriend Kelly also had a great tip, she purchased a large shallow tupperware to act as a sand table. My playroom table has a 1″ lip around the edges so I just let my girls dump it on there. We also use our set of play-doh tools for the sand along with some dixie cups for castle building.

As for the homemade play-doh I have to say I always keep these ingredients in stock. I actually buy the salt in bulk on Amazon since you end up using so much! I won’t say I’ll never buy regular play-doh again but I do like the homemade stuff infinitely better. The girls have fun making it, it’s much softer & perhaps most importantly I don’t have to freak out when Sophie inevitably licks it. That kid. You can read my detailed tutorial on homemade play doh here (including a video) but don’t forget you can also add glitter or scents like I did with the candy cane play-doh post here!

Potato Stamping is really just that, squirt some acrylic paint onto a plate, cut a potato in half, carve out a shape & let them go crazy. Kids could have fun stamping paper, (Ooo, I just realized I should let my kids decorate one of those big rolls of paper & then I’ll have homemade wrapping paper, tell me grandparents won’t eat that up!) or you could substitute fabric paint for the acrylic & stamp out a school of fish like Sam did! You can find the original fabric paint potato stamping post here. My final suggestion for projects to have on hand are fabric paint & items to decorate. You just try & tell me that you didn’t LOVE LOVE LOVE puffy painting everything in sight when you were younger. Even the Keds weren’t safe. Same goes for little ones nowadays. I keep a small bin in the craft closet that has a handful of fabric paints to use with a brush, puffy paints that squeeze right out of the bottle & even a set of fabric markers. Whenever I see solid color shirts on sale somewhere I always grab a few & throw them in the stash. In fact I found a 5 pack of mini tote bags at Michael’s the other day that we will definitely be spicing up during the storm this week. Here’s an Etsy shop that sells them but any large craft store should have plenty of items if you’re short on time. The options are really endless but if you want to make a specific design or letters don’t forget about freezer paper stenciling! You can find a roll of freezer paper at your grocery store (it’s usually near the foil & plastic wrap) & I have detailed freezer paper stenciling instructions in this post from way back in the day. And I mean wayyyyy back, like baby Sam back! ACK! Those thighs!!! Oh do I so miss those chunky baby thighs!

On that note I’ll let you go, I hope at least one of these saves you from a mommy meltdown next time you’re snowed in!

Also if you have your own favorite anti-boredom project that you keep on hand don’t be stingy, share that goodness below!

OH! Also I put together a shopping list since you have basically TOMORROW to get this ish if you’re preparing for the DC storm, just pin it, print it or pull it up on your iphone. Whatever my friend, just remember, only you can prevent your children from driving you insane. And even that’s not entirely true. {right click & save the image above to take it with you!}

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