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I can't afford to buy toys crafts for my kids!
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amother
OP


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 6:56 pm
I can't afford to buy enough toys and crafts to keep my kids busy. They are ages 9 and under, they like to do things. In the past week, we've played with our toys, played outside, made bead bracelets, play doh, painted, put together a Melissa and Doug dollhouse, perler beads, model magic, colored , made birthday cards for everyone we know with a birthday in the next 6 months, made "boats" out of the grocery delivery boxes, cut up dozens of old magazines, and made paper bag puppets.
They love when I buy crafts for them to do but I can't afford to keep buying. It's adding up and I haven't been working. And need to save the money I have.
I need a rescue team! Lol. I keep seeing ads for crafts for kids but I just can't keep spending money on crafts with no definite end in sight.
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Sebastian




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:04 pm
let them use paper and card board boxes
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Simple1




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:06 pm
Don't know if they're open or if you can get out, but Dollar Tree has crafts items.
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asweet




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:13 pm
Use stuff from around the house like cupcake liners, paper plates to make purses or puppets. Paper bags etc.
Bookmarks are fun and easy to do with stuff you have at home..
DIY slime is fun uses household ingredients.
Painting even water color is fun.
I print hello Kitty coloring page my kids enjoy the novelty of getting a few pages at a time instead of a full book.
Google for craft ideas there are a lot with items you have around the house.
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amother
Cobalt


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:18 pm
Make salt dough! It’s super cheap- flour salt and water- and my kids loved it. After it dries you can paint it or decorate it some other way. Or you can add food coloring and make different colors.
We covered empty tin cans to make cups for their desks/ dressers. But you can make anything with it.
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amother
Orange


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:22 pm
Just to add.. tissue boxes, toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes. Egg cartons. I literally save everything for crafts. lots of ideas online. I like 5 min crafts on YouTube. Lots of good recycle craft ideas.
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israelmama




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:28 pm
Mothercould has a great activities for younger kids- very inexpensive. She has a blog and an instagram account.
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Stars




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:30 pm
We're going to make a haggadah. I printed out pages from between carpools and some of the ones pinned on this forum and we'll decorate each page with stuff from around the house.
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amother
Amber


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:30 pm
Shaving cream is pretty cheap and you can have a lot of fun with it.
Do you have flour you want to get rid of before pesach? We mixed our flour with baby oil and made great “moon sand” with it... the fun lasted for a long time
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israelmama




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:33 pm
Rock painting, draw a house and give kids magazines- they’ll find pictures of furniture, cut them out and glue them into the house
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amother
Babypink


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:34 pm
Is 9 yr old a girl
Teach her to crochet
Yarn and a crochet needle are not expensive and she can make loads of stuff
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happyone




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:34 pm
OP, you're an awesome mom!!!!!!
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Just One




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:40 pm
We just got a new printer on Amazon. It's a Brother refurbished laser printer for just around $100. I find it's actually a great investment for saving money. I'm able to print coloring sheets, activity pages, projects, patterns for just the price of paper.
I'm general most of the activities we've done so far have been experiments and other cool stuff using household ingredients. We've made valcanoes, turned pennies green, planning to make slime, experimenting with turning celery different colors. Just check out Pinterest.
Also I find on "school days" my kids are much busier than I thought they would be with their call in conferences, reviews and homework.
Also giving our day a structure really helps. I make sure there's one exciting activity (craft, experiment...) Per day at a set time so they have what to look forward to. Otherwise, this is not vacation. You don't need to be pressured into giving them the time of their lives every second. Sure you want them to have good productive memories of this time, but in my mind these are school days, just in a different setting.
The following is our schedule:
9:00 wakeup
Get dressed, make beds, eat breakfast
Davening
Take brisk walk (I make sure we get out daily. Being cooped up is a sure recipe for cabin fever)
Chores-this is a great time for learning some life skills
Conference/schoolwork mostly happening at this time (different time for each kid)
Lunch (cereal and milk. Mom is allowed a cop out)
1 hour resting time. Little ones take a nap. Older ones have free play. I go into my room to recharge
This is the exiting part of the day: little treat for each child and prepared activity
Kids listen to stories/coloring/free play/help Mommy prep supper
I prepare supper
At 5 tatty takes over suppertime and bedtime while I retire to my room to do some work remotely.

Good luck! I think a bit of structure will make things alot more feasible in every way
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amother
Jetblack


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:43 pm
Make collages from old magazines!
You can give them theme that they have to follow, brachos,colors, trips....
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amother
Periwinkle


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:52 pm
Look up busytoddler.com. She has great activities, often with things you already have in the house!
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amother
Lawngreen


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:53 pm
I’m thinking of doing a scavenger hunt (or whatever it’s called), having them find diff objects around the house fitting different clues. I’m not feeling great, so not up to doing much, but I can mostly rest for this activity.
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tigerwife




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:55 pm
Origami. Start with easy ones like paper airplanes and boats and then google for more advanced ideas.
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polka dots




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 8:00 pm
We did one day colored salt. We took some plates and put in salt in each one. We colored each plate of salt with a different color chalk.

We then layered the colored salt in cups and put glue on top of it so it hardens.

Good luck, hang in there. Hopefully we’ll see the other end of the tunnel soon.
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#BestBubby




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 8:06 pm
A big bag of craft sticks (popsicle sticks) and glue is cheap and can make lots of stuff.
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#BestBubby




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 8:07 pm
Tape shelving paper to the walls and let them color on the walls.
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