Frugal Boredom Busters - Science and Homemade Toys

We have company visiting for a few days, raising the number of children in our house to nine. How do you keep nine children busy, happy, and relatively safe without spending your life savings? Let them build their own toys!

I found some very good "how to" videos for kids put out by the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center on YouTube. I perused a few of them, and picked out three that looked like they would be fun to try, and that I had the supplies for around the house. Then, I rummaged through my cupboards and closets for the needed materials. We sat the kids down to watch the videos (they are very short), and then let them loose on the supplies.

In short order they had created a doodle-bot...

...a stomp rocket...

...and a parachute man.

By the time they were done tweaking and playing with their new toys, it was past their bedtime, and we hadn't even noticed the evening slipping away.

Just in case you're wondering, the videos we watched were www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUpcV4NnnuE&feature=related, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf9jFR_WMb4&feature=related, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahJ7h-IzTDc. And, the supplies we provided were:

• my vacuum cleaner hose (it went right back on to the vacuum when the kids were done)
• a few pieces of card stock
• some typing paper
• tape (masking, scotch and duct)
• a plastic grocery bag (we ended up adding a black garbage bag too)
• a Lego man
• yarn
• washable markers
• a paper cup
• a Popsicle stick
• a clothes pin
• a small motor (left over from our Klutz Battery Science book)
• a AA battery
• a ruler
• some newspaper
• a plate (to use as a pattern for the parachute)
  

It's great to be a homeschooler!