Glove Gardens

Materials: latex gloves, tape, cotton balls, seeds, water.
1. Place cotton balls in the tip of each finger of the glove.
2. Drop a seed into each finger.
3. Add drops of water until the cotton ball is saturated.
4. Tape the glove to a sunny window.
5. Once the seeds sprout, kids can transplant them into a paper cup or directly into the yard.

Photo Puppets

Materials: Old photos, glue, cardboard, scissors, Popsicle sticks.
1. Cut out the people or images in the photos and glue the cutouts to Popsicle sticks to make puppets.

Soap Boats

Materials: Index cards, liquid dishwashing soap, ruler, scissors, container of water for the boat to move across (like a sink or a tub).
1. Cut a boat shape out of an index card.
2. Cut a one-inch rectangle from the middle of the back of the “boat.” That’s where the fuel (the dishwashing soap) will go.
3. Float the boat in the container of water.
4. Pour a few drops of dishwashing soap in the slot in the rear of the boat and watch it go.

Memory Jars

Materials: Small or medium clear jar with smooth sides, scissors, permanent marker, glue sticks or glue gun (with adult supervision), collected memorabilia from a recent event or about a person.
1. Have the kids draw, make small collages out of photographs, or select objects that represent significant personal memories; then put everything into the jar. Make sure nothing is bigger than the size of the jar mouth.
2. Place the jar over the lid and screw them together, creating a see-through memory jar.

Paper Cup Towers

Materials: Paper or Styrofoam cups, flat surface.
See who can make the tallest cup pyramid.

Visual Labels

Materials: Blank labels, paint or markers.
Instead of using words to label things in the house, ask kids to draw images. For example, draw a dog and slap it on the dog-food cupboard, or create labels for storage bins in the kids’ rooms.