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I was hoping we could share a list of books or activities that kids can do on their own for those of us that have kids that seem to always need to be doing stuff. I am realizing I do not have too much of that really. Would love to hear what others have liked.

Off the top of my head we have and like
The Dangerous Book for Boys
See and Sew (this is a hand sewing book)
Usborne complete book of Art Ideas.
Then we have some Rod and staff paper craft and some origami books that I can't seem to locate now. And of course legos galore. Anyone have any great books they can share or things their family does. My kids also play a lot of board games and cards. I am looking more for craft type ideas for girls and boys that have minimal parental involvement just craft stuff they can do on their own. Any ideas?

ETA- We are also doing a machine sewing class on Fridays and there is some of that they can learn on their own reading through my sewing books. Soon we are going to add baking and cake decorating. They do some baking with minimal supervision.

Thanks!

How about a big box of craft supplies that they use their own imaginations to create something? Maybe you could suggest a general theme for the day, such as puppets, masks, animals, insects, fans, food, etc. I'll think on it some more too.

We've had good luck with crafts I can show them once and then they can do on their own after that. I don't desire another thing to teach, and they don't desire me to be telling them what to do. So, here are a few that we've liked:
*perler bead kits
*Bendaroos
*latchhook sets
*puzzles (my oldest likes the 500+ ones now, my 6 yo likes the 100 piece ones)
*Begin to Sew and Cross-stitch sets
*fuzzy board coloring sheets (at Walmart)
*color by number sets
*origami
*paper airplane kits
*build and paint wooden model car sets (they have birdhouses and dollhouses for your gals)

I know Carrie's kids have loved stained glass window sets, but we haven't tried those yet. They're on my "want" list. Her kids also love to take pics on digital cameras and arrange them in Word documents with captions for fun. This is really beginning scrapbooking. I'd wait to let them do this until they're older though, or you'll be doing it with them the whole time. Just encouraging dc to type their stories on the computer can be a good creative time thing too. If I think of any more I'll post them, but anything that they can do for awhile, that is not over in a day, and that can be done somewhat repetitively works well at our house. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

This isn't a craft book but it's an awesome toy for boys who like to build: Quercetti Skyrail Rollercoaster

We bought the 150 piece set for my son (6yo) for Christmas and he has spent hours building new tracks. I found a second set (250 pc) on clearance at Target the week after Christmas. The Quercetti company also has other fun hands-on things for kids to do if you search their name on the internet.

I am loving all these ideas! Lots of stuff I would never have thought of on my own. Really appreciate them. Hopefully they will help others as well!

My kids love to paint the sun catchers I bought one good set of paints at a craft store then pick up the catchers at the dollar store.
we like the Sun paper I send them out to find things, then set out a page for each of them.
and we love the paintable plaster figures. 3/1$ often.

I also do quilting and i toss all my scraps in one bag the girls have (ahem) made.... clothes for their dolls out of all those scraps. tho the clothes don't usually last one washing... and once my dd1 used pins to hold the fabric in place on her doll ROFL

My boys have loved some of the following things in their free-time through the years:
1. paper airplane folding kits (especially The Klutz Paper Airplane Book)
2. oragami kits (the page-a-day calendar one was good)
3. Yo-yo kits (Barnes and Noble)
4. Flip Book kits (from Klutz I think)
5. Window Art (from Klutz)
6. Magic Trick kits (from Target)
7. card trick, coin trick, and rope tricks kits
8. juggling set
9. puppet theater (kiddos continually make their own puppets out of socks/paper/craft stick puppets etc.)
10. latchhooking kits (we start out with a small colorful one at first)
11. colored Crayola Model Magic clay to make very small seasonal scenes to set on dresser/windowsill/counters etc. as gifts for others
12. a tape recorder or cd recorder with small microphone to record books on tape/CD (they take turns reading the parts of a selected book and making background noises)
13. kid's cookbook for trying new recipes once-a-week (Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cook Book)
14. Erector Sets (Build and Play by Meccano is the junior version of this)
15. blank hardback book from Miller Pads and Paper for each child (They write their stories in this to keep them in one place - my boys LOVE this! After they've written the stories in long-hand first, they are allowed to type them in word and add photos. They make typed copies of their books to give to the relatives at a 4th of July celebration my boys put on each year.)
16. Legos (all put together in one huge tub with all direction sets in there too)
17. K'nex (all put together in one huge tub with directions too)
18. shadow theater (from Barnes and Noble)
19. Board Games: Axis and Allies, Risk,Stratego, Monopoly, Sorry, Memoir '44, Zooreka
20. Card Games: Loot, Sleeping Queens, Squandron Scramble, Uno Spin
21. Audio Books

Anyway, this is all of can think of now. This list would be for my older boys 10+ and also includes my 7 year old in much of it. My 3 year old has his own separate things that he loves to do. Maybe this will get the thoughts flowing.

Blessings,
Carrie

Wow! Thanks! This gives me lots of ideas.