The exclamation, "don't play with your food!" may roll off your tongue as readily as your children's own names, you've repeated the phrase so many times. But when they're home from school for the summer and the complaints of boredom begin to roll in, maybe you should reconsider the rule.
Fruit-sicles and Yogurt Pops
We've never met a kid whose eyes didn't light up when presented with any sort of sweet frozen treat. It's easy and fun (not to mention economical) to let kids make their own frozen pops. They can invent their own flavors, from plain frozen orange, apple, or grape juice, to fantastic concoctions of mashed strawberries and bananas mixed with pineapple juice.
You can also freeze yogurt or pudding to make creamy, no-drip pops. If you don't have popsicle molds you can improvise your own with small paper or plastic cups. Fill each cup almost to the top, stretch a piece of plastic wrap over the top, and then poke a wooden popsicle stick or plastic spoon through it. The plastic wrap will keep the stick in place until the pops are frozen.
Pudding Paintings
The kids jaws will drop when you set them down at the table and let them fingerpaint with pudding. Make a few different flavors of pudding in different colors: vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch, and pistachio will give them a good variety--and then cover the table with a plastic tablecloth. Set out bowls of pudding along with some dishes of edible decorations such as pretzel sticks, raisins, chocolate chips, dried apricots, and shredded coconut.
Give each child a large sheet of waxed paper to use as a "canvas" and then just let them go to it. This activity will provide hours of fun as they make paintings, nibble at them, and then make revisions to their master works. You could even give them a theme to work with--perhaps they would like illustrate a scene from one of their favorite stories, or make a family portrait.
Real Meals
In addition to concocting sweet snacks, most kids are perfectly capable of making their own meals once in awhile. Younger kids can assemble mini sandwiches using sliced meat and cheese on crackers, or spread peanut butter and jelly onto bread or graham crackers. Older kids can experiment with making their own sandwich fillings--egg or tuna salad with a few other fun ingredients to add flavor and texture, such as olives, pickles, raisins, nuts and chopped apple or celery.
Likewise, there are all kinds of salads that kids will enjoy making. If you are willing to let them use the stove, there are all manner of simple pasta sauces they can whip up, and all kids will be more than willing to put together their own pizzas, too.
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