So I feel the need to clarify my last post about keeping a summer schedule. If you are done laughing (Mom, and a nameless friend or two), here’s the point I was trying to make:

When the kids finally get done with school it can be really easy to fall into the trap of not doing anything…but if your house is anything like ours, we can only do that for so long before behavior starts going down the toilet – quickly. That’s why I wanted to have a general idea of things to do at different times of the day (and materials to back up those craft based ideas), so that when we had hit our “chillaxing” limit (the favorite new word of the big kids), I could quickly and easily get them going on something else. Plus I like organizing (sometimes), so writing things down helps for me.

So for those of you (Mom, again) who were in hysterics thinking that I was standing over the kids with a whistle and blowing it every 15 minutes to signal activity change…chillax…or if you are already chillaxed after having the best laugh you’ve had in a while when you realized that I wasn’t really joking in my last post, you should really go make some sponge balls. They are seriously awesome, and older kids can easily help with or do this project by themselves. I linked the original instructions, but here is a super quick how-to:

 

First, get some cheap sponges. Normally I would use three per ball, but this isn’t rocket science, so two will be fine. Plus, I ran out of sponges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You want 5 strips from each sponge, so make four marks about 1/2 an inch wide on both the top and the bottom of the sponge. Try to make them as even as you can, but again, not rocket science.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut the strips out (I tried both a pair of kitchen scissors and a bread knife, and I much preferred the scissors. Less mess, less chance of me cutting off my fingers). Once they are all cut, stack them up, about 3 strips per row.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, take a heavy duty rubber band and wrap it around the stack, as close to the middle and as tightly as you can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fluff it out a bit and voila!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEHOLD THE SPONGE BALLS!!!!

Have a great day!!!