We are more than halfway through summer and it is about that time when the kids (and mommy) are getting a little summer cabin fever. When it’s way too hot by 1pm to even consider stepping foot outside, even to eat a frozen treat. Or the typical FL afternoon showers that leave every room in the house dark and dreary. Oh, and you know that hour before the hour you begin making dinner? The hour your kids start running around like lunatics, using outside voices, and are “starving” when they are really just bored. (I know they can’t possibly be hungry because I gave them a snack exactly 2 minutes ago) The Hutson clan likes to call this “disasternoon”. There are a few ways to make it through disasternoon, but on long summer days I prefer a messless mindless task. All kids love paint. I know what you are thinking. “Didn’t she just say messless? The next sentence can’t possibly say paint.” But I did. I love paint and always have a ton of these cheap acrylics on hand. When we make trips to the craft store, if my kids are well behaved, I let them pick out a new color. They are also super easy to clean and wipe off of hard surfaces. All you need is a wet wipe or a wet paper towel.

I also keep wipes or a wet rag near by for cleaning off their paint brushes because in my house, the mess is the paint brush rinsing cup of water that always gets knocked over. EVERYTIME.

 

We just had family in town, so finding an abundance of toilet paper rolls was no issue! Let me tell you, Pinterest has a bazillion things to do with toilet paper rolls. The possibilities were endless. I let the kids scroll through the never ending list and pick something, within reason (I’m not building a castle out of toilet paper rolls). Once we had the plans in place, we painted away.

Some children, probably only mine, are weird about getting paint on their hands. Although if I look away for too long, my daughter has no problem painting her arms. If your little one is also finicky about painty fingers, try this little trick. All you need is a large paper clip. Yup, that’s it. So go digging through your junk drawer and try this out. Clip it on the roll short side in and you have a mini handle. Tada!

 

My daughter choose to make a cute little octopus. You can find the tutorial we used for inspiration here: http://www.craftymorning.com/octopus-toilet-paper-roll-craft-for-kids/

 

My son opted for the race car.

Here is a link to the tutorial that inspired him here: https://habeebeehomeschooling.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/boys-and-cars/

 

Overall minimal mess, almost no supplies, and got us through the disasternoon. Now they can play with their little creations and mommy can make dinner.