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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

With school nearly out and summer almost in session, finding activities to keep your children busy on a sunny day can be a challenge. On a rainy day, it’s a miracle. Rather than playing video games and watching cartoons, spend some quality time making art with your kids that you can later frame and mat. Whether it’s painting with spaghetti or watercolor and glue, spread some newspaper, put on an old t-shirt, and get creative!

Painting with spaghetti will likely be the most messy. There are two ways you can go about it. One – you can boil the spaghetti, let it cool after straining, and have your children use fist fulls of it to swirl around paint. This method will make the most mess but can also be the most fun. If you’re not up for extra cleaning afterward, tie a bundle of uncooked spaghetti together before boiling it with a piece of yarn or even a rubber band. Once your pasta is boiled, strained, and cooled, you can use the bundles of pasta as a paint brush. Simply dip the ends in paint, swirl all over the paper, and voila! The more colors used, the better.

Watercolor and glue has more steps, but creates less mess. All you need is a watercolor paint set (can be found at any Walmart or Target), a paint brush, Elmer’s Glue, and the option of using house hold sea salt for an extra touch at the end. Begin with the watercolor paint and create any pattern on your paper using as many or as little colors as you would like. Once you are all satisfied with your painting, drizzle some glue over the paper. You can use as much or as little as you would like. The glue will create bubble-like patterns in your watercolor painting. To finish off your watercolor and glue project, sprinkle some sea salt on top. The result will be a unique, textured piece of art worthy of a frame.

No matter what project you choose to do, spending time creating with your children on a rainy day is priceless. Gone are the days of staring at the television and playing video games. Introduce family time that is fun and exciting!

Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want kids to stay busy on a rainy day.