By: Kris Berry

I was rummaging through my pantry the other night looking for something to turn into a dinner for my family and I found a bag of potatoes that were a bit too close to turning bad to eat, and I couldn't remember when I bought them, so I decided better safe than sorry!  Instead of just throwing them away, I grabbed a knife and made potato stampers for the kids.  They loved them and it occupied them while I turned something a bit more edible into dinner.

They're very easy to make and require nothing more than what you probably have lying around the house already.  You can google them and find some that are way more impressive than the ones I made.  All I did was cut the potatoes up into smallish pieces (yet large enough to fit in the palm of my kids' hands).  Then I outlined some very basic shapes with a thin sharpie and then cut along the lines.  I found it helped a bit to cut in from the outside of the potato until up to where the shape will be to help pop the shape out a bit better.  The kids then were able to dip their stamps into paint and make some fabulous art work!

Another great idea that I found recently are "construction boxes."  I saw this idea in a Family Fun magazine and it's so simple.  One day while my daughter was napping and I was desperate for a quiet activity for my boys, I had them grab some of their cars and trucks.  I gave each of them a baking sheet and dumped a bunch of bread crumbs into it.  They loved it!  They spent a ton of time pushing the crumbs around with their trucks and making roads and mountains.  If you don't have breadcrumbs, you can also do this with oats, corn meal, flour, dried beans or rice.  Again, it's a quick, fun activity that you can do with items you already have in your cabinets.