I had no idea that I could ever love a measly $2 roll of aluminum foil so much!

IMG_5854

I had this left over from a road trip we took (let the kids play with it in the car). So when we pulled it out for a VBS craft this summer the I let them have at it and about 1 hour later (YES, I said 1 HOUR) they were finally done twisting and turning and taping the foil.

How do I get a free hour to myself you ask? Simple, grab the below supplies and set them on the counter, call in the kids and walk away.

Supplies:

  • Generic box of aluminum foil
  • roll of masking tape
  • scissors (1 per child)

IMG_5847 IMG_5857IMG_5851 IMG_5852

I was so shocked at the attraction of foil that unfortunately I wasted a lot of my ‘free’ time staring in amazement wondering why I hadn’t thought of this before.

IMG_5858 IMG_5859

My 4yr old made a, um, a, duckish boaty type of thing. Yea.

IMG_5849

My 7yr old ended up with a bracelet, headband, wand and boat:

Of course my son had to turn it into a weapon of sorts and incase you’re wondering, bullets shoot out the ends.

IMG_5863

At first I had a hard time letting them ‘waste’ the foil like that, but when you think about the cost of all those little craft supplies, you really can’t beat a $2 box of foil. And if that’s not enough to sell you, just think back to the moonsand incident and then think how easy foil is to clean up.

You can bet I’ll be pulling this out again!

NOTE: A kind reader reminded me to encourage you all to recycle these fun creations when you’re done!

13 Comments

  1. I laughed out loud when I read your post because I too have resorted to all sorts of items not commonly used to amuse kids, and I am amazed at how fascinated they are with them! As for your son building weapons with the foil, my little guy too will shape anything he can get his hands on into a weapon. I really think they are genetically wired like that or something! Love your blog- thanks for all you do for us!

    Anonymous
  2. Fantastic! So creative! Here is another idea (if you don't already know it): wrap aluminum foil around a piece of cardboard (whatever shape you want), then paint the foil as many colors as you want, then use a q-tip to draw lines or shapes in the wet paint. We did this with Easter egg shapes and the kids loved it.

  3. What an excellent idea! I was just telling my husband last night that the items I picked up in the housewares section are a bigger hit than the toy section! I am going to get some foil tonight! Thanks for sharing.

  4. Great idea! I'm sure each of my boys would be making weapons of some sort and my daughter would have to have a crown and glorious jewelry!By the way, I found your blog through another bloggers and love it! 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.