Day 1: Make It Monday

I knew I wanted to get the boys creating, I want them to be comfortable imagining a world and then making it happen. They were almost three and five years old at the time, so I tried to make activities that were age appropriate.

I planned to set up each day with a craft, a snack, a book, and then a game or activity.

Make it Monday Craft

Our Make It Monday Craft was Shrinky Dinks. I suppose that I could have bought a kit, but I wanted to be able to inspire creativity and show that by using items we had. I found a “recipe” online at Chaoticallyyours.com.

If you want to try it yourself, you will need:

• a flat piece of #6 plastic
• permanent markers
• scissors
• parchment paper
• a sheet pan

I was a little baffled about how to find #6 plastic, but basically it is the lid that comes with a disposable baking pan. Most food packaging from delis are also #6, which is what we used from the recycling bin.

 Just look to make sure whatever you go to use has this symbol:

I let the boys draw whatever they wanted on the plastic and then my sister and I cut them out of the plastic and put them on the parchment paper on the baking sheet. We baked them at 350 degrees for 2-3 minutes and –voila! Shrinky dinks!

Pro tip: make sure you have the windows open; it does let off fumes when you heat plastic and they are not good for kids.

The boys just thought it was cool, but older kids could make designs for shoes, backpacks, or keychains by putting a hole through them when done.

If you want to try them yourself follow these steps:

1. Locate a flat piece of #6 plastic. Make sure it is clean and dry.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Using permanent markers, decorate shapes and designs on the plastic.
4. Cut out the plastic, with the knowledge that it will shrink down to about 1/3 its original size.
5. If you plan to make a charm, punch a hole in your design before baking.
6. Arrange your plastic pieces on a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper underneath them to prevent sticking.
7. Place your baking sheet on the middle rack of your oven.
8. Watch your DIY Shrinky Dinks closely. They will curl up and then flatten out again as they shrink. This whole process should take somewhere between 2 and 3 minutes.
9. Remove the pan from the oven and let your designs cool.

Make It Monday Snack

For our Make it Monday snack I brought back a twist from the playgroup days. It is easy, and it works on hand and eye coordination and dexterity for kids as well. The best part? It’s super easy and fun. Instead of making candy necklaces, the boys made Froot Loop Bracelets. I bought Twizzlers Peel ‘n Pull and separated the strings for the boys to pull apart. Once they stopped eating the Twizzlers and had a string ready, I gave them each a Froot Loops Single Container, although Froot Loops Jumbo Snax Packs would be good too. I do the single packages for each so there is no grabbing from the other boy’s pile for flavors or colors. You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.

Then the boys were able to create patterns or simply string Froot Loops as long as there was room on the end to tie them on their wrists at the end.

Make it Monday Activity

I went super simple on the activity for Make it Monday that year. We happened to be celebrating my dad’s 78^th birthday that week, and I wanted to try to get the boys to think about how even small acts of kindness like making a card mean a lot to the person who is receiving it. The oldest at camp could start to write some letters with help and the younger camper could at least draw a picture and then they would have something to present to Grandpa to show that they loved him and were thinking of him on his birthday.

With that we ended “camp” and went outside to play…and go to the pool.