Busy parents, grandparents, homeschoolers and childcare workers will probably be looking in their bag of tricks for activities to keep their children happy.
Here are 5 suggestions that all have educational implications, that you might like to try.
I hope you discover additions and unique ways to adapt them to your special situation.

1. ICY HANGINGS Here's an activity that requires the temperature to stay below freezing.
   What you need for this chilly craft are two or three different sized pie plates, wool, leaves (snip some from your house plants), plastic beads and anything else you can gather that won't dissolve in water.
   Start by filling the pie plates with about an inch of water.
   Next place the wool around the edge, in the water, and leave about eight inches on top to which you will be securing tree branches once your hanging is frozen.
   Arrange the leaves, beads and other items in the water.
   Place the pans on a flat surface outside.
   Once they are completely frozen pop them out of the plates and hang them on a tree branch.
   Be careful they aren't touching or they will break if they collide.
   The sun will sparkle through them as they twirl in the wind.
   
2. SNOW PAINTING Here's another fun activity that will take you outdoors.
   (As long as you and the kids are bundled up warmly there is no reason to stay inside.
   ) If you have saved some squeeze bottles, fill them up with water and add a few drops of food coloring.
   Children of all ages will enjoy creating masterpieces in the snow.
   
3. MAKE A TRAM Once everyone has worn off some energy and has roses in their cheeks how about coming inside to warm up and creating a tram? Cut a two-inch length from a drinking straw and glue or tape it to an empty toilet roll.
   Decorate the toilet roll with faces and windows so it looks like a mountain tram.
   Get about seven feet of sturdy string and tie one end to the top of a chair.
   Thread the string through the drinking straw and take the other end and place a chair where it reaches.
   Tie that end of the string to a lower part of the chair.
   The string should be on about a 45° angle.
   Tape a marble or small toy inside for weight.
   Slide the tram to the top of the string and watch it glide to the other end.
   Older kids might like to time how long it takes to complete a trip and then add more weight and try timing it again.
   Look up Switzerland and see some great examples of trams.
   
4. DINOSAUR BONES For the dinosaur lover in your home, I think this is the one of the most unique and interesting craft ideas I've seen.
   My cousin did this with her son, Bradley, when he was in kindergarten and the pictures still hold a special place in their home.
   You create a dinosaur skeleton out of discarded chicken, pork spare rib and pork chop bones.
   Save these bones over a period of time.
   To clean them up and get rid of the bits and pieces of meat add a couple of tablespoons of bleach to about four cups of water.
   Dry the bones.
   If you make soup from chicken necks, these bones make excellent backbones for your dinosaur.
   The spareribs make the perfect rib cage and then chicken leg bones or spare rib bones arranged can make the legs.
   With encouragement, your child's imagination will allow him to create skeletons you didn't think possible.
   Bradley cut a piece of poster paper in half and mounted it on a larger piece of heavy cardboard covered with foil.
   This made an attractive frame.
   Or you can mount a piece of construction paper on cardboard.
   The finished picture will be heavy.
   Next let your child draw the outline of his favorite dinosaur.
   You might need to check a couple of dinosaur books out of the library to give your child some ideas for the outline.
   Then arrange the bones on the outline.
   Once the placement is satisfactory, use white glue to secure them.
   While your child might be able to come up with an arrangement of bones for the heads of some dinosaurs, Bradley used baked playdough to shape the head of the triceratops, adding three long chicken bones for horns.
   Although this craft takes some planning, your children won't be disappointed by the finished product.
   
5. CIRCLE GAME For children who enjoy pencil and paper activities, go on a treasure hunt collecting a variety of circle-shaped containers from your home.
   Some suggestions are food cans, plastic lids, bottles and glasses.
   Suggest that your children cover the paper with circles.
   Some circles may overlap and encourage them to choose a variety of sizes.
   Young children will need some help to hold the circle-shape steady as they trace around it.
   Next give your children their box of crayons of felt pens and so they can color their circles.
   At first your children will simply enjoy tracing and coloring, later you might make some suggestions to extend the activity.
   Some children might want to create faces showing different emotions or add a string to make bouquet of balloons and others could develop a picture starting from a small circle and adding circles, which get progressively larger.
   You could look for other shapes such as squares and triangles and create some other pictures.
   While you might feel you have the perfect picture of the end product in your mind, your children may want to produce something completely different.
   Let them and then celebrate the fact that they are thinking and confident enough to do it "their way.
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