Attack of the Marshmallow Martians!!

I don't know about you guys, but here we are on our three millionth week of summer vacation.  Okay maybe only week three, but it feels like three million.  Things are already starting to get pretty stale.  I'm kind of at a lost on what kind of activities to do with a three and six year old.  I can come up with all kinds of stuff individually, but it's hard to get stuff they both want to do.  I've been reading some chapter books with Sweets and having her draw pictures associated with each chapter, but Bug well he pretty much just hangs off of my leg or arm and says "mommy, mommy, mommy" the entire time I'm reading.  I guess the Narnia series really isn't his cup pf tea yet.

Sweets would be happy with endless hours of crafting everyday, but she is more interested in the advanced crafts these days, sewing, knitting, working for hours on one detailed drawing or days on a comic or book that she is writing.  This is great except for when you figure in a three year old who wants to do exactly what his sister is doing, EXACTLY.  I mean no substitutions, if she has a needle he wants one.  I'm all for letting him give it a shot within reason, but he gets furious when he can't do it just like she can and that leads to major tantrums.  The only thing they do agree on is swimming  which we do as much as we can, but even that gets boring after a while.

So I have been searching for crafts they can do equally and baking seems to be one that works pretty well, although we really don't need another batch of cookies in the house.  So as I was looking through the baking cabinet the other day I had an idea.  I grabbed a bag of marshmallows, some cereal, chocolate chips, icing, mini baking cups, candy and cocktail umbrellas and set up some plates.

I took each kiddo a plate and said "build something".  No rules, no guidelines, just make something.  Bug ate his first few marshmallows.  After he was full he was ready to build.  Sweets started the Martian idea and the kids just rolled with it.  After about 45 minutes of peaceful play we had a row of sticky marshmallow Martians.  Best part, they ate them later on, so I wasn't left with yet another craft project to find a spot for.  These are great for little ones, because everything sticks to the marshmallows since they are a little sticky.  Next I want to get some big and little ones and straws and let them build like that.

So what are your good tips for keeping kids of different ages busy over the summer?

Kim