Noodles

All my crafty type stuff is in our basement.  If I ever wanted to work on anything while the kids were awake, the only option for distraction was the television.  I wanted to find some sort of alternative, hence, the Noodle Box.

Materials:

• One box with a cover
• Noodles
• Scoop type tools

I purchased one long plastic tub, one of my very favorite things to purchase.  I love tubs.  I got five boxes or so of noodles that were on sale.  At a dollar store I picked up some measuring cups and spoons, scoops, funnels, whatever looked fun for noodle playing.  Put everything in the box and you are ready to go.

The Noodle Box gets me a good 20-30 minutes of TV-free craft time.

Noodles and some sparkly buried treasure.  I do get another box of noodles every once in a while when they are on sale.  NOTE:  DO NOT, let me repeat DO NOT, put rice or lentils into your box.  In my excitement when we first put our box together, I threw in every partial box of anything that I had in my pantry.  The rice and lentils made a huge mess.  You only want to use noodles that are big enough to pick up off the floor easily.  I spent a lot of time picking the rice and lentils out of the box.  Yes.  You read that right.  I picked them out of the box.  That little project was exactly as much fun as it sounds like it would be.

We have had the Noodle Box, which technically could be called a "Sensory Box," for a solid two months now and I have been waiting to take some pictures of it in use.  In a matter of moments we went from Happy Abby:

To Not-So-Happy Abby:

I don't know what happened.  Apparently, me taking pictures was quite offensive.

The Noodle  Box is right by my sewing machine.  We ONLY play noodles in the basement, so it is a special treat.  This is not a great picture, but it was the best I could quickly get while my child was wailing on the floor.

So, where do you need to have your kids occupied for a little block of time?  By the computer to send a few e-mails?  In the kitchen?  I have heard that some people iron shirts...maybe by the ironing board?  Try a Noodle Box for those specific times...it has worked really well for us.

What tricks do you have for keeping kids happy while you get a few moments to check something off your list??