Recipe Weekend: How to Keep the Kids Occupied AND Having Fun!

 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received these products from Hey Buddy, Hey Pal and Zing, free of charge, for review purposes on this blog. No compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own

Do you know what is coming in less than 3 weeks?

Let me give you a hint...

Turkey, family, kids, and the inevitable "I'm bored" uttered one thousand times.....

Ah yes, Thanksgiving vacation.....

will your plans may be on a much smaller scale this year, that last little thing?

Nope, that is NOT gonna chance!

So you need some creative ideas to keep the kids OCCUPIED!

I have some winners for you!

 

Our friends at Hey Buddy, Hey Pal have not one, but two unique items this year for your kiddos!

First up is their Treemendous Ornament Decorating Kit - From the creators of the original EggMazing Egg Decorator…the perfect DIY craft to embrace the holiday season- create your own ornaments kit! Everything you need to make 3 ornaments is included in the kit!  

The kit comes ready with one ornament in place, so all you do is add 4 AA batteries to your tree-shaped decorator and let the fun begin! The machine holds and spins the ornament while the markers are used to create stripes, lines and other designs! It's soooooo easy to use for ALL ages, and fun too! As you can see from our first foray, we went with a multicolored ornament, and varied the stripes, by leaving the pen down and moving it slightly to left or right, to enlarge the line! You will need to remove the ornament in order to put the last couple of stripes and end color on, as they are pretty hard to reach while the ornament is in the holder (hence the squiggly line of blue on the finished ornament!).

A word of caution. LET THE ORNAMENT dry for at least 3-5 minutes, BEFORE you try to remove it from the tree-holder!  Why so long? Because you will have to FIRMLY grip and pull the ornament out (FYI, smaller hands may be better at this!). As you can see, each ornament is notched at the stop on 2 sides. These notches have to go into the notched area of the holder exactly, or your ornament will NOT stay in place. This was actually my only issue with the kit- I wish it has a spring release or something, as it was VERY hard to get out. Putting a new one in is much easier (just let it spin first without pens, to make sure it is in far enough and locked into place!).

After you remove your ornament, you can write on it with the same pens (again, make sure it is DRY first). Obviously, some colors will show better than others. We decided since 2020 was so crazy, it needed its own ornament! LOL. the kit comes with the ornament topper, and it slots on and locks into place. All you need is some ribbon, yarn or tree hanger to put it in place! your kids will finish 3 ornaments VERY quickly, so I would suggest buying some additional extra ornaments (you can get a dozen for about $19 on Amazon). The holder does require the ornaments made FOR it, due to that locking mechanism for spinning,. Just go ahead and order them with the kit (there are specials if you do that save you $$)- you'll thank me later for telling you to do so! You can also purchase extra pen sets, in case sharing is an issue, LOL.

Looking for something a little different for the budding anthropologist in the house? They got you covered:

Like it's relative above, the DinoMazing Egg Decorator allows kids to color and create their own dinosaur eggs using an egg holder, that spins the egg while they decorate. BUT unlike the Christmas kit, these eggs come occupied and ready to be opened, after decorated! 

Like the Christmas kit, you get everything you need (except for batteries), for instant fun. The other difference from occupied eggs, is you get camouflage-style colored pens. If you buy both sets, I'm sure the kids will be happy to combine the colors! There are a few differences from the Christmas kit: 1. You only get 2 eggs, not 3. There is no way of knowing which dinos will be in the egg, so multiple kits, or a 6 pack of extra eggs, might be a good idea if the sharing! As a bonus, you can re-use the dinosaur egg holder at Easter, with some of their eggs, for Easter egg decorating fun! 2. there is no locking mechanism, just a push in, so, younger kids can use it without your help. 3. These would be fun for birthday parties, as each dino egg contains slime and a collectible dinosaur! Both sets are equally FUN!

and if you need some OUTSIDE fun, I've got JUST the thing for you:

A bow and arrow that shoots MARSHMALLOWS!!!

Good luck keeping this one away from the ADULTS!

The new Marshmallow Blaster is the big brother of the Mini Bow & Mallow, and continues to bring food and fun together -- thanks to its edible ammo! With launching distances of up to 30 feet, your marshmallows will soar through the air!

As you can see the Marshmallow Blaster comes in pieces, and some assembly is needed. The string is already connected, so you just need to loop around the arrow pieces, after you slide them into the blaster body. Now a warning, there is a good 10-15 lb pull, and bending the bow pieces will help you get the second loop in place! So definitely let an adult, or older child, assemble! 

Once you get those 3 pieces together, it's just a matter of loading the ammo tube with marshmallows. Hint for better ammo- coat marshmallows either in flour or corn starch (shake in a bag), to make them slide better. Warm hands can equal chaos in the ammo tube, with undusted marshmallows sticking together! We never got the tube all the way full, as the kids were running around too much and after about 8/9 marshmallows (it can hold 20), the flour was coming off. Plus when you coat them, you get that cool 'smoke' effect, when they leave the compressor tube!

Once the tube is loaded (another hint, load sideways, otherwise errant marshmallows might escape while loading), you just pull back on the string and let go. The compressor pulls the air in and launches the marshmallows. At first, the girls were being careful. But after 2 rounds, they were getting the full pull and sending rapid-fire marshmallows at one time! While there is a momentary 'ouch', it's really not that bad, and after the shock of the first one, you hardly feel them. The kids said they were just as much fun as foam pellet guns, but they liked how if the victim was quick, they could catch the marshmallows and eat them. yes, this DOES end playtime sooner, when you run out of ammo! If you have multiple kids, you'll need at least 2 of these, so they can return fire! I DO recommend OUTSIDE use, otherwise, you'll be finding errant marshmallows for days in the house (usually by stepping on them). If you have a dog or two, they'll make quick work of picking up the ammo in the yard!

Fun for kids, but don't be surprised if the adults take over, especially during family get-togethers! Zing has a full line (even ones you can use in the office (!!), so you could have enough different shooters, as you do kids! 

So there you go, 3 fun and really creative toys to get the kids away from their screens!