Parent Hacks' pipe cleaner party hat post reminded me of a very savvy tip from Jim's Aunt Mo: parents should ALWAYS carry a few pipe cleaners
when going out with young kids.They're small and great for imaginative play. They're perfect for restaurants and waiting rooms as they're versatile, compact, and not messy.
We went out with some friends a few days after receiving this tip and our tapas took forever. The kids didn't mind at all after we gave them the pipe cleaners. They went through numerous transformations (animals, shapes, flowers) and then settled into two pairs of pipe cleaner glasses worn through the rest of the evening.
Here's a fun pipe cleaner tip:
ReplyDeleteThread them through the vent holes in baseball hats to create built-in horns, antennae, bunny ears, etc.
Wow, what a great idea. I'm definitely gonna bring some pipe cleaners on our cross-country flight next week.
ReplyDeleteMy son loves the pipecleaners too! Ain't they great?
ReplyDeleteHe especially enjoys using pipecleaners to make maps of the Boston subways system on the floor...
How did I happen to miss this post until tonight???
ReplyDeleteAdrienne, I love the photos. :P
I think pipe cleaners are great, although I wish they weren't so sharp at the ends. Somewhere around this house I have a large package of pipe cleaners that my dad gave me ages ago so I'd pack them along for entertaining the kiddos. Although I have had good proof of their creativity-value I was less enthusiastic about them, because they weren't as colorful as yours (plain white) and the ends seemed sooo darn sharp! I bet you will suggest a hack for me on making the ends less likely to scratch my children. You're so good at tackling problems that way!