Winter is here. All summer and fall we play in the courtyard with our neighbors well into the evening, but now that the cold and dark have settled in we’re all stuck inside more than we’d like. While I miss the familiar summer charms of cicadas and chirping birds and rosy dusks, the charm of tucking into cozy pajamas by 5 pm isn’t lost on me!

The other night Chris and Mack were at a Cub Scouts meeting. I put the twins down to bed, leaving the older three looking for something to do in the waning moments of their already busy day. They weren’t in the mood for books, it was too cold and dark to go outside and I certainly didn’t want to turn on the TV…so I came up with a super simple craft project to keep them busy.

I loosely sketched out snowmen on construction paper, filled little bowls with Elmer’s glue and gave each kid a few Q-tips for glue application. As they filled in the snowman with puffy white cottonballs we chatted about their days and talked about fun plans for the rest of the winter. They asked me to cut out some coal eyes and carrot noses so they could put the finishing touches on their wintry creations.

The kids really enjoyed this simple end to the day – and I did, too.

We hung their creations in the kitchen and I finished tidying up just as Chris and Mack returned home. Of course I should have known (even though I suspected) that Mack would want to make his own snowman, so out came the glue and cottonballs and Q-tips again. Sometimes Mack seems so grown up and tough, but all it takes is a simple craft project for him to be my little boy again. Sigh.

Winter is only beginning here in Chicago, so I better come up with more ideas for quiet crafts to get us to next summer!