I swear, if I hear "Mama, what can I doooo...?" in that whiny I-have-no-idea-how-to-entertain-myself-anymore voice one more time this summer, I'm going to spontaneously combust. And then they'll be sorry!

So I'm pretty sure that my coming across this great post on Lifehacker today has saved my kids from the gory sight of a smoking pile of ashes with a charred and melted laptop atop it and the resultant experience of phoning 9-1-1 for the first time.  Here's a sampling:

1. A big cardboard box. We've covered this before, but it's so ingenious it deserves another mention.

2. Rubber-band-and-pencil toy. Need instructions? I did.

3. Origami projects: paper poppers, airplanes. You can make tons of stuff and instructions are easily searchable.

4. Home Depot kid's workshops. Suh-weet! I had no idea these existed. Kids can make birdhouses, airplanes, cars, and other stuff.

5. Bubbles. Duh. But how about engineering repurposed stuff to make ingenious new bubble wands? 

6. Cup-and-string phone. They really work!

Also, check out the comments on the post for more great ideas: painting concrete with water, using butcher paper to make life-sized portraits, a scavenger hunt, engraving with tinfoil and then making prints from them, simple card games, and more!

I'm feeling inspired now. What fun things have your kids been doing this summer?