Keeping Your Kid Occupied While You Cook: Straw Necklace

Sometimes Amaya has to stay inside, even though she screams loudly to be let out. And sometimes, when she’s inside, I need to do more than make sure she isn’t cutting her own bangs. If I’m cooking, I can’t guarantee she’s not getting in trouble.

So while I was busy at the stove, she made me a necklace. I had some colored straws I got from IKEA, and I showed her how to cut them up into pieces, and how to string them together.

For the string I tied a piece of floss to the end of a toothpick, which acted as the “needle”. She was in crafty heaven and spent over half an hour cutting and threading and organizing the colors. And I was able to finish making dinner. This is no small feat for a 3 year old who generally only pays attention to one task for 3 minutes.

You need:

• straws (multi colored straw packs are the best for this. You probably only need 4 straws per necklace)
• safety scissors (so little hands don’t get cut while you are barely paying attention because the mushrooms have to be stirred constantly)
• thread or floss
• a toothpick – ones with a little ridge at one end are best for tying on the floss.

Tie the first piece of straw on yourself, and loop the string to the opposite end of the straw piece so the first piece anchors and the pieces don’t all slip of the second they pick up the strand. Unless you want them to. It might buy you another 30 minutes.