Keeping kids entertained on a rainy day while resisting the urge to cave in to their requests to watch TV or play video games can be challenging. Getting creative is easy with Peggy's suggestions for activies that can make the hours go by like minutes while engaging the kids' imaginations.

Make a "no-sand" indoor sandbox!

For the little ones, make a clean, indoor sandbox with rice, dried beans, split peas, couscous ... anything along those lines that you have on hand. Find something around the house that will hold the rice - something kind of shallow like a little saucer sled or cake pan. Fill it with the rice and get out a bunch of toys to scoop it up and push it around. When they're done playing, pour the rice into a big bag for next time, and vacuum up any strays!

Knit with soda straws! (Click on the video for the details!)

For this project, you will need:
* Soda Straws (3 per person)
* Yarn
* Scotch tape
* Scissors

If your straws have those bendy flexible sections in them, cut them off and keep the longest sections. (The flexible thingys tend to snag the yarn.) You can knit just fine with what's left of the straw after the flexible part is cut off, although it may be a bit easier if you have straws that aren't flexible.

For example purposes, let's make a belt. Take a piece of yarn and put it around your waist to make sure it's long enough. Then add an extra foot of yarn to that length, and cut it off the skein. Cut two more pieces the same length.

Thread a piece of yarn through each of your three straws until about ½" sticks out the top end. Bend that ½" of yarn over the top of the straw, and tape it securely. Try and make the tape really smooth so it won't snag the yarn when you knit. Do this in all 3 straws.

Way at the other end of your yarn that hangs out the bottoms of the straws, tie all three pieces together in one knot.

Now, take the end of the yarn on the skein, make a little loop, and tie the loop in a knot. The loop should be just bigger than the diameter of one straw. This is the most difficult part, (and it's really not that hard) but if you skip it, it'll all unravel as fast as you knit!

Hold your three straws in a row, and slip your loop over one of the end straws. Now all you do is weave the yarn in a sort of figure eight (the eight would have three sections, but you get the idea).

Keep pulling more yarn from the skein and weaving in and out between the straws. As the yarn builds up on your straws, slide it downward... about an inch at a time. When your straws are covered with yarn, keep sliding the yarn down a little at a time, and off the end of the straws. The three pieces you measured and tied will be there to catch it and keep it together.

Keep knitting until you've filled up your "lead" yarn (the pieces you measured), all the way up to the bottoms of the straws. Then it's time to quit! Don't fill up the straws all the way at the end of your belt, or you won't have enough left over to tie it all off!

Snip off the tops of the straws where you taped the ends of the lead yarn, pull the straws off, and tie up the three ends with simple knot, just above where you stopped knitting. This will help keep the knitting tight and together. Make sure you tie the end of the yarn from the skein to the lead yarn to prevent it from unraveling. Voila! Wear your belt proudly.

Repurpose old board games!

Glue some clean paper over a game board and get out the art supplies! For the game, pick a theme and a goal. For example, if you like racecars, draw a racetrack, and give it a start and a finish line. Make hazards along the way, like maybe an oil slick or a turtle on the track. Decide how you will play - with dice, a spinner (which you can make out of a paper plate) or cards? For a racecar game, you can use the little toy cars that are probably at the bottom of the toy box as game movers.

Ideas for other themes include butterflies, frogs, princesses, school, house, cookies, puppies or cartoon characters -- you can make a game about anything. Check out the game aisle at a toy store for inspiration. If it turns out well, name your game and decorate the box too!

Turn candy into art!

Clear plastic box frames are available at craft and discount stores. Stick with smaller ones - they hold more candy than you think!

Take the cardboard box out of the back of the frame, fill the frame with your candy design and put the cardboard box back in. Securely tape the edges with clear packaging tape.

When you choose candy, go for something round that comes in a lot of different colors like Tart-N-Tinys, found in the bulk candy section of the grocery store or in candy stores. M&M's and other non-spherical candies don't work as well because they tend to slide down in the frame when it's turned upright.