by Maggie Whitcomb

Created on: August 28, 2007

The sky looks as burnt as your morning toast and the thunder is complaining as loudly as your children. "We're bored!" is the constant mantra I hear on these rainy days.

So whip out your lab coat (an apron will do just fine) and ask your kids if they think you can take DNA from a strawberry! Most children older than 9 will have at least heard of DNA. If they haven't, a quick lesson will suffice. This crafty experiment is easy and only requires a strawberry (or any berry), shampoo, paper coffee filter, empty glass jar or clear container, plastic cup, and alcohol.

First, pull off all the leaves of the berry and place it in a ziploc/plastic bag. Seal the bag and have your kids mash the berry with their fingers until it gets juicy. Next, dump about 2 tablespoons of shampoo into the bag and again, mix around with your fingers. Grab a plastic cup and stuff a coffee filter into the top; curl the edges of the filter around the lip of the cup so your strawberry mush can drain into the cup. Dump your strawberry pulp/juice into the filter and wait about 5-10 minutes for it to drain a bit. This will take a few minutes to get going but you'll only need about 7-8 drops of juice for the experiment. While you're waiting, pour 2-3 tablespoons of alcohol into your clear container, then pour in the strawberry juice drops at the bottom of your cup. Ta-da! When mixed with the alcohol and a chemical in the shampoo, the juice yields its DNA in the form of tiny floating squishy looking things that usually float to the top in one mass. Cool!

Another rainy day craft my kids always enjoy is making ships to sail in the "river" that forms along the curb of our street. These can be made from popsicle sticks, or even stiff paper. Kids can experiment to see what will and will not float, and how long their ships will last.

If you have scraps of fleece or any kind of soft fabric lying around, kids can make knotted scarves. Simply cut rectangular pieces of fabric about a foot long and half a foot wide, and knot the ends together. These always turn out cute and colorful, and are great to have handy for the coming winter.

Another ideal rainy day craft is latch-hooking. This is easy to learn, and will keep your kids busy for hours! Using yarn and a pattern, they can create mini rugs, pillows, etc. Along the same lines is embroidery, from t-shirts to pillows to bookbags. As an alternative, boys can sew cool patches onto their backpacks.

Happy crafting!

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