10 Clever Ways American Parents Are Keeping Their Kids Active and Entertained

“Parenting routine” is an oxymoron, plain and simple. Kids’ interests and needs are in flux all the time, and one day’s genius solution to an emotional or logistical (or emotional/logistical) challenge might end in disaster the next. That reality can make getting through the day with sons, daughters and sanity intact feel insurmountable.

I checked in with parents across the country to see how they and their kids are doing, and they shared some clever ideas for how to balance family life with working from home and other challenges.

Think of the following ideas as a cross-country chat with mom and dad friends you haven't met yet. They're struggling to learn new steps, just as you are, but one message coalesces in their chorus of thoughts: we will get through this.

Joanna has 3-year-old and 18-month-old sons in Santa Cruz, California. "I use leftover smoothie from my boys' morning snack to make popsicles every day in our two-pop mold (sprinkles make them thrilling, but there's kale in there, so who's the real winner here?)" she says. "Before dinner they get to take a bath with popsicles — easy to clean, obviously, and healthy, but not filling before dinner. That keeps them occupied for 30 to 45 minutes and I have a glass of wine tubside while my husband makes dinner, or vice versa."

"I did a fun activity with my toddler this morning that other parents may enjoy doing — we made paper out of old magazines," says Amanda, mom of a 3-year-old daughter in Ridgefield, Connecticut. "I’m a publicist, so we cleaned out my closet of old magazines, tore out the pages, fed them through our paper shredder, and then went through the next steps of making paper (soaked them, used an immersion blender to make pulp, pressed the pulp into an old screen and let them dry). It was a great way to use things we already had in our house, as opposed to going out for or ordering in supplies. Anyone could do it with scraps of paper they have laying around the house — and it also offers an excuse to clean out old desk drawers and closets."

Carl and Rachel live in Takoma Park, Maryland, with their 6-year-old and 4-year-old daughters. "We've spent a bunch of time in the backyard," he says. "We built a fairy garden in a kids' wheelbarrow from various things we found around the yard: stones, sticks, leaves, flowers and a few toys." They've been getting out of the yard, too: "We live near a nature trail and have been trying to take the girls for a walk and identify trees, plants, animals and birds."

Sounds idyllic, right? Carl and Rachel have tech in their mix as well: “We have had a stack of unopened KiwiCo project boxes sitting in a corner gathering dust that we finally opened up,” he says. The girls have had a ton of fun putting those together. We built a marble timer today and got to talk about what made it a "timer" and how we could make it go faster or slower (it's kind of a Rube Goldberg set-up).”

Speaking of nature plus tech, Google's new augmented-reality feature will add moving, 3D animals to your cameraphone, and it's already a big hit with parents and little ones: just plug the name of a critter into the search field on your smartphone or tablet, then click the icon beside "View in 3D." In about 30 seconds, you'll be able to interact with the resulting beastie through your camera. (Find an ongoing list of available animals here.)