13 things to do with bored small children so that you can actually scrape them off of yourself for 13 minutes

I went to grab the code and discovered that the Thursday 13 has retired. It figures - just when I catch wind of something, it's over. I don't care. I like the idea and I'm keeping it. You know the lady in your office who is still wearing the same clothes she wore when she was in high school because she likes them and feels comfortable in them and isn't going to let some silly thing like fashion or current times or novelty get in the way of her comfort? That's me and the Thursday 13, baby. The movement may be over but the idea lives forever. Or at least until next week.

1. Give them cans of food from your pantry. Cut some rectangles from paper and write numbers on them for play money. Tell the children to make a pretend store.
2. Give them a stack of disposable bowls or cups. They'll do the rest.
3. Give them a flashlight and show them how to turn it on and off.
4. Make a fort out of some chairs and a blanket or two.
5. Make a balloon hat for each child. This will spark a furor of imaginative play.
6. Let them play in your sock drawer. All the better if the socks are balled up.
7. Make a stunt ramp out of blocks and a book. Pile up the hotwheels next to it.
8. Show them how to slide in their socks on the hardwood or linoleum floor. Warn them graphically of impending brain injury if they ever attempt that stunt on the ceramic tile in the kitchen.
9. Strip them and put them in the tub. Water is optional. You get to sit on the toilet and read or do sudoku.
10. Give them feather dusters and let them clean. Make sure they clean the dining room chairs - all those nooks and crannies keep them busy.
11. Tape butcher paper to the wall and let them make a mural.
12. Dig through your old tapes and put on some music they've never heard before.
13. Open your tupperware cabinet and challenge them to make a tower taller than themselves.