A pastime. To pass the time.

“Can we watch a show?”

I think I hear that question about every twenty minutes during the summer.

Sometimes the answer is “yes”.

But usually – the answer is a resounding “no!”

And if it really is the twentieth time that morning then the answer might be, “If you ask me again I will happily give you a chore to occupy your time.”

(Isn’t that a standard mom reply?)

The kids have found a lot of interests to fill their time this summer but one go-to activity for the past year or more has been the same.

I’m not even entirely sure what they’re called but at our house we simply refer to them as “waxy beads”.

You probably know what I’m talking about. You can pick them up at Hobby Lobby or AC Moore or even Wal-Mart. (Not that I shop there, of course.)

The beads come in a big plastic container but it’s round and it’s tall so it’s hard for little hands to sort through to get to the colors that they want.

Plus, only one hand can peaceably fit in the container at a time and as we have zero peaceable hands, we have opted to store our large collection of waxy beads in another container.

Actually, I bought a metal cake pan with a plastic snap on lid from Hobby Lobby and we poured out our beads in the pan.

It has been a perfect storage solution for us.

The large rectangular shape allows for many hands to reach in at the same time and because the shape is plenty large it is easy to sort through to gather the precise colors the artist currently desires.

In addition, the lid has a lip around the edges so when the small hands get spread out across the table and can no longer reach efficiently I can pour a portion of beads into the lid for extra sharing.

Plus, the large rectangular shape is easy for neatly storing on our craft shelf.

(And more – this container makes these beads perfect for taking on your family vacation.)

I’m telling you – these beads can be a life saver.

The bigger kids can spend hours on the art and London has been known to spend nearly an entire day crafting her works.

You can buy plastic forms and that’s what the kids primarily use, but this summer London has gotten adventurous. She’s taken the blank square and formed her own art out of her imagination.

The results have been so fun.

If you ever find yourself needing a few hours of relative quiet and you don’t want to turn on the television, I think you should look into these little waxy lifesavers.

Spread them out on the table and let the kids go wild.

I think you’ll like what they create.