Holy heat wave!  Are you keeping cool in your corner of the world?  If you're suffering under oppressive heat and stifling humidity, keeping the kids entertained without overheating means ruling out a long list of potential activities.  Here's a fun idea from Tricia at Sweeter Than Sweets that your little ones will love: rainbow ice!  She and her 2-year-old daughter played with some in their water table and had a blast.  If you don't have a water table, a storage tub or other large, shallow container works just as well!  Her secret ingredient is coloring pellets meant for bath water, which work perfectly for this project.  And unlike food coloring, which can require some scrubbing to get completely off the skin, the bath pellet colors wash off easily when you're done playing!  [how to make rainbow ice]

Project estimate:

• Crayola Color Bath Dropz, about $5
• Water, on hand
• Bowls, on hand
• Ice cube trays or other molds, on hand or $1
• Freezer, on hand

Total: about $5 and up