Once your kids are over the worst of it but still need to stay home, a few fun but relatively quiet activities can keep their spirits up. Assembling a simple Sick Days Box that can be played with in bed is a great way to start. Just fill a plastic bin (the lid can double as a lap desk) with supplies, such as stray Matchbox cars, forgotten Happy Meal toys, colored pencils, crayons, old magazines, scissors and a glue stick for making collages, puzzles, Mad-Lib books and so on. The bin helps keep everything tidy when your kids start to feel weary. A few other fun but simple projects to try:

• Have them decorate a batch of simple felt finger puppets or cork trolls, then act out a little play.
• Give them a roll of tinfoil (minus the sharp-edged box), then have them make balls, snakes, crowns, even sculptures, such as these tinfoil characters.
• Create a simple treasure bottle--a wonderfully absorbing, stuck-in-bed activity.
• Set out some simple craft supplies, then create a batch of silly egg carton critters.
• Decorate their bed with a few Paper Quilt Squares.