Entertain your kids. With stuff you've got lying around the house.

By LISA MITCHELL

One of the biggest challenges I face each day is how to cook dinner for my family during the infamous ‘arsenic hour’, which for each family floats in between 4pm and 8pm each evening.

For me the most difficult hour (or two) happens between 5 and 6.30 when I am trying to spend time with my kids, cook dinner, convince them to get their homework done and prepare for the next day.

The perfect solution has been some sneaky little Mummy Hacks I use in the kitchen to keep them entertained. They allow me to achieve all of the above and the reward at the end is a delicious dinner and minimal tears – from my children and from me.

I’ll let you in on nine of these Mummy Hacks and I hope they improve your ‘witching hour’…

1. Cereal box guitar Mummy Hack.

Don’t throw away or recycle cereal boxes when they can become so many things. Our favourite thing to do with empty cereal boxes is to turn them into toy guitars. If you eat as much cereal as we do, you’ll soon be able to create an entire band.

All you need to do is cut a round hole in the box, favouring the right hand side.

 Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Dairylea. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in her own words.

2. Paper towel toys Mummy Hack.

Paper towel rolls make so many toys and perfect binoculars and telescopes. All you need to do to make a cool telescope is cover one end of the paper towel roll with coloured cellophane. Suddenly the world looks new and interesting.

Or you can make these awesome binoculars, complete with string to hang them around your neck.

3. Pantry Toy Shelf Mummy Hack.

Children love to play where they’re not supposed to. That includes the kitchen pantry. But instead of telling them to stay out of the pantry or finding a huge mess of food on the floor, set up a shelf just for them in the pantry.

Pick one of the lower shelves and put some toys, food containers, old pasta and anything else for them to play with. Imagine their surprise when they open up the pantry and see their shelf.

4. Rice rattle Mummy Hack.

Put rice or small pasta into anything and you’ve got yourself a brilliant toy for kids. Any empty container will do like plastic bottles and other safe containers. Just put them on the floor and kids will play with them.

But here’s the Mummy Hack. Always, always superglue the lids down because children will quickly learn to unscrew them and scatter the contents all over the floor.

Superglue is your new friend.

5. Food container Mummy Hack.

All parents know kids love food containers but as they get older, they lose some of their charm. So you just need to take a few moments to place a toy in just one of the containers and then let your kids try and find them.

And just so you know where the toy is, in case it ends in tears, take a photo of where you put it. It’s the ultimate Mummy Hack. So you can step in if needed, if the search becomes all too much.

6. Food colouring Mummy Hack.

Oil and water don’t mix, thank goodness, because that means you can use your empty jars to create more toys for your kids.

Find a jar, fill it with water and some oil and add food colouring to make it even more fun. But remember, superglue or seal those lids.

Clean fun is the best.

7. Cleaning fun Mummy Hack.

It seems like a no-brainer to say, “Make cleaning fun” but seriously, if you do, your life will be so much easier. And here’s what you need to do.

Buy one of those birthday cards that plays music when you open it. Attach it to the inside lid of your bin, securing it to either side with tape so it opens when the bin opens.

You’ll never have to beg your kids to put rubbish in the bin again because when they do, music will play.

So, do you have some Mummy Hacks we should know about? Send them through on the form below for your chance to WIN.

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What are the ‘life-hacking’ secrets to your Mummy success? Share your creative MUMMY HACKS and you could WIN the ULTIMATE MUMMY HACK Holiday – 7 nights in a tropical Queensland resort – thanks to DAIRYLEA. There’s a Kids Club, so you can relax while they’re entertained all day long!  

See mummyhacks.com.au/competition for full details and T&Cs.

Look out in your supermarket for our new yummy cheese range, with nothing artificial added – they’re a simple MUMMY HACK snack that’ll keep a smile on kids’ faces!

DAIRYLEA, the DAIRYLEA device and MUMMY HACK are trade marks of Mondelez International Group used under licence.