This tutorial was created by my (super creative) 6-year-old daughter as a smaller version of my original reusable heat packs.
Hand Warmer Heat Packs
She loved having the heat pack on her feet or hands on cold days, but the kids were often fighting over them. She loves the hand warmers you can buy and use in your pockets in the winter and decided to create a rice-pack version she could use for this as well.
With five kids, we have a constant supply of un-matched socks that have lost their mates to the monster in the dryer or gotten a hole from being worn outside without shoes.
She was helping me sort socks one day and asked what we used the extra socks for if we never find the match…
I told her that they usually just stay in the basket in my closet, which is getting increasingly full.
Ever the creative one, she asked if she could have some of the colorful ones. That bunch became bracelets, puppets and these hand warmers. Note to self: give mismatched socks and other items to the kids more often! 🙂
The best part of this DIY is that no sewing is required. You could absolutely sew the ends if you wanted to, but she figured out that she could do this by just tying the ends of a longer baby or toddler sock.
While making these, she asked if I had any lavender flowers and she added these to the heat packs with the rice so they smell wonderful when heated.
How to Heat
The most convenient way to heat these is in a microwave. We don’t use a microwave for food, but I feel safe using it for this. In our old house, we had a microwave in our outside shed for this purpose. In our current house, we haven’t removed the microwave yet, so it is there but only gets used for heating up heating pads and other non-food uses.
A friend of mine uses these types of heating pads all the time but doesn’t have a microwave, so I asked her how she heats them up. She said that as long as she uses all cotton fabric or socks, she is able to heat them up in a glass pan in her oven at 300 for 15 minutes. I haven’t tried it, but she does it all the time. Just watch it carefully!
Ingredients:
- 2-4 mismatched baby or kids socks (or more)
- Rice (preferably organic white or jasmine rice)
- Optional: Lavender Flowers
Instructions:
- Fill each sock 1/3 to 1/2 full with rice, depending on how full you want to finished hand warmer.
- Add 1 tsp of lavender flowers if using.
- Tightly tie the end of the sock to seal.
- Cut off excess sock, leaving about 1/2 inch so it doesn’t come untied.
- Alternately, you can fill only a small part of the sock, sew closed and then cut off.
- Heat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds or in the oven at 300 in a glass container for 10-15 minutes.
What creative ideas have your children come up with?
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