The following is a post from contributing writer Lana.
Do you know anyone who gets earaches, muscle aches or cramps?
Sometimes applying heat helps soothe the pain.
(Especially those horrible earaches that come suddenly, on the weekends, when all the doctors in the world are not answering their phones. Yes, I am speaking from experience – I’m a Mom.)
My kids love using and making their own heat pads and giving them as presents!
Supplies Needed:
- 9 x 12 inch soft felt rectangle (Don’t use any fabric that has foil thread in it.)
- Rice
- Hot Glue Gun (To be used by a responsible adult only.)
- Cute kids
Instructions
1. Pick out your material. (I found mine at Hobby Lobby on sale for 4 for $1.00. They have a plethora of soft felt designs.)
2. Have your cute kid fold the felt in half to make a crease.
3. Hot glue the short sides of the felt. Be careful, it is called HOT for a reason – just ask my fingers.
4. Hand the cooled off pouch back to the cute kid.
Have the cute kid fill the pouch with rice.
If you want less mess, put rice in a container that pours.
Use enough rice so the pad will lay flat but not bulge.
5. Have another cute kid make sure the heat pad is flattened out.
6. Hot glue the remaining open side. Use lots of glue – don’t be stingy.
7. Shake the heating pad to make sure none of the rice falls out. If you have a hole, just glue it.
To heat: Set in microwave on high for 15 second increments.
Caution: It could be very hot!
Other suggestions:
- Add essential oils i.e. Lavender or Peace and Calming to make the heating pad aromatic.
- Sew the edges after the cute kids go to bed to make it last longer.
- Would be perfect for a new puppy who is separated from his mother for the first few nights.
- Instead of heat, put in the freezer for a cooling pad.
Seriously, this is a very quick and cheap craft that the kids love to do! I love finding activities that make my kids use their imagination and/or help others, such as building a bean teepee! These type of activities just make my kids smile, therefore, I smile.
(The heating pad will not cure any infection – this is just to provide temporary relief. Please consult a physician if you are in pain.)
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Megan says
Love this idea!
SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen says
We fill socks with rice for really nice heating pads for your shoulders. Take the big tube socks – then they stretch all the way over your shoulders! Love the felt idea, though. Would feel softer than the sock 🙂
Lana says
What a great idea! I wonder if you could toss them in the dryer for a few minutes to get warm? I might try it. 🙂
Angie France says
We use socks also. Very frugal and they fit right over the back of your neck.
Mary Snow says
We’ve used bags like this for years. My daughter has leg pain when the weather changes. So we’ve had many over the years. Some were made with seed corn, rice, flax seed, herbs, essential oils etc. We have made them with socks ( you know the mismatched ones that the dryer ate) fabric scraps, old bath towels, fleece, We decided we didn’t like the smell of hot flax seed, and the corn makes you want popcorn, sometimes the herbs or essential oils were too much – so now we just use rice.
Just don’t put them in the microwave too long, they can get very hot. Also, if your microwave happens to have something on the tray that gets on the heat pack it will burn (long story).
The flax seed ones are great in the freezer. I use these for headaches when I want a cold pack. I just keep one in a zippy bag in the freezer & use as needed.