Sushi Making as a Fun Frugal Family Activity

For those of you who are parents and in the northern hemisphere, you're probably all in a similar boat... Trying to figure out how to entertain your kids while they are out of school, without breaking the bank.

My kids were in camp but it ended, and now I have another month in which I need to figure out how to occupy them.

Today's activity had the added bonus of entertaining the children... As well as feeding them.

Sushi making is a fun activity for the whole family.

My kids love sushi, but making it can be a pain, so I've saved it for special occasions.

For this activity, the only prep work I did was make some sushi rice (here's my regular way, and here's my fast cheater way), bake some sweet potatoes whole, and make an omelet.

The rest of the process was done by my kids.

Gave them carrots to peel (for the younger children), cucumbers and carrots to cut into thin strips, omelets cut into thin strips, sweet potatoes peeled (by the younger children) and then cut into strips, and I cut up a mango into thin strips.

 Then I gave them each a sheet of nori, and with wet hands, they covered the entire sheet with sushi rice, pressing it down so it was evenly spread and smooth.

Each kid then chose which fillings they wanted, and laid then lengthwise across their nori.

We then transferred it to a sushi mat (that I put inside a freezer bag, to make it easier to clean) and each kid helped me roll it up.

Then, depending on the age of the kid, they either cut their sushi to pieces themselves after I demonstrated, or I cut it for them.

The kids were thrilled... 

Can you tell?

They all had a great time, and it was such a frugal activity too, and saved me on supper preparations.

And each sushi was customizable according to the kids likes.

I'm definitely doing this again.

Is your family sushi fans? Do you usually make it or buy it? Have you made sushi with your kids before? Does this look like an activity your family would enjoy?