how to: make your own (upcycled) heating bag

I saw this tutorial floating around on pinterest and decided to make one for my boys to warm up to when they come in from playing out in the snow. However, turns out it can be transformed into a weapon (is there anything that a 4 year old boy can’t turn into a weapon??) so I quickly called dibs and have been popping it in the microwave throughout the day for myself!

Surprisingly, Babylegs are the perfect shape and width to wrap around my neck/shoulders. And since the material is stretchy I can actually walk around without it falling off my neck like the magic bag does. And it doesn’t weigh much – who wants something heavy pressing on their shoulders at the end of a long day?!

SO, this little gem takes no time at all to make — maybe 10 minutes of stitching by hand. And you can get your children involved with the sewing if you trust them with a needle and thread (I don’t yet)  or just have them to do the pouring.

– needle & thread

– about 2 cups of rice

– a legwarmer (or stretchy pant leg or sock with the toe cut off…)

– canning ring (optional – see below)

Grab a babyleg.

Stitch up one end. Nothing fancy, obviously….look at mine.

Done. Onto the rice.

To make it easier for my son to pour the rice into the sock, I slipped a canning ring into the end so he could do it all by himself without me the babyleg open for him.

Fill it up to just about the top (quality control, doing his job)

Now, just stitch up the other opening…

 And you’re done.

Pop it in the microwave for 1 minute then warm up on the couch after playing outside to the point of exhaustion. Try not to whip it around your head 457 times and subsequently stretching it about 5 inches longer than it should be  😉

Oh, my big boy. I can hardly believe you used to crawl around in those just a short time ago.

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