From the category archives:

Pretend

Pretend Play: Birthday Party

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We have put-together many pretend play kits over the past few years, but this one is still a favorite! We are always adding new odds and ends – we have some very spoiled dolls in our house who have birthday parties constantly!
{Originally published March 2008}

Even though my girls’ birthdays are months away, they are [...]

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Creating Zoo Maps

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This is one of our all-time favorite activities!  Since we made our zoo maps, there have been maps of mermaid lagoons, five-story malls, fairy lands, and much more.  If you are stuck inside on a cold day, this is a great activity to work on with your kids.  Have fun!
{Originally posted June 2008}
Some of the [...]

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Playsilk Doll Slings

Playsilks make really great doll slings…

or Curious George slings!

Happy Playing!

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The Fairy Olympics

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Okay, I’ve got one more round of Olympic fun for you!  Since my girls are really into all things tiny (i.e. fairies), we decided to do some itty bitty Olympic events.  Here’s what we did:

Wind & Clouds – The weather fairies have to blow the clouds away, so the sun can shine on Fairy Garden. [...]

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Making Masks – Part 2

We finished up our paper plate masks from earlier this week. The glitter mixed with the glue gave them a nice sparkle!

Natalie made a frog, with a pipe cleaner tongue:

Both of the girls made elephants, which are really more like puppets than masks. They decided to use googly eyes and we attached the ears and [...]

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Making Masks – Part 1

The girls and I started working on some simple paper plate masks today. We used paper plates cut in half, glue with a tiny bit of water added, and tissue paper squares. I had a bunch of tissue paper already cut-up, but you could also tear it as you go along. And, for sparkle, we [...]

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Dandelion Fun

The girls have been serious dandelion hunters lately. Whenever we are near a patch of grass, they are searching for white dandelions to blow and wish upon. Last time we were at the library, I found the book Dandelion Adventures by L. Patricia Kite over in the kids’ science book area. It tells about the [...]

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Magnetic Menu

Both of my girls love to play restaurant, which usually involves creating some sort of menu. Sometimes we draw menus, sometimes we cut and paste pictures from grocery ads and magazines. We also have a collection of kids’ menus from restaurants we’ve been to. I decided to give them another option for menu creating by [...]

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Pretend Play: Flower Shop and Gardening

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This idea has been in my mind for a while, and I finally pulled all the pieces together yesterday. I set-up a Flower Shop and/or Gardening pretend play prop box for the girls. I was able to gather quite a few things from around the house, then added in fake flowers and plastic [...]

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Spring Felt Board

We have a big felt board that covers the back of our piano. There has not been much interest in playing at the felt board lately, so I decided to pull out my felt stash and make some new spring inspiration. So far, I have cut out flowers, stems, grass, flower pots, soil, [...]

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