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 already busy planning what kind of parties they want to have! To help fill that party-planning need, we are putting together a birthday party pretend play kit. We’re including:

• party hats
• paper plates, napkins, cups (maybe left-over from other parties)
• play food cake, playdough cake, empty cake pan, etc.
• invitations (again, we have some misc. invites from other parties – you could laminate them for extra durability)
• gift bags and wrapped boxes
• decorations, such as balloons, banners, streamers, etc.
• tablecloth

Now, whenever the mood strikes, we can throw a fantastic birthday party for a favorite stuffed animal or doll. Sometimes we even make a real cake with candles — why not?

Happy playing!

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 most coveted “souvenirs” in our house are the maps we bring home from places we visit, especially ones from the zoo and Disneyland. My girls will look at these again and again, remembering things we saw, tracing their fingers on the little paths. I think this type of “real-world” reading (also called environmental print) is such an important part of literacy and reading development, which is why I also save children’s menus from restaurants, brochures, etc.

I thought it would be fun to learn more about maps and make our own. I decided to start with zoo maps. We have a full-color one from our local zoo, plus I printed about 5 more from various zoo websites. The National Zoo, San Diego Zoo, and Oregon Zoo had nice printable maps.

Just looking at these maps was an activity in itself! The girls loved identifying the different animals, and we also had the opportunity to talk about legends and what the different symbols mean. They really enjoyed finding all the bathrooms!

Then it was time to get to work! We used large sheets of easel paper for our maps. Natalie drew her entrance & exit first, followed by all sorts of paths. Then she filled in with her animals and other attractions. Delaney started with a bus that brings everyone to the zoo, then added her animals, and finally connected them with a path.

They worked on these for close to an hour. I added labels or words if they wanted. Natalie drew a rectangle with a P on top to show all the “potties” in her zoo. She also put in a food court, a fountain, a farm animal petting zoo, and a place called “Kids Explore,” which is some sort of fantastic kids’ play area.

Delaney’s zoo had an armadillo, an octopus, a tiger, two bunnies, a pig, and a flamingo.

Of course, the fun is not over, because now they want to use toy animals to create these fantastic zoos. I can’t wait to visit!

I’m sure we will revisit map making soon — maybe we’ll make our own Disneyland!

Happy playing!

Playsilks make really great doll slings…

or Curious George slings!

Happy Playing!

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:

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

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 added some glitter to our glue.

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 different adventures of seven dandelion seeds as they blow around and land in various places. The girls have really been enjoying it. It also has all kinds of information and fun facts about dandelions at the end. (It doesn’t seem to be available at Amazon right now, so definitely check your library!)

After reading the book several times, we pretended to be dandelion seeds floating in the breeze. We made up fun places to land and grow. The girls came up with Disneyland, a mountain stream, the mall, the park near our house, Grammy & Grampy’s house, and lots more. A fun and simple creative movement activity.

We also did some dandelion art.I found a little plastic ring in our dress-up jewelry that looked like it might make good dandelion prints. The girls had fun drawing rows of green stems, and printing yellow dandelion flowers on top.

Natalie also wanted to try doing a crayon resist with white crayon & watercolor. No matter how many times we do this type of art, it is still magical to the girls when the white crayon “appears” as they paint over it.

Still on our list to do:

• Collect dandelions and make necklaces or crowns.
• Make our own paper parachutes to explore how dandelion seeds move through the air.
• Dig up a dandelion and check out it’s flower, stem, leaves, and roots.
• Read some more books about dandelions!

If you have any fun dandelion activities, crafts or books to share, I’d love to hear about them!

Happy playing!

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 printing out different food items on printable magnet sheets.

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 vases from the Dollar Store. It has been such a hit! They played with it for at least an hour yesterday, and it was the first thing they wanted to do this morning.

The box includes:
2 plastic “crystal” vases
2 fake potted plants
an assortment of fake flowers
some empty pots from herbs we planted
brown crinkle paper (from the gift wrap area) for soil
2 small watering cans
flower-shaped notepads for taking orders, writing receipts, etc.
flower fabric for a tablecloth
picture cards with flower and garden-related words

Still to add:
empty seed packets (after we do some planting this weekend)
gardening magazines & catalogs
gardening tools
ribbon
small gift cards
play money

The girls added their own touch with signs and price tags, too.

A fun way to bring a little bit of springtime inside!

Happy Spring!

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, seeds, clouds, sun, and ladybugs. The girls have also requested some trees and butterflies. It was quite a hit with the girls, and I loved hearing them tell stories in their little voices while they arranged the felt pieces: “Once upon a time, there was a tiny seed. And out of that tiny seed popped a tiny stem. And from that stem popped a tiny flower that grew and grew…”

The felt board is back in business! Happy Playing!