Rose Petal Tea Party

My beautiful bouquet of roses that my amazing husband delivered to me for Valentines day were very wilted this morning. Usually I would toss them in the trash, but the petals on my roses still looked pretty so I removed all the petals and put them in a basket to think of some kind of project to do with my girls like a “ROSE PETAL TEA PARTY”. I gathered our tea set, a glass bowl, some mason jars filled with clear and colored water and some wooden spoons. Before I let the girl come outside I scattered the rose petals in our yard for them to gather.

I didn’t have to explain what was going on once I gave them their basket and they had a look at the play invitation they were hard at work gathering the petals, pouring water, mixing, mushing and adding other natural materials to their rose petal tea concoction.

& there we sat in our front yard pretend sipping on our rose petal tea, which had a wonderful fragrance I must add.

We can’t wait till it warms up even more for more outdoor adventures, but for now we anticipate a snow storm coming in tomorrow.

Pet Vet Play

I have been saving this activity for a rainy day, but there is a heat advisory for us all this week meaning little to no outside play and creative play for inside.

I was inspired to create this play activity after seeing Share & Remember’s Pet Vet and ikatbag’s Pet Clinic via Pinterest.

Welcome to our Pet Vet Clinic!

I set up a receptionist office complete with a phone, billing center, waiting files, check-out files, keyboard, appointment sheet, patient charts, cash register & play money.

The clinic was complete with a waiting room, x-rays, vet supplies, band aids, casts (foil), pet food, medicine, vitamins, treats and pet bed for examinations.

The girls had so much fun playing receptionist, especially my oldest. The receptionist was in charge of taking appointments, filling out the patient charts, removing and bringing in patients, billing and payments. Little Miss loved filing the charts and entering data on the keyboard the most.

Diagnosing the patients was so fun for the girls. They loved choosing between their patient being sick, injured, baby well check-up or routine shots. They loved sorting thought the x-ray sheets to match the animal they were examining and giving those with broken or fractured limbs a foil cast. ALL animals got special treats before leaving and even a few tight squeezes from the vet.

We had ours of fun playing in our clinic. We will likely leave it up a few days as the girls keep coming and going from the center and because I’ll have an older kiddo coming over later tonight who would love to play with this AND I’m almost certain Daddio will be pulled into a few rounds of vet duty tonight as well!!!

I’d love to see your pet vet clinics, leave a link (:

Cupcakes {Playdough Edition}

We hardly ever play with regular playdough, we like to make our own recipes most of the time.

I was in desperate need to keep the kids busy at their grandma and grandpa’s house, regular playdough was at my disposal AND it just so happens its the Playdough Pledge week. I needed to make this play activity last more than 20min though and that meant I had to make boring old playdough new and exciting.

Before we go on, my kids have been able to be apart of anything we have done in our kitchen since they could walk. My children know and do understand the dangers of kitchen utensils and appliances OR we would not have done this activity. The oven had not been in use and was off the whole time during this activity.

I provided them with a few bowls, a muffin tin and playdough then let the fun begin.

They had a blast making cupcake “liners”and the playdough “batter”, BUT the most fun came when carefully practicing putting the cupcakes in the oven and taking them out.

This activity was great practice for oven usage and safety for my children. If they made a mistake like touching the rack or the oven door I would buzz them letting them know they would have been burned.

A lesson on being CAREFUL was great fun for my little cupcake bakers today!

Monster Feet

I had to get a few crafty cardboard family picture props & birthday party decorations accomplished today which left my kitchen floor covered in cardboard. The kids loved the floor full of cardboard scraps which reminded me of the monster feet I came across on A Happy Wanderer… a few weeks or so ago.

I knew I had to add them to my cardboard crafty list for the day and I’m sure glad I did. Little Miss had tons of monster fun!!!

My happy little monster (:

Backyard Kiddie Clothesline

Only a few days of play in the surprise playhouse and it was very apparent the kids certainly needed there own clothesline. Mud pies meant water and water meant clothes being drenched and then removed and lastly thrown all over the yard. It only made sense that if they wanted to remove their clothes they needed to hang them to dry so they could be thrown in the laundry bin.

I had an extra Clothesline Busy Bag, similar to the one from Money Saving Mom that I set up for the girls in between two trees by the playhouse. They were so excited to use it so I gave them a bowl of soapy water and the felt clothes and they began washing & hanging.

Our busy bag sits on the self of the playhouse for outdoor use anytime they feel like washing felt clothes.

Let THEM Build DINOLAND

Earlier this week I gathered all the necessary materials the kids would need to “build” their own DINOLAND and then I sat back and watched them build their own sensory play bin.

The kids had dirt, water, rocks, leaves, grass, weeds, tree bark & sticks to use and in the end they got to add over 10 Dino’s to the bin for play.

This bin kept them busy for two whole days until DINOLAND was flooded for the use of mud pies, which created its own sensory experience…
Here is Little Miss searching for the Dino’s in the thick mud.