Pretend Ice Cream Shop

We love play dough at our house and we love ice cream!  What's better than a play dough ice cream shop?  Not much, according to a super cute three year old and an adorable one year old.

I set up an ice cream shop on our little table in the kitchen and both my kids went crazy making ice cream sundaes and milkshakes.

We made three different types of scented play dough, which were just the perfect touch for pretend play.  We added strawberry kool-aid to the strawberry, vanilla extract to the vanilla and cocoa powder to the chocolate play dough.  They all smelled delicious....almost good enough to eat.  Strawberry was definitely a favorite for us.  

I found this super cute little ice cream menu at Spell Outloud and printed it out for Sweet Girl to use at her shop. 

We added little dixie cups and straws for pretend milkshakes.

And sprinkles to our sundaes.

Yum!  Good ole pretend play!!

Summer Fun Crafts for Preschoolers

I am soooo looking forward to summer!!  I'm starting to get our "summer-list-o-fun" organized and I'm having so much fun!  Here are some ideas that my little ones differently enjoyed and will be part of our summer activities.

Check out these super fun ideas!!  Click on the link to be taken directly to the corresponding post!

Marble Painting

Corn Starch Painting

Corn Syrup Painting

DIY Finger Paints

Wet on Wet Painting

Tissue Paper Painting

And are you following Playing House on Facebook?  Click here to "like" us and follow along!

Red, White and Blue Cheesecakes

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!!

We made these delicious red, white and blue cheesecakes to celebrate the holiday and I just had to share!  They are so yummy, incredibly easy to make and are only 100 calories each.  Can't beat that for a dessert.

They are also easy enough for little ones to help.

Full recipe can be found at Skinny Taste.

Off to eat another one!!  

Have a happy day!

Invitations to Play - Week in Review

These "invitations to play" are just awesome.  There's really no other way to put it!!  They keep the kids busy for quite a while and they just love them!!  This week was especially fun for my two.  It involved all the things they love best.  Pouring, play dough and water!  

(To find out more about the idea behind invitations to play, check out The Imagination Tree)

Here's a wrap up of our week....

Want to see some of our other Invitations to Play???

                                                Click here                                     Click here

"Mr. Play Dough Head"

I set some of our homemade play dough out on the floor the other day and our Mr. Potato Head parts and the kids went nuts!

Sweet Girl loved making "play dough people".  

And my little man just loved squishing the parts into the play dough.

This was our play dough family, per Sweet Girl!  Mama is in the middle with all her babies beside her.

Grab your play dough and your Mr. Potato Head and let your kids have some fun!

A Fun Nature Scavenger Hunt

Sweet Girl and I went on a color scavenger hunt while Little Man napped the other day.  It was really nice to walk all around our yard and our neighborhood looking for colors in nature.  We found a lot of things that we usually just walk by without paying any attention.  

Want to do your own color hunt?  

Just grab an extra egg carton and paint each cup a different color.  Let it dry and then head outside!

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Fabric Scraps Picture Frame

I was working on a little project the other day during Sweet Girl's rest time (no naps for her anymore) and she decided she was done with rest time and was ready to help me.  I gave her some fabric scraps, a glue stick and a piece of paper and she made her own picture frame.  It was a completely self-directed activity and she worked on it all her own. 

(Her self portrait)

Isn't it amazing what kids can do when they are left to explore and play by themselves!

Invitations to Play - Week in Review

We are still having so much fun with our Invitations to Play!!  Most of these activities are from the awesome ideas Anna posts on her Facebook page for The Imagination Tree.

What I love best about these activities is that they use things we have around the house, but are presented to my kids in a new and fun way.  And they both are loving them.  My three year old requests for "more fun things" all day long!

Here is a recap of this week's play activities!

Thanks again Anna!  Keep the awesome ideas coming!!

Ice Cream Cones Craft for Kids

Cookies and ice cream in one week!  We definitely have a sweet tooth at our house!

Luckily, this little treat is just fun and calorie free!!

Idea found Little Running Teacher.

Supplies needed:

Shaving cream

Glue

Food coloring

Sprinkles or glitter (optional)

Construction paper

Start by mixing together some shaving cream, glue and a drop or two of your food coloring.  I just eyeballed the amount....but i was about half shaving cream and half glue.  Have your child mix that together while you cut out an ice cream cone and glue it onto a piece of construction paper.

Let your kiddo play with the cool shaving cream/glue mixture and have them add their "ice cream" to their cone.  (And the mixture is really cool, by the way!!)

If you have a sprinkle/glitter lover in your house too, hand them over and let them sprinkle away.  I'm pretty sure this was my daughter's favorite part.  She would sprinkle on a piece of paper if I would let her!

Invite the wee little ones over too for some fun.

And again, if you are daring, hand over the sprinkles!

Ice cream, anyone?

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Making Pretend Cookies

Can't you smell those delicious cookies???

Sweet Girl and I made cookies the other day and we had our own little pretend cookie shop.  I originally saw the idea here and thought it would be something fun for us to do.

This fun little activity took up most of our morning and we both really enjoyed making pretend cookies.  It's super simple and mostly mess free (if you use sticky back foam).

Supplies needed:

cardboard

sticky back foam

glue

sequins and jewels (optional)

construction paper (optional)

Start by cutting out a dozen "cookies" from a cardboard box.

Next cut out some "icing" for your cookies.

And while you are cutting....cut out some sprinkles, flowers, "m&m's" and chocolate chips.

Then assemble your cookies.

Put them on your cookie sheet and get ready to stick them in the oven.

Yum!  Cookies"

(Ballet outfit optional)