Easy Water Play

Hey there friends,

I don't know about you, but around here it is that great part of the year when we still have some great weather a head of us, but I am out. of. ideas! Don't get me wrong, I love themed play ideas and activities, but at this point I just need something easy to get Abbey out into the backyard and kept busy.

It doesn't get any easier than water play. Grab a few large plastic containers or bowls (the bigger the better, otherwise you're refilling every 2 minutes!), a cup or two, some bath toys, whatever. Fill 'em up, put 'em outside, and let the littles go at it.

 Abbey stays busy with this little set up, and it takes no planning whatsoever. She finds things that sink and things that float, she scoops and pours, and her favorite thing is "painting" the deck. I threw an $.88 paint brush in with her toys and it was the best addition ever!

Keep on playing, little girl!

What are you doing to enjoy the nice weather you have left? We've still got trips to the zoo and all sorts of good things planned!

What are your go to easy play ideas?

Be blessed!

Heather

Letter Hop

Hello friends!

I'm taking a break from the Toddler Boxes this week. No worries...more are coming! With all the beautiful weather we've been having, I wanted to share a super easy outdoor game to play with your kiddos. I call it Letter Hop!

Start by writing all the letters of the alphabet on the ground using chalk. We used our driveway, but the sidewalk is good too. You could probably even use any flat space at your local playground as well. Then, all you do is call out letters for your kids to find. Abbey knows all of her letters, and LOVES to play letter games, so this is perfect for her.  She loves to jump on the letters I ask her to find.

There are lots of ways to personalize this game to keep your kids interested. Ask for the letter sound instead of the letter, or have early spellers spell out words. Tons of options!

Another bonus? You can get your kids moving! Have them hop, skip and jump to different letters.

Ta-Daaaa!!

p.s. Can we talk about those pigtails for a second? They're pretty much my favorite thing right now!

Now...on to more fun. It's Kid's Co-Op time! Link up your fun stuff, and check out all the goodies! Remember, if you link up here, your link will show up at over 60 different blogs!

Felt Food, I need some!

Abbey got a play kitchen for Christmas, and she adores it! I knew we were going to give her one this year, and I had visions of upcycled tv stand kitchens dancing in my head, but when you find a nice one at Aldi for $30, you jump on it.

Now, what good is a kitchen without food? Sure, I could go to Target and buy a tub of  plastic play food, but that's no fun! Let's see what kind of crafty goodness is out there...

I've had these pinned forever:

Source: ohcrafts.net via Heather on Pinterest

They are super cute, all hand stitched and adorable, but let's face it...that's just not going to get done. I'll get, like, 2 orange slices and a doughnut done and quit. Just being honest...

Dana over at MADE has some super cute felt food tutorials that are much more in my range of attention span crafting abilities. I love the ideas in this post.

How cute are these grapes? They pull apart and everything!

Maybe buttons for the grapes instead of felt? Who knows, but they're definitely on my to-do list!

Dana also has some super cute cookie ideas

These aren't too far off from the cookies in the cookie game in Abbey's Quiet Book, so I know I can handle these, haha!

It doesn't get any easier than Lil Blue Boo's pasta...

And while I love making things at home for Abbey, I also know when I just can't beat a good price. Have you seen the play food at IKEA??

Abbey already has the fruit.

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but the veggies, and the breakfast foods are on my list! For $8 per set, I just can't beat it!

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This post isn't sponsored by IKEA, I just really love these toys! Don't even get me started on the play pots and pans that my mom brought home last week! Too cute!

Be blessed!