Personalized Place Mats

Your little ones are going to love helping you make their very own personalized place mat! First, cut out a piece of cardboard into the shape and size that you want the place mat to be.

Pull out some old photos and ask your child to pick which ones they want on their place mat. After you've finished cutting out the photos and have determined their placement on the mat, have your child glue them to the cardboard. After the glue has dried, laminate and enjoy!  If you don't have a lamination machine, like me, click on this link for directions that only requires you to have some wax paper and an iron.

If your child spills some food or drink on their mat, just wipe away. (Please note that these place mats do not enjoy the same life expectancy as their store bought counterparts.)

I used photos, but the possibilities are endless.  You can make place mats depicting the alphabet, numbers, animals, the seasons, artwork, U.S. states, etc.

Pizza and Movie Night!

Not that pizza needs any help in being made attractive to children, but here's a fun idea anyways...Mickey Mouse Pizza!! Take some fresh pizza dough, (the amount you use will depend on how much you think your child will eat). If you don't have a recipe for pizza dough, click here.

Twist off about 1/3 of the dough and set aside. Roll the larger section into a circle, (Mickey's head) and place of your baking sheet. Divide the smaller ball of dough into 2 even sections and roll them out into circles as well, (Mickey's ears). Position the "ears" on the "head". Bake in an oven set at 425 degrees. Bake time will vary depending how thin you roll out the dough. The pizza should be done between 8-12 minutes, but you'll know when the pizza is ready when the crust becomes a golden brown.

Add the sauce and let your child add the cheese and toppings. They are going to love eating the dinner they helped to make, especially if it looks like one of their favorite cartoon characters!!

A great way for you to round off your child's Mickey Pizza experience is to let him/her enjoy it while watching a Disney movie. :D

Eyes Only for You

I'm always looking for ideas that take ordinary household items and turn them into fun things for the kiddies. I was in this frame of mind when I came across a packet of googly eyes at the dollar store and thought, bingo!!

I went through the house looking for things that would benefit from the addition of a couple of googly eyes and found a shirt, book, and plastic cup.

 

Another fun idea would be to add googly eyes to kids' birthday cards/invites. What other ideas might you have?

Super Bowl Sundae

Here's a fun way to make edible ice cream bowls for kids of all ages. Instead of baking cookies on a cookie sheet, bake them on an upside down muffin pan. Be sure to grease the entire muffin cup. This makes popping the bowls off much easier. To make make the bowls even more fun, add crushed candies to cookie before placing on the muffin pan. You can also add food coloring to the cookie dough, (sugar cookies work best for this), to match a theme. For example, for Valentine's Day, add red food coloring, for St. Patrick's Day, add green, for a kid's birthday party, divide the batch into 4 and add a different color to each for a festive look.

If ice cream is not your thing, you can fill the bowl with freshly whipped cream and berries. Yum!

Apple Panda

Here's a fun way to get your kids to eat a healthy snack. Peel and core an apple, making sure to scoop out all the seeds.  Do not cut the apple into pieces, keep it whole. Fill the cavity with items of your choice. I like to fill it with alternating layers of peanut butter and jelly or nutella. (You can also add nuts if you'd like.)

Decide where you are going to place your panda's eyes and nose and then carve a shallow hole in that spot with the tip of your vegetable peeler. Fill with peanut butter and stick on a chocolate chip. Push in a chocolate chip on either side of the apple for the panda's ears.

Your little ones will love it!!

Some Good Clean Fun - Part II

Ready for some good clean fun? Just add water..and shaving cream and some food coloring.

Put some shaving cream in some small containers, (small tupperware, cupcake tin, paper cups, ect.), add a couple drops of food coloring, mix, and voila! You are now ready for some good clean fun. When the kids are in the bath, they can paint/fingerpaint on the walls along the bathtub.

Enjoy!

Some Good Clean Fun

We were at the toy store and Archer was instantly drawn to a toy vacuum that was on display. This model included vacuum lights and sounds and beads in a clear canister that would fly around once the toy was turned on. After a few passes with the vacuum, Archer stated that it wasn't working and that the dirt "is not going anywhere". Even though there was "dirt" flying around in the vacuum, the dirt on the floor wasn't, (as Archer put it) going anywhere.

So now what? Archer still wanted a vacuum to play with and I am not giving him my full size upright.

I got a Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Handheld vacuum. It's the perfect size for a preschooler to wield plus by the end of play time, you'll have a clean floor to show for it. (Of course, I wouldn't recommend unsupervised playtime with this "toy".)

You can buy this handheld on Amazon.com for $28.54 or you can spend an additional $10 and buy a toy vacuum.  And the toy vacuum won't clean your house.