pretend play

Play with Green Toys Playsets

Guess what? Your favorite open-ended, eco-friendly toy company, Green Toys, now has two new and totally impressive Playsets! Both the Fire Station and Farm are brand new kid-approved Playsets that come with a building, vehicle, characters, and accessories for kids 2 – 6 years old. Scroll down for a chance to win a Playset! Play […]

Grow Your Own Fairy Garden

Fairy Gardens are so popular right now and for good reason — they’re beautiful, teach kids about plants, and are fun for pretend play. My Fairy Garden Magical Cottage Playset gives you everything you need to get started building your own. My own kids LOVED setting it up and can’t wait to see what grows. […]

MyFamilyBuilders Diverse Character Building Blocks

MyFamilyBuilders™ Toy Set is a set of gorgeous magnetic building blocks of diverse people for ages 1+. And I LOVE this block set!! I love it because it’s GREAT for representing the real world (diversity, hello!) and it’s well crafted with strong magnets out of beautiful non-toxic, eco-friendly hardwoods. The creator of MyFamilyBuilders™ Toy Set wanted to create a toy that represented […]

Cool PlayTape Reinvigorates Our Pretend Play

I always want my kids to pretend play — to imagine, to create, and to just be unplugged. As they get older, it’s been harder and harder to find something that will engage both kids in pretend play with something they will play together. (They’re 14 and 11.) But PlayTape pretend road tape reinvigorated my kids’ imaginative car […]

25 DIY Pretend Play Kits

Play is vital for children’s brain development, emotional health, self-control maturation, literacy development, and physical skills. But often it’s challenging for busy parents to think of ideas for play, and ways to get kids to play independently. Today, I’m sharing easy and fun ideas to solve this problem with DIY Play Kits that use materials […]

Toys That Require Imagination . . . Cardboard

Kids are naturally wired to play and imagine. But when we (I’m guilty of this myself) give them tons of toys that do everything, they don’t need to imagine anything. So give your kids a cardboard challenge – to find the hidden objects in the boxes like Michelangelo did with blocks of granite. The boxes […]

How to Extend the Magic of Harry Potter Books With Playing and Writing

“Expelliarmus!” shouts one daughter to her friend, pointing a wand at her. In our house, Harry Potter isn’t just a book to read, it’s hours of imaginative play.It’s the world’s best loved chapter book series and the perfect book for reading, pretend play, and creative writing. Act Out Harry Potter Scenes Help your kids with […]

Ideas and Activities for Summer Learning, Ages 3 – 6

If your kids are ages 3 to 6, you want to find easy ways to keep them engaged, playing, and learning throughout the summer. Don’t worry, I got you covered with some snazzy, new ideas and resources. (Those of you with kids 6 – 10, you’ll want to read yesterday’s post about getting organized and […]