Playhouse!

Our playhouse is finally finished :) With A LOT of help from PopPop (my dad), it finally became a dream come true for the girls.  I am posting pictures below to show what we've been up to as far as decorating the little play space.  We see this as a work in progress; as we learn new crafts/skills, we will incorporate them into our little fantasy land in the back yard. Enjoy :)



PopPop decided to convert a simple shed structure into the playhouse.  He cut a Dutch door, which is a big hit!

Personalized bunting with felt letters. Here's a tutorial from Pinterest that shows how to make a simple bunting.




This chalkboard is made from left over cement board.  We used tile adhesive to secure 1 inch tiles around the board.




We came across some old Highlights magazines, dated 1979.  The gals cut out pictures and we used a few layers of Mod Podge to cover up this old table.



The gals talked about color schemes and patterned fabric for the table skirt. I taught myself how to do a gather stitch. I used Velcro fasten the skirt to the table, that way it can be easily removed for washing.

Left over fabric from the gals' Easter dresses :) See my Miss Matches blog post for the dress pictures.

Suncatchers made from melted beads..

Dave tries to maintain blazed trails in a part of our yard that would be too sloped, wooded, and otherwise unusable.

A Dough For All Seasons (and a little bit of literacy)

Playdough is big at our house.  It was since the kids were toddlers.  We grew from pretend cooking with miniature bake ware to making elaborate fairy houses.  I love to connect all of our activities with the outside world, especially with the seasons (and calendar holidays). I have a great homemade recipe that is cheap & easy. I switch it up a little to give the kids a color and fragrance of the seasons/holidays.

I made a batch this morning anticipating any rainy days left in our dwindling summer.  AND I have an ulterior motive with my younger firecracker who refuses to "learn" anything that has to do with school.  I will share my scheme below. First, let me get to the recipe:

3 cups flour
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups salt
2T vegetable oil
1T cream of tartar

Although today I had to improvise since I had no vegetable oil.  I substituted coconut oil; it worked fine and now I have a new summer scent for August!

Take all ingredients and mix them in a saucepan.  Set heat to medium and stir constantly, scraping the sides of the pot.  Until it turns into a big ball of dough.

Turn out on wax paper and let it cool.  Store it in a Ziploc bag and it will keep for a month, if not longer.

When I change my theme for each month, I add the ingredients below to the saucepan with all the other items I mentioned above when making the playdough.

This is my usual rundown for all the months of the year:
January: Snow- 1T peppermint extract, generous amount of blue glitter
February: Valentine- 1T cinnamon, 5 drops of red food coloring
March: St. Patrick's Day/Start of spring- 1 envelope lime Jello, 5 drops green food coloring
April: Spring- 2t lavender essential oil, 5 drops of purple food coloring
May: Strawberry Season- 1 pack strawberry Jello, 2 drops red food coloring
June: Peach Season- 1 pack peach Jello, 2 drops 3 drops orange food coloring
July: Blueberry Season- 1 pack blueberry Jello, 5 drops of blue food coloring
August: Late Summer- replace vegetable oil with coconut oil
September: Apples- 1T apple extract, 5 drops red food coloring *apple extract can be hard to find.  I'd check at craft stores in the baking section during the fall or order it on line through this online store I have used before.
October: Pumpkins- 1T pumpkin pie spice, 5 drops orange food coloring
November: Warming Foods- 1/4 cup cocoa
December: Christmas Cookie/Baking: 1T vanilla extract, 5 drops yellow food coloring


Now for my elaborate plan:
I found these little cookie cutters at a yard sale years ago:

I will have Mya make playdough letters out of these cookie cutters and form words as listed above.  You can see the word "sat".  I will have her change the first letter with each one above so she is "reading" new words. I will also try this with -ot, -it, -am, etc.  Hopefully she won't catch on that this is a phonics lesson. ;) Later we will write them on paper to see if we remember.

Also, I am guilty of going to Toys R Us to pick up a pack of traditional playdough.  How can I refuse when I found these relics salvaged from my childhood?

Feel free to post in the comments sections as to anything different you may try with your homemade playdough in regards to the seasons or holidays.  I always love new ideas.

The Writing on the Wall

Marlee and her friend practicing the letters

Lately, the girls have been very interested in cursive writing. I began to wonder if they even teach this in school anymore.  I rarely see it in people's writing, heck, with 95% of my communication via email and text, I really don't ever see people print! I've decided to take matters into my own hands and teach this lost art to my kids. 

Since we are in the midst of a playroom overhaul, I decided it is time to add new decor to the walls anyway.  I found these awesome Around the World Cursive Cards, which is a win-win for me since we love geography and travel.

Marlee does a great job learning the loops and lines of the letters. Mya's fine motor skills are not quite there yet, but she does enjoy pointing out the letters.

I am not sure if writing cursive is really the wave of the future, but it is fun to learn.

Free play

Sometimes I forget the benefit of free play, how it not only strengthens the creative mind but also strengthens the bond between two sisters who are in the prime of their childhood.  I tend to get a little uneasy if the temperature is above 50 degrees and we are not outside or if the kids are looking for something to do and I do not have a back-up art project for them. I created a world for my children where they go to a structured school, have formal ballet lessons, arranged playdates, and enrichment activities. Free play is sometimes underrated in a world where we only want the "best" experiences for our kids.

So today, even though it was close to 80 degrees, we cancelled everything from our social calendar. The gals decided to stay in their room all day and spend some time with old toys. This was one of the most peaceful, laid back days we had in awhile.