Kids Zone: Ceative playtime

Kids play with the darnest things. When I was a child we played elastic band, a game where two kids get inside a long (35") elastic tied at the corners and held by their ankles.  A third kid jumps inside the loop doing a variety of tricky jumping steps as the band gets higher and the game gets harder.  We'd play for hours on end, and sometimes when there was a shortage of kids we would use chairs to hold the elastic in place. We also played with marbles and the game of STOP, with paper and pencil we would go down the alphabet writing all the things we knew with that letter and adding points.

There's an undisturbed innocence when you watch children play with the most creative and organic things.  I always said my kids would play with toys and things that sparked their creativity and curiosity.  I'll do my best when Emilu starts playing seriously.

{Images via HipHip Hooray}

Kids Zone: Newspaper forts

Now that Emilu is officially walking, and her infant months are way behind her, I have been scratching my head collecting ideas for play, and creativity.  She has already tried watercoloring and loved it.  So, I will be setting up a small corner of creativity for her when we get home.  Yesterday, I found this amazing DIY play activity that I can build by myself at home, using only newspapers and tape.  It's a newspaper fort, but really, they have a variety of uses from tents, and structures for toys, or just plain forts for your little ones to play.  So if you have a surplus of newspapers or kraft/wrapping paper this is the perfect toy to build. Click over at Modern Parents/Messy Kids for the entire tutorial. Have fun!

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The French Cafe

Source: littleplayspaces.com via jan on Pinterest

Step aside Fisher Price, here comes the best next thing in play spaces. I'm so crazy about these French Cafe play space. I secretly wish sometimes I was a small kid, remember when the possibilities were endless, there was fun everywhere.  Take this amazing board dream street cafe from Little Play Spaces.  Now you can play the waitress, the chef or a really wealthy patron, and serve French lemonade, warm croissants and croque monsieur.  Isn't this lovely?  Oh how I wish Emilu was older so I can see her play with friends, while speaking French and serving macaroons.  She'd make her mama proud. One day...