Pretend Play

My kids cannot seem to ever preoccupy themselves - even for seven minutes! So I created them some free pretend play printables to keep them distracted... works for 23 minutes or so ;) So I decided to share. 

Free printable Beauty Salon Printables

My kids love playing mail - so I designed these cute printable postcards

Kids can also get a small box and decorate it for their own mailbox.

Pretend Play - birthday party

Pretend play restaurant including; restaurant sign, menu, emoji menu and guest order checks

Grocery Store - with printable lined and blank grocery lists

"Hire a Superhero" free printable superhero game

Free Mechanic or Auto Repair Pretend Play printables

Pretend Play Pirates Free Printables

Free Pretend Play Pet Shop Printables

Pretend play store with link to free printable money.

Pretend Play: Store

As a mom it`s sometimes difficult trying to guess which toys your kids will play with daily, or practically throw aside after an hour of play. 

But in my opinion this $20 cash register I bought for my daughter two years ago has definitely been worth the investment.

Apparently playing store never gets old. And my son agrees, and at not quite two has no problem that it`s "Princess" cash register.

The kids take turns scanning their items as the `scanner`beeps every time you press it against a toy or any object.

And I save all my small gift bags and reusable bags so the kids can pack up their purchase after their done `scanning` them.

 I print out some free adorable money I found from Miss Tina. 

And let`s face it, you might want to pin this link, and save it for later because well young children and paper does not hold up more than a couple of months. 

This is also  a great way to teach my four year old about numbers and counting, and you can just go by coloured money for younger kids.

And here is a few different versions of toy cash registers I found on Amazon. The first one is the newer version of the cash register I bought:

 

Do your kids love to play store too ? I would love to hear about it!

Pretend Play : Birthday Party

After my daughter's second Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party, and a month of going to her friends parties she decided she wanted to play Birthday Party - every day. She loved the balloons, the loot bags, the kids, and of course the cake. So since it was pretty much an every day occurrence I decided to try to have a few different ideas for our pretend play.

I kept all the leftover party supplies from her birthdays and bought some Minnie balloons and party blowers at the dollar store.  We'd blow up a couple balloons every few days because for some reason toddlers seem to love balloons.

I printed out some adorable (and free!) paper cupcakes from Volume Twenty Five and cut them all out. A year later we are still putting together our cupcakes and blowing out the candles.

We also fold some blank computer paper to draw birthday cards. Or you can print out some free printables from The Little LadyBird and just colour them.

And what is a party, with out party hats ? We had a couple left over which eventually seen a lot of wear, so then I found a template for a party hat on Oh Happy Day and cut them out. We coloured them and added stickers for our own custom birthday hats, and made a few out of some pretty and sparkly cardstock [scrapbook paper I found at the Dollar Store] and added embellishments like homemade tissue paper pom poms.

from Oh Happy Day

I made a cake out of empty boxes, wrapped it in solid white wrapping paper and let her colour away but it didn't hold up very long. I would probably recommend stuffing the box with foam or something to make it a little more rigid, and decorating it with coloured paper and ribbons. Or you can just buy this cute wooden one from Melissa & Doug which you can decorate yourself with candles and treats.

Or if you prefer to make and decorate cupcakes you can get his Melissa & Doug Bake and Decorate Cupcake Set instead for only $15.99. Did I mention I love Melissa and Doug? I think it's because their products are good quality and foster imaginative play.

And on those days when we felt like something extra special we baked and decorated cupcakes because you can get a pre-made cake mix and container of icing for only $1 each and well kids love cupcakes and sprinkles... And I have a huge weakness for cupcakes.