From the category archives:

Rainy day play

Superhero Playlist: You Don’t Need Superpowers to Be Super

February 27, 2010

This Superhero Music Playlist should inspire little imaginations. I love that my 8 year old son came up with the title for this post. I can’t tell you how excited he gets when I make a new playlist. I’m a music fanatic. I must have been a DJ in another life! At every stage of [...]

1 comment Find out more →

Pretend City’s “Good to Go from Head to Toe” Open Invitation

February 25, 2010

You may have seen my post about Pretend City housing an initiative called: “Good to Go from Head to Toe.” At the time I wrote that post, I hadn’t visited the museum yet. My kids were thrilled when we were invited to learn more about the initiative and the activities at the Museum.
Way to Play [...]

0 comments Find out more →

How Play-Doh Saved Me From Restaurant Insanity

January 26, 2010

I have a love/hate relationship with Play-Doh. All the mixing, molding, shaping and tasting (oops, that’s just my 2 year old) inspires creative play. How can you not love a plate of pasta rolled from blue Play-Doh? Doesn’t the thought of a multi-colored snowman bring a smile to your face? I must admit, it’s the [...]

3 comments Find out more →

Calming the Indoor Chaos: Quiet and Cozy Play Ideas

January 21, 2010

We play outdoors in any kind of weather, unless safety is an issue. So in Southern California with street flooding, lightning, mudslides, and trees down – playing outdoors the last few days hasn’t been practical or safe (although we did squeeze in a walk to school when the skies cleared). In fact, a storm [...]

0 comments Find out more →

Pretend City: How to Play All Day While Growing Healthy Kids

January 19, 2010

Research shows children learn best and develop optimally through meaningful play and hands-on learning experiences. The new Good To Go From Head To Toe initiative offers free classes and events to help parents and caretakers understand child development and connect with children through play. One of the best ways to see if your children are [...]

0 comments Find out more →

Dara Finds Her Dream House

December 22, 2009

After searching high and low for almost thirty years, I have finally found my dream home. It has three fabulous floors which offer plenty of space for entertaining friends. The house also has plenty of great features such as a nice sized family room, dynamic kitchen, big bathtub and a pink elevator that moves up [...]

0 comments Find out more →

Indoor Play Activity Ideas

December 14, 2009

Indoor play activities are everywhere on the web, just hard to find. Even if you get outdoors this winter, you’ll no doubt be spending a bit more time indoors than usual. Here’s some ideas and resources for indoor play:
Imagination
I already linked to this list from KaBOOM! on our Facebook page, but here it is for [...]

1 comment Find out more →

See How We Play

November 19, 2009

Unstructured play means free play. Simple, right? We schedule time for school, time for homework, time for TV or computers, time for sports or dance or other organized activities. Don’t forget to schedule in time for free play. At least an hour a day. This weekend, we dropped everything and headed to the beach to [...]

1 comment Find out more →

Unstructured Play with Cardboard Boxes

August 23, 2009

Unstructured play with cardboard boxes is one of the all-time great childhood activities. My dad is a contractor and would bring home appliance boxes for us to play in all the time. We’d roll down our grassy hill in refrigerator boxes. We’d cut out windows for houses. We even brought our golden retriever in there.
The [...]