Today is Thursday! And my 3 year old daughter usually has her friends over after school, and I'm left planning the events and activities of the play date :) I do encourage her to give me some ideas of what she would like to do and we have the "how about ...." conversation. something I do enjoy very much and put a lot of thought and effort to have them fully entertained not having the chance to feel bored and whine cause I can't stand that! And what is the point of having kids over and not ready to be entertained!
1st activity
So as a start for my little ones to loosen up and release any unwanted shyness bottled inside of them, start finger painting every child loves the cold gewy mess it makes. I usually have them sitting down on cushions on the floor with a very low table and have scraps of old plain fabric cut into squares, then have them finger paint what ever they'd like :) (later all the kids can take them as giveaways).
2nd activity
Browsing around in IKEA I found the cutest colorful tin plant buckets, very small. Loved them! I couldn't resist them so I went ahead and bought 5 different colors, then went ahead and bought 5 small flower plants and we are going to do planting in my small patio. But first I’m going to have them decorate the pots with glitter, ribbons, stickers, paint …etc letting their little minds get creative. Sounds fun to me! Dirt and mess with their hands, I'm sure that would be fun for all of us!
3rd activity
Here I need a break, and they need to play together alone, the one thing they enjoy doing always is playing loud music and dancing creatively, they come up with the most hilarious moves! Shake shake shake ;p
Finally dinner has to be fun! Always have them prepare the dinner themselves including help from a grownup. Pizzas! Fresh homemade dough should be prepared overnight and have them do the job :)) it counts as an activity.
Simple Pizza Dough ;)
Ingredients:
1 Kilo brown flour
8 tablespoons powder milk
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 cup water
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, powder milk, salt, white sugar, yeast, baking powder, and water; stir well to combine. Knead the dough with your hands pushing and folding. Knead just long enough for the dough to take in a little more flour, and until it no longer sticking to your hands.Cover and rise until doubled in volume, at least 8 hours in a warm room, for best results leave over night.
Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
YOU cant be FUN and not serve SWEETS! when you have KIDS over!! always be prepared either with cookies, decorating cupcakes and eating them as an activity (wont be doing that today) ice cream, or simply marshmallows anything ;p haven’t decided yet!
I usually have the kids get their pj's so we all end the night nice and clean ready to go home straight to bed, and besides the process of them all changing and washing up is fun for them. They all sit nest to each other all five in their cute pjs all clean and tired watching "Peppa Pig" is like the last treat of the day :)
Ahhhhhhh long day ahead! Hope I don’t fall asleep while putting my daughter to sleep, I have a very bad habit of doing so lol.
