I’ve mentioned my kids attend a magical preschool, where play and imagination is the main focus. I’ve also learned that when you combine creative parents into the mix ~ magical things happen. A few weeks ago, the children from my twins’ class were taken into the nearby woods for a forest walk. I’m so happy I stayed to help that day because I watched an amazing adventure unfold! We started out along our regular trail and started to notice ‘fairy dust’ sparkling on the forest floor. Leading from the forest trail were little pathways of glitter that the teacher’s pointed out must have been left by fairies. Well upon further investigation the children (and parents) noticed fairy doors with accessories leaned up against the bottoms of trees and the effect was amazing. The doors with ladders, door knobs, windows, & fairy jewels melted into the forest and were beautifully earthy and playful – just like the gnomes and fairies that dance and play (we decided) within the trees.

This wonderful bonus in addition to walking through the forest on a glorious sunny day was so imaginative and I appreciated the effort from one very creative parent in our class. One of the moms had crafted the fairy doors herself and come to the forest the day before the forest walk and built little walkways to the doors with sticks, crafted ladders, propped up paper umbrellas so the fairies could sip their drinks without getting their wings wet from the rain, and more! Her older children had helped her ~ what a great eco-activity for children!  And don’t think this is only for preschoolers. After my older sons had finished school for the day, I took them to the forest that they had walked through for so many years attending the same preschool and they were SO excited by seeing the fairy doors. “I can’t believe they are real!  Look – here is the proof!” … my boys kept saying to each other. We told them to be gentle because if they forced a fairy door to open, it would vanish into air – but knocking was okay.

I have the eternal love for fairies inside me and hope to pass that to my girls (my boys obviously have it already) and I hope to decorate the nearby forest by my house with some fairy doors of my own this summer. Sharing the magic with a simple fairy door adds to the beauty of any forest and imagine the glee a child would experience by finding one unexpectedly?  I also thought this would be amazing for a fairy themed birthday party. You could do an eye-spy version at the party and leave goodie bag items at each tree stump ‘from the fairies’ like wooden wands to decorate, hand made fairy furniture, and more!

If you’ve been thinking of creating a fairy garden – you only need to look at these two sites.  The site called The Magic Onions will have your heart on-fire for any fairy fans. Check out her Fairy Garden and numerous articles on making fairy furniture.  She is amazing!!  I’ve also purchased from and been a long time fan of The Enchanted Cupboard. Her wooden fairy dolls and sets are magical and the perfect addition to any fairy garden or child’s playroom.

From Rosie ~ our wonderful preschool mom, to The Magic Onion and her dedication to sharing the magic of creating fairy themed items from nature, to award winning artist Beccijo – I only need to peek inside your worlds and become inspired – thanks for sharing ladies!

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Everyone knows a cool mom that crafts and makes snacks or meals that dazzle the mind. Well I know a mom of two young boys that puts extra effort into all these areas and the bonus is she loves to share them! I’ve asked her to pop-in and share the successful recipes or crafts that are hits with her boys and her first post is awesome. Without further a-due – here’s Rhonda!

We all know how important it is to eat fresh fruit and vegetables everyday. This is especially true for the cold and flu season throughout the winter months because they are full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. This is when you need to become creative with that same boring apple that your child has everyday. We all like to have some variety in our diet and it is not always easy to get a youngster try new things, so why not make it fun? I am always looking for fun ways to introduce new foods and make the same old ones more exciting for my two boys. I know they are not always receptive, so I try to involve them in the fun. Most children love to help out not only in the shopping experience itself but in the kitchen as well. This is one of my favorite healthy snack ideas that I found on Family Fun Magazine.

Cut a green apple into quarters and remove the core. Cut a thin wedge from one quarter for a mouth. For the eyes shape cream cheese into two half inch balls and set them in place. Insert a chocolate chip point side in, into each cream cheese ball. Use green grapes, cut in half, for the legs and feet. Slice four halves to create toes. Arrange as shown. I used lettuce leaves for lily pads but you could cut out paper lily pads for the full effect. Hope your children enjoy them as much as mine do! *Pesticides are used on most produce (especially apples), so whenever possible buy organic! It tastes better too!

Eat Healthy and be Crafty, Rhonda Berggren

Pictures were taken by Rhonda so you can see just how easy and fun this snack can be!

We are such big fans of Piggy Paint at my house – the twins squeal with delight when I ask “who wants their piggies painted?!!” It’s wonderful to use a nail polish on children that doesn’t have an odor and was created without chemicals.  The slogan for this all-natural nail polish is ‘Natural As Mud’ and it’s very accurate since the product is actually biodegradable! I’ve written about the ingredients and details of this amazing product line before, the purpose of this post is to let all of my fellow Halloween fanatics know it’s time to start preparing for the best holiday of the year!  Today marks the first day of October’s magical month of fun to start! And for those of you that don’t believe in decorating quite yet - just paint your toes, it’s okay, it’s Fall ~ nobody will see them.  =)

‘Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun’ is the 3-polish gift set that has arrived just in time for October and includes Sleepover (black), Glass Slippers (white), and Mac-n-Cheese (orange).  Order from the Piggy Paint site and have fun with your little monsters all month long.  While you’re on the Piggy Paint site, read Melanie’s tips on Piggy Paint as a learning tool. Very cute ideas to spark some new ideas for moms while bonding and painting nails.

Green Planet Parties is also carrying the individual Mac-n-Cheese color and has brought in some green items for extra Halloween magic this year. Add some sustainable Halloween zip with our 10-flag banner (perfect for a kid’s party or classroom event) and cotton tablecloth with 12 felt bat appliques that sprinkle like reusable confetti. Never buy plastic buckets or bags for kids to collect candy again because we’ve got low-priced cotton trick-or-treat bags that glow in the dark and are the size of the old pillow cases we used as kids. Skully hair accessories and organic candy like the newly arrived snack size gummy bears complete this unique and fun category.

Let the fun begin!  October 1st marks the day that my family no longer looks kooky for already having our house and yard decorated for Halloween and I can talk openly for my love of the pumpkin patch, hay rides, Nightmare Before Christmas, and planning costumes with my husband and kids. Enjoy what is truly the most wonderful time of the year.

Looking for a great open-ended project that will keeps kids busy and happy for days/weeks/months this summer?  My clan has been working on a playhouse from Color Me House and there is no end in sight to the enjoyment they are having.  You’ll always hear from experienced parents or grandparents that a child’s favorite toy is the box the toy arrived in.  I completely agree because if you give your kid a discarded cardboard appliance box, a set of pencil crayons or paint, and help them cut windows and doors with a knife ~ you’ll have very happy kids. 

The concept of playing with a left-over box is great for your own children, but you’d look silly giving this as a gift.  Also, large, sturdy boxes are not easy to find.  Well the folks at Color Me House have the perfect solution because they’ve produced 2 products (made in the USA) that are my pick as best summer toys.  Why are they so awesome?  The great designs are perfect for boys or girls with blasting out of your backyard in the rocket or spending hours in a spacious play house.  Both designs have wonderful details that kids notice and are designed for open-ended play because children can draw, color, and paint both the inside and outside.  They are also very easy to assemble, easy to store when kids are not using, and can be recycled at your curb when their shelf life is over.  Honestly, any parents thinking of purchasing huge plastic play houses for your backyard this summer should consider testing their kid with this product first.  Unless you purchase an outdoor playhouse 2nd hand, you’ll spend hundreds of dollars and you’ve just added to a huge problem with large plastic toys ~ most are not recyclable.  With how tentative I am to purchase plastic toys for the kids, with worrying about what they are made from, painted with, and how they’ll be disposed once my kids are finished with them, the Color Me House projecthas been wonderful.  It’s been the best toy for the different ages of my kids…everyone has something to color or play with. My 7 year old has been drawing planets and aliens on the roof, next to the pre-cut stars and moon the house came with (love the attention to detail).  My 5 year old and twin 3 year olds have equally had a blast with coloring and actually playing in the house.  There is lots of room inside the play house and the price point on this product is very reasonable ~ $39.95 US.  I’ve seen similar products for almost double the cost so it’s nice they’ve kept these affordable to parents.  Color Me House is located in the US, but they ship everywhere ordering via their website (incl. Canada) and sell both products in these retail stores.

I’ll post more pictures once my kids have finished their masterpiece. I’m hoping it takes all summer long.  <wink>

Related articles:

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I had a moment of sheer joy today when the first reusable banner flag was revealed from the spring line of Green Planet Parties reusable decorations.  The finishing touch of the purple felt letters to highlight this new fabric looks amazing.  The cloth banners are special because the quality craftsmanship is such they can become heirloom gifts that promote new birthday traditions and memories for a birthday child. They are also becoming a unique baby shower gift when the guests know either the gender or name of the baby – cool hey?  These banners have also been bundled into a product called ‘party decorations in a bag‘ and it includes a Happy Birthday banner, matching table runner, and 10 goodie bags all for $89.95, saving the customer 15%  rather than if they ordered the pieces individually. Here is a glimpse of what caused my excitement: 

Also new to the Green Planet Parties decorations is the re-vamp of our popular cotton tablecloth.  We decided to keep the felt appliques detached so it’s more like felt confetti that can be sprinkled or arranged to highlight what is special to the host.  Each tablecloth comes with 12 appliques, more than enough to highlight that special centre piece or punch bowl.  This keeps the party tablecloth in much better condition because for heavy stains, it can be washed in warm water, without the customer worrying about damaging the applique designs.  Check out the two beautiful designs in either butterfly or green leaf theme; matching felt goodie bags coordinate with these tablecloths and are whimsical and fun for both boys and girls.

Inspired by families looking to invest in a reusable ‘Happy Birthday’ banner with children of both genders, Green Planet Parties launched their felt Happy Birthday garland a few months ago.  It has been a very popular item and is the perfect solution for families with boys and girls celebrating special birthdays (mom and dad too)!  They also tie into the butterfly and green leaf theme as the customer decides when ordering if the middle circle separating the words ‘Happy’ and ‘Birthday’ is going to have a butterfly or leaf.   A great coordinating, reusable birthday decoration that will last for many years.  We have learned from our customers that it’s never too late to start these new traditions because girls, boys, moms, dads, grandma, grandpa, anyone appreciates a heirloom party decoration that can be hung and admired on their special day.