In My Kitchen is an excellent gift choice for a little somebody who is always cooking up an imaginary feast!

My girls have always enjoyed preparing delicious make-believe meals, so this pretend kitchen set is perfect for them! We added the Super Cooking Set from ALEX, which comes with stainless steel pots, tops, pans, utensils and oven mitts, to our kitchen for even more fun. The complete set took less than 10 minutes to assemble.

The tabletop sized kitchen has a cook top, sink and oven all in one.  There are knobs you can turn for adjusting the temperature, setting the timer and turning on the hot & cold water. The backsplash is painted with colorful images of seasonings, measuring cups and other items you would find in a kitchen. It even has a place to hang up your oven mitts.

The girls had a blast cooking up a storm and I know they will continue to enjoy this kitchen for many years to come!

Why I like this gift:

Solid construction –the entire unit is made out of durable wood.

Compact size –a great pretend play kitchen that doesn’t take up too much space

Playtime benefits – encourages imaginative and dramatic play

Do you know a little chef? What is their favorite thing to serve up?

My Workbench is a dream-come-true for a little someone who likes to tinker with tools.

After assembling the wooden workbench in less than 15 minutes, I invited the girls to come in and get to work. This set includes 5 wooden tools – a hammer, screwdriver, wrench, saw and carpenter’s square. It also has over 30 brightly colored nuts, bolts, nails and more to help you build a truck and robot!

Lori and I got started by naming each of the tools and figuring out what their function was. Her favorite part was measuring objects along the ruler located on the front of the bench. Julie loved banging the wooden nails into the pegboard with the hammer. She also enjoyed playing with the robot and truck that her big sister built. The workbench kept them busy for quite a while and I am thrilled to add it to our playroom.

Why I like this toy:

Introduction to Building and Tools – Fun way to learn about each tool and its purpose.

Skill Building – Helps to develop hand-eye coordination and improve fine motor skills.

Great Design – Every tool has a peg for hanging and there is a shelf on the bottom to store completed projects and unused pieces.

Sturdy Wooden Construction – Durable toy that holds up to your little master carpenters.

What does your little DIYer like to do around your home?

As soon as Lori and Julie opened up the package, the girls were so excited to play with the yummy looking wooden cakes! 16 pieces all brightly colored, they are decorated with sprinkles, cherries, and frosting designs –what fun!

Next, they enjoyed taking turns stacking the different sized cakes onto the topsy-turvy baker.  They counted each cake (without prompting from me!) as they carefully placed them onto the baker’s shoulders. The girls noticed that if one side had more cakes the baker would tilt in that direction, and if he had too many cakes to carry he would fall and drop them all –this always elicited many giggles.  This was a fun way to experiment with balancing different weights, and to see cause and effect in action!

Why I like this toy:

Cuteness Factor: Kids will love to play with this adorable baker and colorful cakes.

Fun While Learning: A great way to introduce the concept of balancing weight.

Encourages Counting: Help little ones count out loud all the way up to 16!

A cute side note: When Lori was younger she used to call bakers “cakers” she told me one day “mama they make cake so they should be called cakers not bakers!” It makes perfect sense… (She also called sweeping the floor “brooming the floor”) Webster, look out!

We went over the instructions and she was so happy to learn that she could make an entire blanket without having to sew one stitch! The fabric for the sleeves was already sewn into place.  It was easy to knot together the sides of the sleeves and tie on colorful, pre-cut fringes for some extra decoration along the bottom.  Super cute!

After just about an hour of work, Chana now has a blanket to keep her happy and warm all winter long! And because this blanket has sleeves, she can stay toasty while using her arms to talk on the phone, do homework, eat popcorn, and more!

Why I like this project:

-Super soft fleece and brightly colored happy faces makes this blanket adorable and cozy!

-If you know how to tie a knot, then you know how to make this blanket! No sewing, gluing or complicated instructions here!

What kinds of indoor activities does your family do when it’s cold outside?

Lori started off by collecting leaves and flowers around the outside of our house. Then she layered them in-between the blotting paper and the cardboard. Layer after layer she added all of her discoveries. There was a lots of space for the leaves and flowers (we didn’t even use all the layers).  I helped screw the flower press shut so the flowers would get nice and flat. Then we waited a few days.

It was super exciting to open up the press and see how all the flowers and leaves looked now that they were flat. Lori used the included tweezers to carefully lift the flowers up and set them aside for card making.

This kit comes loaded with tons of supplies in addition to the wooden flower press. Inside the box we found: glue, a hole puncher, paint, brushes, colored paper, beads, ribbon, pre-cut cards, gift tags, bookmarks and more! She carefully glued each flower and leaf down and used the included paintbrush to help spread the glue on the delicate petals. She laced and beaded the ribbon and used all the supplies to make some really special cards. She even painted the flower press too!

What is really nice about this project is that the flower press can be used by children as well as adults. I could have used this in college when I was dating my (now) husband. I pressed so many flowers in-between the pages of all my books, it made it a little hard to study!

Why I like this project:

• Sturdy wooden flower press can be used for years and years!
• This kit is filled with art supplies to make dozens of projects with the pressed flowers and leaves.
• Encourages crafting with materials found in nature.

Have you ever pressed flowers or leaves before?

She was extremely excited when I handed her the box! Not only did she get a new umbrella, but this one is covered in adorable candy artwork. It has a pink handle and comes with six permanent markers to color the candy designs. She couldn’t wait to get started!

I thought it might be hard for Lori to color on the umbrella surface because it wasn’t flat, but she didn’t have a problem at all. In fact, she really spent a lot of time carefully coloring it all in. This kept her attention for a good portion of the afternoon. Once she completed it, she needed to take it outside and try it out (even though it wasn’t raining).

She absolutely loved this project! The six bright markers that came with it are permanent so when she uses it on a day when it’s actually raining all her hard work won’t wash away. Sweet!

Why I love this toy:

• This art project is a fully functioning umbrella that can be used on rainy days!
• The candy artwork is sure to appeal to any girl.

Have you visited Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York City?

What is your favorite type of candy? We love jellybeans in our house

Such an adorable sandwich! This sandwich can be stretched open to reveal lots of yummy ingredients inside. In-between the two super-soft plush buns are cheese, pickles, onion, egg, lettuce, slices of tomato and more just waiting to be explored, and they all crinkle when you play with them! There is also a bell on one side and a clear teething rattle with colorful beads inside on the other. What baby wouldn’t want to take a bite of this?

Why I love this toy:

• Multiple textures to explore and keep baby entertained.
• Bright colors and whimsical artwork make this irresistibly cute!

What is your favorite kind of sandwich? I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours!

I assembled it myself in about 10 minutes (not hard at all). It comes with a big roll of paper that gets fed over the top of the easel and is held in place with the included easel clips. Then, when your artwork is dry, you can use the handy paper cutter to tear it off with a nice neat edge, and the paper is already in place for the next time. There are two sturdy plastic trays to hold paint cups, brushes and other supplies on either side of the easel. In addition, one side of the easel is a chalkboard, and the other is a magnetic dry erase board!

We used the ALEX Paint Blast and Paint & Sparkle paints, and they were awesome! They are made here in the USA, they are washable (yay!) and the colors are bright. There is even super shiny rainbow colored glitter in the Paint & Sparkle – Lori was thrilled!

With the non-spill paint cups, there was hardly any mess at all. And if I didn’t want to break out the paint, there are still many alternative ways to use the easel… magnets, markers and chalk – just to name a few.

The easel is adjustable to three different heights. I set it on the shortest one so that both girls could reach it easily. I am delighted that it can grow with them so they can keep using it for a long time to come. I also love that two kids can work at the same time. They still have to take turns if they both want to paint, but while Lori was waiting for her turn she “sketched” out what she wanted to paint on the chalk side.

When you are done for the day and need the space, the easel collapses in seconds and can be stored easily.

Why I love this toy:

• It is always more fun to paint on an easel, which encourages your child to let out their inner artist.
• Adjustable height provides many years of use!
• Multiple surfaces: great for paint, chalk, markers, crayons and magnets, too.

Do you know a budding artist? I would love to see some of their work. Please share your child’s artwork on the ALEX Facebook page and we will put it in our permanent collection!

Just in time for Halloween, here is how to make Swamp and Snake Dessert:

You will need:
1 cup of pre-made vanilla pudding (we made a larger quantity and served ours as dessert for the whole family)
3-4 drops of green food coloring
Gummy snakes or worms
Crushed vanilla wafers

Instructions:
1. Mix the pudding and food coloring in a bowl until well blended.
2. Spoon the pudding into a dessert dish.
3. Sprinkle the top of the pudding with the crushed vanilla wafers.
4. Add gummy snakes or worms and serve.

Lori had fun stirring, scooping and, of course, tasting her wormy dessert! EWWW!

Another cute idea we found in the Halloween section of the Kid Concoctions book is to make little ghosts by tying a tissue around a lollypop. We added little googly eyes to make them happy ghosts!

Do you have any creative Halloween ideas to share? Or maybe some spooky surprises planned? I would love to hear all about them!

Lori had such a fun time walking around like a monster with the Monster Clompers! She liked taking giant steps and making silly monster sounds. Check out this short video clip to see them in action:

The Monster Mitts were so much fun to play toss with! Lori was able to adjust the mitt and put it on herself. Then she giggled every time we played catch, because the ball stuck onto her monster mitt with a hook and loop surface. Julie and Lori even played catch together and had a great time.

Why I like these Monster toys:

• Great for indoor and outdoor active play in any season.
• Both products help improve coordination and encourage focus and concentration to achieve success.

If you’re ready for more monster-themed fun, check out the free Moody Monster app from ALEX!