The weather has FINALLY warmed up here, so I wanted to share a terrific backyard activity that will keep your little ones entertained and learning for ages.

Check out our pretend play flower shop!

It's super-easy to set up with some dollar store artificial flowers, and a few jars, containers and scoops.

You'll love what we've used for the "potting soil". It makes for such a wonderful sensory experience and it's much more interesting than dirt (although that will do just fine if that's what you'd like to use).

Check it out with the link below!

The post Dramatic Play Flower Shop for Preschoolers appeared first on Happy Hooligans.

Finally getting back into the swing of things now that summer vacation is over! I hope you had a terrific summer!

I wanted to share this simple idea for pretend play with you.

I made these pretend paint palettes for my toddlers and preschoolers, and I can't tell you how much they love them.

They were so easy to make, and they provide hours of open-ended, imaginative, creative play.

They're a must-have for any play room or classroom!

Click the link below to check them out!

The post Pretend Paint Palette for Toddlers and Preschoolers appeared first on Happy Hooligans.

Set them up with this gorgeous play dough Christmas cookie activity.

They can play with this all month long because this homemade play dough lasts for months before drying out.

My girls pretended they were baking Christmas cookies for two hours this morning!

TWO HOURS! Think of all the things you could get done!

CLICK THE LINK to check it out!

The post Christmas Cookie Play Dough Activity for Toddlers and Preschooler appeared first on Happy Hooligans.

We took a couple of Pringles cans, and turned them into binoculars!

These are so much better than your regular toilet paper roll binoculars.

For starters, they're very sturdy, so they're easy for little hands to hold, and they'll stand up to lots and lots of play.

Secondly, they're nice and big, so you get a nice, big view of everything.

And thirdly, because we left the lids on, when you look through these binoculars, you get the sense that you're looking through actual lenses.

Oh, and they were a whole lot of fun to decorate too!

Great for scavenger hunts, pretend play, I Spy etc...

Click the link below to see all the fun we had with ours!

The post Pringles Can Binoculars Craft for Preschoolers appeared first on Happy Hooligans.

Eek! I'm so excited about it. I mean, look at how completely enchanting this little hooligan looks wearing it.

She wore it all day long. I'm not kidding. She adored it.

And guess what...

It was SUPER-easy, and took less than 10 minutes from start to finish!

All you need is some elastic, some fake flowers, and a glue gun! Check it out! Don't you just love it?

The post Easy Flowered Tiara Craft for Kids appeared first on Happy Hooligans.

The kids played for hours with this pretend play perfume factory! They chopped and snipped ingredients from the garden, and used tools and instruments to mix up beautiful potions in gorgeous little bottles.

This activity is so fun, and provides many ways for little ones to develop fine-motor skills, co-ordination and creative and critical thinking.

And it's so easy and inexpensive, you can set this up time after time, all summer long!

They'll never be bored again! Check it out!

The post Pretend Play Perfume Factory Activity for Kids appeared first on Happy Hooligans.

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