The Very Best Toy Ever.
Last Sunday afternoon I knew I didn't want to leave the house. We had spent Saturday driving around to 5 different events and while it was fun, we were all exhausted by the end of the day. On top of that I had a cold and my husband was working so I needed something entertaining that wouldn't require a lot of effort on my part. What's a mom to do?
I racked my brain and remembered a box in the basement that contained something I got on sale a long time ago...a big cardboard playhouse. One just like this ($32 including shipping on Amazon). It is 3 feet tall and includes markers. I was saving it for a snow day, but since we haven't had any of those this year I thought that today was a perfect day to get it out.
I brought it upstairs and showed the kids and they went nuts! They could barely wait for me to assemble it before they started coloring it. (Good news...it took less than 5 minutes to set up). Then they jumped right in! My two kids (ages 7 and 5) colored and played with that house ALL day long. They each claimed their own sides and put their unique artistic talents to work. My daughter's side had lots of pink and purple flowers and my son's had a few flags hanging by the door representing his favorite teams. They ventured inside the house and created a fireplace and a table with a vase of flowers on it. We had a picnic lunch inside the house, and pretended to take naps. (I miss the days of actual naps!) We colored and colored and colored and colored. I even got in on the action...even a tired mom with a cold can enjoy coloring a tree with her kids. :)
When my husband got home from work they were so proud to show off their house...they had worked so hard on it for hours! They begged us to sleep in the house and we thought, "Why not?", so they each took turns having the house in their rooms and sleeping on a small blowup mattress inside. (Yes, it's that big...they both had plenty of room to sleep).
Rarely does a toy entertain BOTH of my kids for such a long time and in so many different ways. They were pretending and playing together and being artistic...exactly what a mom likes to see. It was well worth every penny I spent on it. I just had to share this toy with other parents. I think kids of so many ages would love it. You can pick the one that we got on Amazon, or check out this site that has some non-house options like pirate ships and princess carriages. I really loved the one we had for a few reasons...it was big enough for my 7 year old to play in without ducking too much (even I could sit in there comfortably) and the markers that it came with had serious staying power (nothing worse than markers running out of juice before you are done). It is also very sturdy and has done well with being moved around and played in all week.
If you don't want to spend the money on something like this, just save the next giant box you come across and let your kids make their own playhouse. But if you aren't buying a fridge anytime soon, I promise you that the $30 you spend on this toy will be well worth it!