Sophia looked at me with disdain and said, “hey mom, just open their legs up all the way and then they can sit.  That’s the only way they don’t fall over”.

I did it and instantly saw a brothel of tiny winged ladies of the night.  Ladies that spread like gymnasts and are tiny as toothpicks with unflappable boobs.  Lovely.

I always wondered how the girls played with their set of fairies.

There’s only so much you can do in the air.

Now I don’t even want to know.

*I am linking this awful iphone picture up to the #iPPP iPhone Photo Phun crew.  Disappointing photo but the grit is just so appropriate.  Want to play?  Check out  A Belle, A Bean & A Chicago Dog and Taming Insanity.

How Smarcks Work

The blocks with the cute little eyes and nose are the Smarcks. These are the blocks your kids will love to figure out.

They attach to each other and to a set of building blocks that have of different shapes and sizes with different patterns on each piece.  The Smart Blocks have little pins inside that react differently when they are put on top of different blocks.  This creates the puzzle.  As you experiment with the blocks, you reveal different songs, nursery rhymes, letters or colors. There are batteries in the Smarcks that are replaceable.  Ours have not yet run out and we play with these blocks a lot.  These blocks can be used with Mega Blocks although they will not respond.  I still love this for making huge towers and being able to use toys we already had.  Each Smarck has a little brain that responds differently to different pieces but also to sequences.  These create harder puzzles for children to play an entire nursery rhyme or song.  You can also tickle your Smarcks and make them laugh.  Each block has a ticklish spot that kids can find by experimenting with pressing down the pins inside in different combinations.  Making the blocks laugh is always an accomplishment.

How to Play With Smarcks

We have had these blocks for a couple of months and still are nowhere near hearing everything they have to say.   You can use the blocks simply experimentally and over time kids will use their memories to attach the blocks they want to hear a certain saying.  My son Miles loves to hear the Orange Block say that it is Orange like a tiger.  He has figured this tiny puzzle out and starts with this every time.  He  also knows the ticklish spot on this block and likes to giggle right along with it.  All the kids LOVE to hear the nursery rhymes and songs.  Even Violet, at 14 months old, can put two blocks together and bounce to the music.

Smarcks are made for ages 1 and up but even younger babies will like the sounds and colors as their siblings play.

The Smart Blocks for the youngest children are the Color and Manner Blocks.  They each have cute sayings about what color they are and incorporate good behavior.  For instance, the green block says “I am a block that’s green and I am never mean”.  There are 7 color and manner blocks available in your standard rainbow plus pink.

The next level up includes the Nursery Rhyme Blocks.  These are recommended for ages 2 and up but again, they are still fun for younger kids.  These blocks play multiple different nursery rhymes sometimes all at once and sometimes line by line, depending on where you put them.  They also play animal noises with the Old MacDonald song.  This is a hit with the kids.  Again, sometimes my kids want to experiment and see what they can figure out.  At this level, there are puzzle guides available on the Talking Building Blocks website that give detailed picture guides to solve the puzzle.  I really like this.  Not only are the Smarcks building toys but they are also actually complex enough to help kids learn to follow directions.  Both Sophia (4) and Miles (almost 3) are learning to copy the pictures to make the blocks play in a certain order.  I think this is a wonderful skill for kids to learn.  This is teaching them to identify a block as a drawing and attach that mental picture to a physical block and then merge those two concepts to complete the puzzle.  It takes time and I can see them focusing, making mistakes and correcting themselves.  Here is Sophia counting to figure out what piece she needs next.

The third level block is ABC’s, Shapes & Counting Blocks. This level is for ages 3 and up but I have found that all the 2 year olds love them even if they do not spell yet.  Both Miles and Sophia love these blocks. The green counting block counts the sum of the blocks it is placed on.  The yellow shape block knows 8 different shapes on the top of the blocks.  The orange ABC block spells 26 words.  No, we have not figured out how to hear all 26 yet.  Exciting, right?  Sometimes I sit there and try to find another word.  Yeah, they are smarter than me.  The counting blocks are meant to  build a base for the final level, the Math Blocks.

The fourth level is the Music & Dancing Lights Blocks.  Listed for ages 4 and up due to the difficulty of solving the final puzzle, they are hands down my family’s favorite blocks.  They each play a portion of the Smarcks 15 verse song and they light up with the music.  You don’t have to have the sequence to hear the song in separate pieces so all the kids adore them.  Miles rocks out as soon as the block starts playing.  We finally completed the puzzle with the directions using almost every one of the 70 blocks.   It was hard and the kids loved moving the blocks around our tower to create the song!

The final level is the Math Blocks. These blocks are meant for children ages 5 and up.  Sophia is loving them at age 4.  They are not meant to teach literal addition and subtraction, but to talk about math and make it fun.  I love that we are starting to talk about math and even sing about it with these blocks.

Smarcks are Still Blocks

At the end of the day, the kids love all the games and sounds but they still love building a huge tower just as much.  The interaction just makes it more fun!  One of our favorite things to do is build the tower a little loose and then push down and make all the blocks talk at the same time.  It’s a wild sound and the kids think it is hilarious!  The blocks are easy to build with and even the littlest hands can grasp and maneuver them.

One of my favorite things?  The smart little blocks all fit right back in the bin they came from.  No shoving or pushing or arranging needed.  This means the kids can clean up by themselves!

Overall

It took a little time for the kids to start figuring out what the blocks can do so it took a little time for them to get really into them.  While they play with the blocks by themselves all the time, they get a lot more out of them learning wise with a little grown up direction.  As they learn, they need a lot less help.  The blocks are fun and truly add a new level of learning to building.  I love that they are fun for all ages and that all of my kids can safely play with them.  It is obvious that this toy was made after testing with kids.  The blocks talk in a sing song voice that kids like.  None of them are scary or too loud.   I think it is great that there is a level of difficulty with these blocks but that it does not prevent the kids from enjoying them.  As I said, the blocks work when simply placed on another block, but they do special things as you figure out the puzzles and sequences.  Overall I would recommend the Smart Blocks for home or for classroom play as they are both fun and educational.  It’s no wonder Smart Blocks won a Dr. Toy Best Picks Award and a Parents’ Choice Award.  They get a Mommy Words Wahoo too!

Where to Purchase

The Smart Blocks are available through the Talking Building Blocks site.  The basic 70 block set with the blue talking block retails for $29.95.  Each additional set of 3 blocks retails for $19.95.  There are a bunch of great specials to start your set and save money.

Giveaway

One lucky Mommy Words reader is going to win the Learning Set of Smarcks (Smart Blocks).  This includes the 70 piece building block set, the 6 remaining Color Blocks, the Counting, Shapes and ABC Block Set and the Math Block Set.  This is a special set that retails for $77 and that is 30% off the individually priced items.  This is a great set and will provide entertainment for kids of all ages!

Required Entry

You must be a Mommy Words reader to enter giveaways.  It’s easy, simply join through Google Friend Connect on my sidebar or subscribe via RSS reader or Email and tell me you are one of my lovely readers .  You can find the buttons at the top of the site or use the links I just provided.  Then visit the Talking Building Blocks site and tell me one thing that the blocks say or do.  You can listen to audio samples and read about each of the blocks on the site.  Let your kids listen too.  It’s fun!

Extra Entries

1.  Follow @mommywords on Twitter here and leave me your twitter name.

2.  Follow @TalkingBlocks on twitter here.

3.  Tweet about this giveaway 1 time each day and let me know you tweeted!  Please tweet – Win the Award Winning Smarcks Talking Block Set (RV $77) @mommywords! http://bit.ly/gOjbHr

4.  Post about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to the post and get 3 entries!  Just leave me the link in 3 comments.

Would you please consider liking Mommy Words on Facebook here and  Smarcks on Facebook here?  We would love to connect with you!  Remember to let Smarcks know that Mommy Words sent you and please share this giveaway with your friends – it’s the nice thing to do!  Just Like this post below or share it on your wall!  Thank You!

Giveaway Rules and Disclaimer: This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. It begins on April 1, 2011 and will end on April 14 , 2011 at 9 pm. One winner with a valid entry will be selected at random using the And The Winner Is plugin.  The winner will be contacted via email if I have his or her email and must respond within 48 hours to claim. Otherwise, another eligible entry will be chosen. Good luck!

The Big Toy Book has a private sale area – it’s members only and free to join and offers savings of up to 70% off toys, games, books and more for kids!  You can also get credits when you refer friends and win prizes at their weekly twitter parties!  They have awesome toys on the site so check it out!  

The gift pack you can win includes  the Original “Where’s Spot” Book ($10), the Large Plush “Spot” by Kids Preferred ($30), the Spot – Storybook Zoobie & Book Set ($32) and the Spot’s Magical Christmas DVD ($9.99)!   

My kids were so excited to play with their Spot toys and to read the adorable book that originally came out 30 years ago!  Spot is a classic tale of a mommy dog looking for her puppy spot.  My 2 year old Miles loves flap books and thought it was hilarious to call out “No” when we opened all the flaps but the last.  Both Sophia and Miles love calling out the animals names and because Sophia is 4, we try to ask her what letter each animal starts with to give her a bit of a challenge.  It is also perfect for her to start reading as the words are repetitive.   The story is endearing and easy for children to understand.  They will ask for this one over and over and start to “read” it themselves as they memorize the pages. 

We had a lot of fun with the Spot toys int his package!  Spot was all over the house. 

The kids absolutely LOVED having Spot toys to play with around the house, to go to Sophia’s play school and to lounge around with.  I love how large the plush toy is and both of my kids agreed he was very cute and cuddly.  We love us a good game of hide and seek around here so we put Spot around the house and called out “Where’s Spot?” and then went to look for him.  Good times, people, good times.

The Zoobie Pillow and Blanket combination is our favorite.  We love to have pretend sleep-overs and this was perfect.  The blanket is big!  The kids can get the zipper undone and the blanket out themselves for their parties in the living room and they are almost able to turn little Spot back into a comfy pillow.  The blanket detaches with a zipper to be washed.  With a couple of Velcro tabs Spot becomes a cute stuffed puppy again.  It really is cool.   

If you have any little ones anywhere in your life you should check out The Big Toy Book and enter to win this adorable giveaway just in time for the holidays! 

Giveaway 

One Lucky Mommy Words reader will win a Where’s Spot Gift Pack valued at $80.00!  How do you win?  It’s easy! 

Required Entry: 

Do you remember Spot? I do.  If not, what do you remember as a classic toy that you would love your kids to play with too? Leave me a comment with your answer and you are entered! 

Extra Entries:  You must leave a separate comment for each extra entry to count and extra entries won’t count unless the required entry is done.  If you already subscribe  or follow Mommy Words this counts – just let me know!   

1.  Follow Mommy Words publicly by joining through Google Friend Connect and tell me you are.  It’s on the sidebar where you see all of my lovely readers’ faces. 

2.  Subscribe to Mommy Words via RSS reader or Email and tell me you are .  You can find the buttons at the top of the site or use the links I just provided. 

3.  Follow @mommywords on Twitter here and leave me your twitter name.  

4.  Follow The Big Toy Book on Twitter here and leave your twitter name. 

5.  Tweet about this giveaway 1 time each day and let me know you tweeted!  Please tweet – Win an Adorable “Where’s Spot Gift Pack with Book, DVD and Stuffed Animals! RV $80! @mommywords! http://bit.ly/gcZ2IV Please RT.   

6.  Post about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to the post and get 3 entries!  Just leave me the link in 3 comments.  

Would you please consider liking Mommy Words on Facebook  here?  I would love to connect with you!  Remember to share this giveaway with your friends – it’s the nice thing to do!  Just Like this post below or share it on your wall!  Thank You! 

Giveaway Rules and Disclaimer: This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. It begins on November 23, 2010 and will end on December 3 , 2010 at 9 pm. One winner with a valid entry will be selected at random using the And The Winner Is plugin.  The winner will be contacted via email if I have his or her email and must respond within 48 hours to claim. Otherwise, another eligible entry will be chosen. Good luck!

I love to find toys that all my kids can play with and that encourage imagination, movement and cooperation while being safe for all of them.  With a 4, 2 and 8 month old finding toys like this can be tricky.  Many times our favorite toys are the simplest and do not require batteries or lights to provide tons of fun!  The New Beginnings lineup of animal ride-on toys with their own pull toy babies are precious and really do get “back to basics”, letting my kids make up the games they will play.  While the toy is recommended for ages 1 to 3 both my slightly younger and slightly older children are still having a blast after weeks of playing with our new friends.  Aren’t they cute?

Well, you can win your own adorable duo!  Yippee!

We recieved the Trunk and Lil’ squirt to play with and due to my families love of elephants we were ecstatic!  The kids could not wait to open up the box and immediately loved that there was a mama and a baby.  I tried to tell them that they were buddies but we are all about babies over here.  I checked out the toys to make sure they were safe for all the kids and then said that baby Violet could be the first to try it out since she was our baby.  I love that her feet can touch the floor and that she can hold on to the handles or the ears to keep her balance.  The kids love to push her and she has so much fun.

When she tires of riding or her siblings tire of waiting for their turn she likes to sit with ‘Lil Squirt and pull him around or teethe on his pull ring.

She also likes to try and catch Trunk and ‘Lil squirt…they are helping give her the urge to crawl!

Miles rides Trunk around and around and around the house, stopping to “feed” ‘Lil Squirt a bottle or ask if he likes the ride.  I think it is adorable.  He also pretends everything is a rodeo and often yells yee-haw while riding.  Sometimes he even shows us his trunk.

Sophia is a little tall for the toy but she in no way seems to heavy for it and after taking many a turn around the house I am happy that she can play without hurting herself or the toy.  It is manufactured by Moose Mountain Toys , who make a number of ride ons that are sturdy and can handle play by older kids.  Around here – we like sturdy.  Sophia like to push off as hard as she can and see how far she goes.  Clearly she enjoys this.

Overall I love these New Beginnings ride-onsand would reccomend them for the pre-school set and as a great first ride on due to their shorter height and narrow frame.  Because they are slim, little legs are able to get over the seat and allow feet to touch the floor. I really like this feature.  I also like that Violet can hang on to the ears of Mama Trunk.  I adore that there are no batteries or music to drive me crazy. Also – no assembly.   I think it is wonderful that there are two toys here because sometimes sharing is hard.  Really hard.  The kids have so much fun with their new friends.

I will say that the small stature of the toy makes it ideal for smaller children like Violet (with adult supervision) up through the 2′s.  The kids love to play make believe games with their ride-ons and both Miles and Violet love to pull the baby, but I think as a purchase you would get the most use out of this cute duo by purchasing it while your child is younger.  For $24.99 this is a toy I would purchase after seeing how both my baby and my toddler are loving it and how safe and sturdy it is.

But wouldn’t it be nice to win one?

Giveaway

One Lucky Mommy Words reader will win a New Beginnings Ride on toy valued at $24.99!  How do you win?  It’s easy!

Required Entry:

You must visit the New Beginnings website and tell me the names of either the Giraffe or the Horsie.  It’s cute.  My kids like looking at the site.  Leave me a comment with your answer and you are entered!

Extra Entries:  You must leave a separate comment for each extra entry to count and extra entries won’t count unless the required entry is done.  If you already subscribe  or follow Mommy Words this counts – just let me know!

1.  Follow Mommy Words publicly by joining through Google Friend Connect and tell me you are.  It’s on the sidebar where you see all of my lovely readers’ faces.

2.  Subscribe to Mommy Words via RSS reader or Email and tell me you are .  You can find the buttons at the top of the site or use the links I just gave you.

3.  Follow @mommywords on Twitter here and leave me your twitter name. 

4.  Follow New Beginnings on Twitter here and leave your twitter name.

5.  Tweet about this giveaway 1 time each day and let me know you tweeted!  Please tweet – Win an Adorable Ride-On Toy from New Beginnings @mommywords! http://bit.ly/cAOJQ3 Please RT.  

6.  Post about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to the post and get 3 entries!  Just leave me the link in 3 comments. 

Would you please consider liking Mommy Words me on Facebook  here?  I would love to connect with you!  Remember to share this giveaway with your friends – it’s the nice thing to do!  Just Like this post below or share it on your wall!  Thank You!

Giveaway Rules and Disclaimer:

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. It begins on October 17, 2010 and will end on November 7, 2010 at 9 pm. One winner with a valid entry will be selected at random using the And The Winner Is plugin.  The winner will be contacted via email if I have his or her email and must respond within 48 hours to claim. Otherwise, another eligible entry will be chosen. Good luck!

Sophia Adored the Pretty Girl Ones. Shocker!  She adored playing with the Zhu Zhu hair salon! 

Miles spent most of his time with the new Kung Zhu Pets – battle hamsters who roll around in armour and try to knock each other over.  He loved watching them in the battle arena. 

The kids thought the huge hamster trail where they had to search for gold coins was a blast! 

Even though Sophia has never met a Zhu Zhu before – she was great at the “Which Zhu Zhu Pet” question game! 

After completing an obstacle course (at least 30 times) where the Zhu Zhu Pets staff were awesome…over and over again… 

…the kids got to ring a gong and were told they are Kung Zhus!  Needless to say they were big fans of the gong! 

The kids got to answer some questions and find out which Zhu Zhu pet they are.  This was the funniest part for  me because Sophia got Rivet – the special forces and explosives expert of the Kung Zhu gang.  She was devastated even though I think they probably got it right!  She’s more than a handful – as my readers know.  They were kind enough to let her go again and this time they answered the first question for her, which then takes you to a screen that asks if you are a girl or a boy.  Ask them about this if you have a sensitive child like me.  Second time around she got Peachy – phew!  She did not want to be a boy!  The kids got very official V.I.P. badges with a code on them for us to get their picture as a Zhu Zhu from the computer.  Ours aren’t ready yet but the kids can’t wait!  The badges are already favorite playthings in the house for doctors office, fashion show VIP access and more! 

Finally, for us parent photogs there are cute Zhu Zhus set up for photo ops!  A blogger’s dream!  The kids picked these for their photo albums at home!  Sophia is wearing her VIP badges in this one (she did not care that the badges were pulling her dress down to almost inappropriate places). 

Miles loved the skateboard hamster and kept shouting “Zhu Zhu”! 

Even Violet got to hang with the hamster!  She was trying so hard to lick him!

The Zhu-Niverse Tour is going on through October so head on over and find out where you can party with the Zhu Zhu’s!  They have stops at festivals and also at Toys R Us locations in each area.

I want to thank the Zhu-Niverse crew  for being so friendly and fabulous at yesterdays event in Pineville, NC and say that the kids enthusiastically give the Zhu Zhu pets a big thumbs up!  They would love some of these hampsters at home to play with!  I also want to thank Maria and Amy at BSM Mediafor letting the Charlotte Bloggers in on this awesome event!

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All Clean Mom!

 I asked if she could show me her kitchen and she told me I did not need to see the kitchen, just the floor in front of the doors.  I knew something was awry.  I asked how she cleaned the kitchen and she informed me with pride that it was “Just the way Daddy showed me”.  Houston, we have a problem.  Daddy has no idea how to pick up.  His mantra is out of sight, out of mind.  I give you Exhibit A.  No further exhibits are needed.

Daddy Showed Me How!

My husband showed her how to shove all her crap into whatever closet or bucket or niche was nearby and shut the doors.  He showed her how to hide the mess, not clean it up.  This is why he never knows where his stuff is.  I asked her why she did not clean her kitchen the way I do.   I was really curious.

A Clean Kitchen

She said cleaning that way is boring and takes too long.

Yeah babe – but my way actually puts things back where they belong so you don’t lose pieces or have things fly out of the closet when you open it.  My way is the mommy way and my way is the way we clean up around here.  Daddy is not so good at cleaning.  He fakes it.  This is like telling a lie.  You don’t want to tell a lie, do you?

Sophia said “No, but I like fun things and that is not very fun.”

Really?  Shocker.  Welcome to my world.  Wait until you have kids.  I am so going to say “I told you so.”

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Sophie and Miles Display their Silly Bling

The kids are obsessed with Silly Bands.  Essentially they are rubber bands that when off your arm take the shape of an animal or object.  Miles’ favorite is the purple Train.  Sophia’s is a purple and white castle and a pink mermaid.   When piled on your arm these bring me right back to the jelly bands and charm necklaces and yes, garbage pail kids of the 80′s and I can’t believe that my kids are old enough to actually participate in a fad. 

This Silly Band craze is so easy.  It’s about $5 for a pack of 24 similarly themed bands in multiple colors.  There are no nasty themed bands that I have come across although I am sure some perv makes them and I will admit some well loved bands do take on a definite phallus shape.  Oh well, that just makes it funnier for me when Sophie asks me why I am laughing at the inchworm and then follows up with “Mommy, do you want this one”?  No honey, keep your little penis.  Mommy is okay.

These Silly Bands are nothing like the last fad I can remember – the Garbage Pail Kids.  Doug Plug, Smelly Sally, Adam Bomb, Meg-A-Volt and the rest of the gang were nasty booger and puke and death inspired cards in the 80′s that me and my brother collected, traded and found absolutely hysterical.  I am sure our parents and parents the country over, feared for our generation.  These cards are disturbing.  I am always honest though – they are part of my childhood so I remember Bone Head Fred (his barber exposes bone on his skull) with fondness.

To be honest, the silly bands are totally positive.  I am completely stoked.  I  think they look cool on and I kid you not – these are teaching lessons.

Sharing:  If you have a majillion silly bands on your wrist and you wear them out and you meet a friend with no rocki’ bands of their own you MUST give that friend enough to rock some serious silly bling of their own.  This is not optional.  The kids do not get to take one measly band off.  They each must share a lot.  This has been a great lesson and now both Sophia and Miles love to give silly gifts to their friends and are even getting better with sharing other toys at home.

Appropriate Play:  All the trading and on and off is not good for school or temple or the dinner table.  The bands could also be a choking hazard for a little one so the kids are not allowed to wear these to school or to meals and they are learning that some things are really awesome and fun but might not be okay 24/7.  For some reason they are starting to get it and now remind me that it’s time to take our bands off.

Trading Skills:  Like baseball cards or sticker books, the kids trade these bands.  There are thousands of colors and designs and they want to get as many as possible.

Counting and Colors and Organization:  We count our silly bands.  We organize them by color or shape or theme.  We put them in special little boxes.  The kids enjoy tallying their numbers and announcing their wealth of bands in numbers.

So you see, these little bands are not so silly after all.  I am going to relish in this little fadwith my kids and enjoy the pleasure of a feel good fad before they are so old that they want to play with guns or get tattoos or any of the other crap that I am sure is in my future!

What fads are in your house?  What do you remember coveting as a child?  I would just love to know what else is out there and what I have to dread  look forward to!

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It's Not Quite as Bouncy Now

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Sophia's Retro Play Kitchen

Monday is DIY day in bloggy land and this might be my proudest achievement to date.  It is certainly the one that has brought the most joy!

My daughter has always loved play kitchens.  She finds hours of fun in making dinners, having tea parties and washing dishes.  I think it is just precious.  Now my son plays too.  My heart melts.

When we go to the mall and “play” at Pottery Barn Kids, we spend at least 30 minutes with the play kitchen (and another 30 with a vanity – next project!) every time.  I think all of their little kitchens are to die for.  Having said that, my husband would actually die if I was ever to purchase one of these kitchen sets.  Currently the cost for a 3 piece kitchen starts at $450 and runs up to a whopping $879!  This does not include a 10% delivery and processing fee!

Here was the look I was going for from Pottery Barn.

PB Retro Kitchen

So, I searched the web, found some wood and decided to build her a large kitchen of her dreams!  I happened to have had an old closet that had tile in it from before we moved the laundry area so she also has a white tile floor and a WORKING SINK!  We love this kitchen and we build it for a total cost of less than $150!  Pretty good wouldn’t you say?

Here is where I started.  I found a set of plans for a wood play kitchen at Lowe’s.com and then modified them to be closer to the retro look I wanted.   The plans were cute and I followed the dimensions but rather than fake on the sink parts and stove knobs I found the real thing for this kitchen.   I also built a drawer for below the stove to store pots and pans!  The shelves in all of the pieces are closet shelving.  The handles were a bit expensive at $20 all together but they were scratched or they would have been a lot more.  I think they really add something cute and retro feeling!  I also installed a little white shelf in the extra space to hold silverware and pantry items.  The paint was a can of red oops! for $5.  It is a little brighter than the perfect red but man is it close!

We have so much fun with this!  I found bins at Target to store dress up and other toys in cute khaki and red above the kitchen so that all the imagination fun mess would be contained in the closet and the kids would need to ask before we play with this!

Here is where I started after I cut my furniture grade plywood found on clearance!

A Long Way to Go

Here is the basic box assembly of the sink.  All of the pieces follow the same simple assembly pattern.  After I did one with hammer and nails I got out the nail gun but it is possible with just a hammer!

The Basic Box

Little Oven

Working Little Sink

Working Plumbing

The Fridge fits everything!  I love that I can keep all the food in the bins it came in.  It’s easy to clean up and easy to transport to the table for “parties” or cooking school!

Little Fridge

Old Laundry Closet

Little Kitchen in the Closet

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My princess loves her castle!  This is Sophia at the END of her birthday.  She is exhausted and still smiling!  And the castle still looks great after 25 kids playing in it!  There are more pics of the finished castle in the daylight further down.  Enjoy and good luck!

The Background

Sophia wanted a princess party for her 3rd birthday and I wanted a party on a budget.  She said she wanted a castle and I found a way to build her one!  The best part – it was very inexpensive!  The worst part – it was really hard work!

It was totally worth it.  The kids play in it every day.  Sophia’s party was a big hit and her social schedule is now full of tea parties with her friends in the afternoon in the castle.  I love how much fun it is to watch them play with it and I am so glad that I did this instead of getting a bouncy for a lot of money that then gets taken away at the end of the party.

The Project (as completed by me) Requires:

• The Mr. McGroovy’s Plan:  He has a ton of other AWESOME plans for boxes.  Please – if you do not use the widgets send him something for designing these great plans!  They rock!
• 8 Large Boxes (Wardrobe or Refrigerator) – you can find free or very cheap boxes.  See Mr. McGroovy’s tips on acquiring boxes for free!  If you want totally free start WAY in advance.  I spent approximately $30 for the 8 boxes and started 2 weeks in advance.
• Mr. McGroovy’s Box Widgets ($24.99) and/ or
• Plain ol’ Nuts and Bolts (Plastic or Metal) long enough to go through 2-3 layers of box. (app. $5)
• Corner Brackets available at any Home Depot or Lowe’s (app. $5)
• Utility Knife with sharp blade
• Drill (Hand or Electric)
• Brown Spray Paint (to cover markings on boxes) ($3)
• Large Black Sharpie (app. $4)
• Gray Paint (Oops! Paint $5)

In addition to the above the project requires patience, time and lots of love.

If you want to be very special…

• Black and White paint if you want to add highlighting to the stones.  (I chose not to as I opted to make my own castle cake for the party.)

The Nitty Gritty How To:

The first few steps are detailed in my Curses!  The Castle! post.

1.  Find Boxes – 8 of Them (9 if you want to build a throne).  This project is easiest if you have 8 of the same boxes.  I did not.  What is cheap is not always easy! I used wardrobe boxes.

2.  Cut all the boxes using utility knife so they are all rectangles without flaps and all look the same (curse a little a lot).  Save the flaps.  My next “how to throw this cheap awesome party” post will include how to make these into swords, shields and magic wands for your complete royal party!

3.  Arrange lovely boxes in castle shape as per plans.  If your boxes have big flaps like wardrobe boxes they should be at the top (we will deal with this later) or you will be unable to make the cuts to the boxes.  I also marked which boxes were what because I knew I had to move them to the porch.

4.  Make your cuts as per the plans.  Don’t forget your door!  I also left one flap from the wardrobe box that I made a “secret” door by painting it to match the castle.  You can see this in the picture below in brown.

5.  Rivet (or bolt) your castle.  This is not as easy as I had thought it would be but it was actually much easier where I chose to use bolts (not in the crawling tunnels) because the screwing was a lot easier than the pushing and let’s be honest – I like to build things and I am more comfortable with bolts than rivets .

6.  Cover the box markings with spray paint.

7.  Cut out the entry way(s) and rivet (or bolt) to the top front of the castle.  I actually used two entries – one at the front and back of the turrets to increase stability.  You will see the two I did in the final picture.  I measured from the opening of the one turret across to the opening of the other and then made sure that the arch would be about 6 inched taller than Sophia.  With refrigerator boxes this will be less of a problem but your castle will be very large.

8.  Add any interior braces / supports.  This was not in the plans but I did not like how much the castle moved and I thought that with 25 kids coming over I would find a way to make it more stable.  Also, wardrobe boxes have a flap on the top of one side which has to go on the top so this was a great way to bring the two sides together!  On side has the rivets and one has the bolts.  It was a LOT easier to do this with the bolts.

9.  Paint your castle!  Kids can help here!  Use a foam roller for the best coverage and least waste of paint.  This was the easiest part of the whole project!  Sophia had a blast!

The Princess Paints!

Only One Coat of Paint!

10.  Draw Your Lines for Brick Layers and Windows.  I used a template that I made from extra box flaps so my spacing would be even and my windows the same size.  Still, this took a long time.

11.  Draw Your Bricks.  I made a brick template out of the extra cardboard as well.  Again though, this was painfully slow when I think about it and not that exciting.  There are  a LOT of bricks to draw.  I tried to be centered on the front entry way and then below the center of each turret and work my way around from there.  Then draw all of your curved edges so the stones look more realistic.

12.  Cut out your windows and add any special treatments to the castle.  I added some lovely window treatments and a walk through out of tulle.  Sophia loves it!  I stapled it to the back of the cardboard and it worked great!  It did not even come down during the party!  It also hid the inside of the castle (bare cardboard) from the front view of the castle.  This picture is from the day AFTER the party and the castle still looks GREAT!

13.  Let your kids enjoy it for as long as you have the space!  Here is Sophia’s first Rock Concert at the castle.  Hannah Montana is in the background thanks to her cousin Nicole!

I love this castle and it is totally possible for far under $50 if you start way ahead on boxes and already have the drill and such.  My total cost was about $75 for everything.  It would be less if you chose to build this without the rivets but them like I said, please send Mr. McGroovy something for his incredible plans!  I am reusing this castle, cutting off the turrets, repainting, and making it a western store for Miles’ 2nd birthday party with a cowboy theme.  Since I also made swords, shields and wands out of this I had very little else to get for an awesome princess party!  The money went a long way!  And we get to keep the castle!

Next Box Project:  A Vanity for my little princess’ room for under $15.  She is SO excited!

I am posting this to the DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.  Please check out Kimba’s awesome blog and all the other fabulous DIY ideas…most for your own home and not your child’s play place.  Enjoy!

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