Why Pretend Play is so Important

We have had our little play kitchen for three years now and it's still played with regularly by both of the kids. Little Man loves to chop the fruit and make coffees, while Miss M feeds her dolls. Pretend play is such an important part of early childhood development for so many reasons (which I'll get into later in the post).

After a while though, it's always good to change things around and provide different play opportunities. We were lucky enough to be gifted this Large Retro Grocery Store thanks to Tiny Tiny Shop Shop. So we've relocated the play kitchen to another part of the family room to make room for the shop and to provide some new play opportunities. The kids are absolutely loving it and they are surprisingly playing really well together!

Gifted for the purpose of this review. 

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Why does my child eat at child care but is fussy at home? {Guest Post}

So many parents struggle with fussy eaters! I know I was as a child!! A perplexing issue that seems to be quite common is that fussy eaters are happily gobbling up their meals choc full of meat and veggies at Child Care, but turning their nose up at it at home. So frustrating!! So I called in Nutritionist & Feeding Therapist Simone from Play with Food to give her insight as to why this is a thing, and what we can do about it. 

Click here for Simone's recipe for this Roasted Carrot, Apple & Fennel soup. Yum!

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with us Simone, I know you are a busy lady!

*This post contains affiliate links :)

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Setting up a Play Kitchen to Encourage Imaginative Play

Our play kitchen has been one of our most used areas by both of the kids. Miss M got it for her second birthday, and since Little Man turned one, he has become more interested in it. He opens and shuts the doors, presses buttons, bangs on the pots and empties out baskets (we are entering that "trash the house" phase with him). Miss M's interest comes and goes, but it's always sparked when we add something new or change it up a bit.

We've added to our collection of resources over time (some #gifted for features on the blog and social media) - so this post aims to be a bit of a "one stop shop" if you're looking to set up a play kitchen or want to add some new things to your existing one. If you don't have one, it's the ideal present for a toddler or preschooler.

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Funny Stories From the Mouths of Fussy Eaters

Hey All!
My latest post was all about fussy eaters, and I shared a whole bunch of links, recipes and ideas that will hopefully help me (and you!) to get our little ones eating better. Kids can come up with the funniest reasons as to why they wont, or can't eat certain foods as they try to bargain and reason their way out of eating anything green. So I once again called on my favourites mummy groups to share the hilarity!

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HELP! I have a fussy eater! {+ some Sneaky Veg Recipes}

Let me tell you a story. Miss M's favourite food is pinwheels (you know those puff pastry scrolls with tomato paste, ham & cheese inside?). So last week I decided - THAT'S IT!! I'm going to get some vegetables into this kid! So I sneakily grated carrot & zucchini into a batch of pinwheels for her.

Unfortunately - she outsmarted me and it didn't work. She was not too be fooled!

*face palm

I was a really fussy eater as a child. I can remember having stand offs with my parents (and grandparents) at the dinner table on a regular basis. I liked everything plain and covered in cheese, washed down with a piece of bread. Carrots had to be raw not cooked. To get me to eat meat, I had to eat the number of pieces according to my age. At restaurants I would have a bowl of chips. On pizza night I would scrape off all the toppings and just eat the plain pizza base. I could go on and on.

So it's ironic (and often James laughs at me) when I'm trying desperately to get Miss M to eat meat and veg. But we have come to the agreement to avoid have dinner time arguments because that just makes us all stressed! Bribery also doesn't work for us. Miss M is too stubborn. So I sought out some advice (and sneaky veg recipes) from my fellow Aussie Parenting Bloggers and got such a fantastic response!

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