Ice Eggs

Here is a great, creative, cheap activity to do with the kidlets in the heat of summer.  How cool!

Bits and Pieces Activity Board

As my little girl gets older, and since she is still (for only a couple more months) an only child, I find that she relies heavily on good toys.  Right now she is immersed in the world of baby.  She dresses her baby, changes her baby, feeds her, plays with her, talks to her...it's amazing.  Although she is in love with her baby, there are times when you can just see her little brain wandering around (inside her little trouble-making body) looking for something engaging to do.  We have one of those antique Fisher-Price Activity Center toys, and she'll occasionally give it a whirl, but I think this would make an excellent addition to our collection.  Any grandpas out there looking for something to do?  Take all of those little mechanical bits and pieces lying around your shop and make it into one of those!  Awesome!

When Kid Stuff Takes Over the World

This is a great post about different ways to store kids toys and prevent them from "exploding" all over your house every single day.  I particularly like the last picture, suggesting the use of outdoor hanging baskets as toy storage - it gets them up off the floor (floor space is precious in my house), and also keeps them visible so that they'll actually get played with.  Plus, I have a few of those kicking around my basement...