All I can say is, Zella came up with this entirely on her own, she was pretty proud to have figured out how to do it, and she was either playing "daycare" or "school," her two outlets of choice for pretend play tyrrany, argumentation, and mind games.

Incidentally, Elmo's eye injury was an entirely unrelated incident, and we believe it was actually an accident. But it does sort of beg for a light bulb hanging on a wire and a metal chair, doesn't it?

Seriously, though, is there anything your child has an impulse to do in a play setting that you "correct" or put constraints or limits on?

I remember back when Z was a toddler she used to chastize, throw, and hit her dollies one minute and coddle and "breastfeed" them the next. Occasionally we would have a casual conversation confirming that she knew we would never do X to a real baby, how do you talk to a real baby, how would that make a real person feel, etc., but have tried to remain hands-off regarding what she chose to express through pretend play with those who had no feelings to hurt.

How about you? Are mean talk, violence, mind games, or anything else your sweet little child can think up ever a problem in your household? Or do you figure they're working out things in play that they know aren't acceptable in any other context, and keep mum? Or do your kids just not do this crazy stuff?

The Chicago Children's Museum is taking DIY fort-building to the next level with the best kids' immersive exhibit we've heard of in a long time:

Everyday materials take on entirely new shapes and purposes to become a fort designer's dream. Leaning doors and headboards provide the perfect pre-made structures to begin your design. Cabinets without backs, upside-down coffee tables and a balcony with stairs also provide the perfect starting place. After you've staked out where to begin, use the endless supply of blankets, sheets, tablecloths, stools, brooms, and more to expand your space. Be on the lookout for windows, mirrors, table legs, and other items to use, too!

Now that you've built the perfect fort, now it's time to play in it! Make a sign to hang on the door using one of the moveable chalkboards to let visitors know who is inside. Dress up in a costume, make music, play games, or invite a friend and favorite doll over for tea. Will your fort be a house, a store, or a castle? How about a rocket ship? The possibilities are endless, but fun is guaranteed! [Link]

We learned about the exhibit from its project manager, Rick Garmon, a month or so ago when he contacted us to ask for permission to use a photo of one of Z's forts in a brochure he was developing to accompany the exhibit. For those of you seeking fort-building materials, the fort image he selected (we've uploaded the full PDF here for free download) combines pieces from the now-retired-and-replaced-with-various-unattractive-spinoffs Cranium Super Fort, a Fortamajig, and a play easel, which makes a nice tall wall and an excellent baby nook to boot. The entire thing could have been built using blankets and sheets, although those Fortamajig connectors are very handy.

They have a video intro to the museum on YouTube that is making me feel pretty sad that we weren't able to make it to this museum during our whirlwind weekend in Chicago during BlogHer. We took Z with us but relied on the conference's much-appreciated (and very well-run) daycare service. Here's what the museum has to offer - the standard equipment you'll see at most children's museums, but also some great big play structures:


Z and I hung out memorably after hours, and late into the evening, while Jenni attended most of the sociable BlogHer events. (Z is amazingly fun after bedtime - she gets goofy, not crabby.) My availability from about 4 p.m. on made a visit to the museum (located on the Navy Pier that was served as our primary playtime stomping grounds) pretty much impossible - the only day they're open past five is Thursdays.

If you're in the Chicago area this fall, do your child a favor and check out this exhibit together! We won't be in town to experience it, but if Z's behavior yesterday is any indication, we'll be building copious blanket and couch forts at home in the exhibit's honor.

And we'll be sure to upload photos of some of them to the infamous Couch Fort Confidential Flickr pool, which has some pretty smashing stuff on it already:



If you and/or your kids build a fort, post it to the pool, or write about it on your own blog and send us a link! We'd love to see it.

Z turned five today, and we've been centering enjoyable activities around the event for the past week. My birthday is a few days before hers, too, so between minor celebrations for me, family get-togethers, and true Z parties for multiple constituencies, we do a lot of partying in August.

Last night, we had one at the home of one set of grandparents, with lots of extended family and family friends. It began with an impromptu interpretive dance by Z and her friend S.




Shortly afterward, there were presents. One stood out a bit.


There are gifts that inspire immediate joy, and there are gifts that require a bit of taking in. These are usually the best.


This one was built by Jenni's own grandparents thirty years ago, when Jenni was around five herself.


Jenni's father spent the last few months reglueing broken dollhouse furniture, repairing shingles, and repainting the exterior walls and interior floors.




Everything that was salvageable, he preserved. I'm grateful for that.


The dining room.


The living room stairway.


In the master bedroom.




The bathroom.


Now we just need to figure out where to put it.

I swear I measured the opening from our former fireplace and compared it with the height of the dollhouse, but I have never been known for my precision with a tape measure. For now, the dollhouse is on our butcher block. Fortunately, Z's Learning Tower offers great access.


We saved the other gifts from us for her actual birthday.




This one's a book.


This one is a large cigar box full of dollhouse furnishings from my mother and sister, both dedicated dollhouse decorators in their day. Memo to self: Make more non-Christmas furoshiki.


This one is a "big person" camera to replace Z's Kid-Tough Digital Camera, which has seen better days. We searched long and hard to find one that would take decent digital photos yet not be very breakable, and not cost a fortune like the gorgeous but waaaaaay-too-expensive-for-our-family Olympus Stylus Tough line.

We'll tell you what we found tomorrow - not sure if the camera is widely available, but we can explain the logic behind what we selected that might help you pick out a breakable camera for a five-year-old.

We're only on our second day with a house in our house, but I think we've discovered a new center of play activity that will be hard to beat.


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Z has been creating inspired pretend cookies for months now by adding all manner of beads and other trinkets to play dough and patiently "baking" them in her play kitchen. For some reason, this application struck me as particularly imaginative.

When does your toddler's imagination make you laugh?

Green Toys, a California-based startup that launched a line of recycled-plastic kids' toys in February, sent us their Cookware & Dining Set to review at our request. The concept is irresistible (Kids' play cooking gear made from recycled milk jugs? Can you say "instant media celebrity"? Well, in our world, anyway.) so we wanted to know how good they really were. As it turns out, very.

The set features four generous place settings, complete with cups, bowls, plates, and all three standard utensils, as well as a pot and pan thrown in for good measure. All of the parts are of a very high quality - well designed, easy to handle. The colors, which are part of the plastic and thus eliminate the need for any paints, tend towards the pastel but are bright enough to have real character.


Since these are made entirely in California - which offers clear quality control benefits - the production cost is understandably a bit higher than if they were produced in China. Green Toys did a very savvy thing making their set so large - it effectively splits that cost with the consumer by offering so many more dishes than a cheaper set like this one, helping to deflect some of what would otherwise be direct competition and adding value. Combined with the "Made in USA" label, the safety pedigree (all their products are extensively tested for lead and phthalates and are BPA-free), and the environmental acumen (recycled toys really do make a difference) we think these toys represent a $40 investment many parents are willing to make. The huge pile of utensils that poured out of the box was really a surprise to us, and the added pieces make a big difference - setting a full table vs. just having a spoon, and having four place settings rather than four, opens up a lot of possibilities for Z's pretend play that a smaller set wouldn't.


We'll be phasing out Z's previous, unsourced, very shiny plastic play tableware in the days to come - it's probably made of PVC, and thus probably contains phthalates. In other words, we are pretty much the exact target market Green Toys is trying to reach: Parents who generally buy fewer toys but are prepared to pay for quality when they do, and are willing to consider all kinds of external factors when making purchases - environmental cost, potential health impacts, workers' rights, and quality - especially when those factors are presented to them as an affirmative consumer choice rather than as a form of self-denial. The pedigree is worth a lot; for this audience you pretty much have to bat 1.000 to earn the sales. Green Toys has done it.

The company also makes a cute play tea set for $25, a $20 set of sandbox toys, and an indoor gardening kit for $30.

Like what you see? Buy it on Amazon, or head to ZRecs sister blog Gardenaut for a review of Green Toys' Indoor Gardening Kit.

This post from the ZRecs Archives was originally published on April 21, 2008.

We have been interested in checking out some felt play food for a while - we have plenty of the block-based kind from Melissa & Doug and Haba - sliceable bread and veggies, tiny wooden mushrooms and chocolates in tins, a metal egg with a fabric white and yolk. Some things just seemed like they'd work better with felt.

But we really had no idea Lilly Bean's eats would look so tasty.


LillyBean is a maker of truly gorgeous wool felt play foods. Clever designs, great colors, nice details, and generous proportions set their stuff apart. A few things we love, did not request for review, and will probably buy soon:


What we did request, and LillyBean was kind enough to send us, was their salad mix, their pita sandwich, and a set of asparagus spears. We expected it to look nice, but seriously.


A few closeups.


Cukes come on the veggie pita, along with a lettuce leaf, two tomato slices, a cheese slice, and a pita pocket.


This thrilling cherry tomato garnishes the salad, which includes two kinds of lettuce (one is shown below), spinach (topping the bowl of salad above), and carrots (more on those shortly). But just one? More tomatoes! We think they could even sell these in a set, maybe in a little mesh bag. Or maybe we are just nuts about cherry tomatoes - we have a garden full of them, or rather of the plants, which are still working on those tomatoes.



These carrot pieces, most likely intended to represent baby carrots, were the one item we thought could have been better designed. They could have been made as rounds, like the cucumbers, but they would have bee pretty small and it would probably be hard to do justice to the subtle ring of the carrot's core that so define carrot slices. But as they are, they are a bit of a strained interpretation, unlike anything else we saw in the set. For the moment at least we have decided to treat them an unusual species of ravioli.


Gorgeous, firm asparagus spears. Sold in a three-pack, tied with a piece of string.

These sets are all packaged very nicely in ways that will make gift-giving with LillyBean a pretty obvious thought when you get your first order. This is not something we tend to notice as we're tearing into product samples, but each of the sets was packaged in its own type of plastic packaging that was clearly selected to show it off, tied with a small ribbon, and had a cardstock tag tied to it with a piece of string. The effect is one that combines professionalism and consistency (something that might be unfamiliar to people who own a couple of pieces of grayish, hairy felted toys) with an essential hand-tended feel.

You can buy Lilly Bean felted foods at the Lilly Bean store.

This post from the ZRecs Archives was originally published on May 5, 2008.