Play

Shelby Farms Playground

October 7, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Shelby Farms playground is a Memphis, TN gem. The park is a great place to take the entire family for free and it is in the heart of East Memphis.

At 4,500 acres, 10.65 miles of urban trail (referred to as the Greenline) & 40 miles of paved and unpaved scenic trails. You may see people accessing these trails by foot, on bikes or even horseback! Shelby Farms Park is one of the urban parks in the country and shouldn’t be missed if you are in Memphis.

Shelby Farms park has changed a lot in just the last few years. When I think back to it as a kid, I remember a big walking trail and the buffalo. And that is about it.

But over the last few years, it has expanded into so much more! There is so much to enjoy and the Shelby Farms playground is like nothing else in the area!

There is so much to do but my kid’s favorite is definitely the playground. The Shelby farms playground offers all kinds of active play for young kids all the way up to bigger kids. My kids beg to go and don’t want to leave!

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

More Fun Things to Do in Memphis With Kids:

The Art Project – An Art Free Play Experience

7 Tips for The Children’s Museum of Memphis

Creation Station – The ultimate FREE Indoor Playplace

Where is Shelby Farms Playground and Park?

So to enjoy the Shelby Farms playground, you first have to get there.

Address:

6903 GREAT VIEW DRIVE NORTH
Memphis, TN 38134

The First Tennessee Foundation Vistor’s Center can help to direct you around the park and also has essentials like restrooms and water bottle filling stations.

You can park in the parking lot here and access the Woodland Discovery Playground by walking a short distance. It is nothing crazy but if you have small kids, it would definitely be stroller worthy.

If you don’t want to walk that far, there is a large parking lot at the Woodland Discovery playground area that you can park your car.

Shelby Farms Park – Woodland Discovery Playground

Mental Floss called this one of the 16 Coolest Playgrounds in the world. So it is kind of a big deal.

When you first enter the Shelby Farms playground, there is a large open green space. You will often see people throwing a football or just relaxing in the grassy area. Then you will find the “nests” that contain the different play areas.

Look how cool this aerial view is & it doesn’t even show everything!

Image Credit: James Corner Field Operations

Sand Pit & Slide

The first area to the right is the sand pit.

There is a water table feature that will pump water down a series of wooden planks.

Tons of sand to put your feet in and play with. I often times see younger kids bringing small shovels and beach buckets to play with in this area.

There is also a toddler sized slide and an open air play hut to use in this area.

The landmark of this area in the big wooden climbing structure and slide. I have gone down this slide and will tell you that it is fast. Not like kinda sorta fast. Super fast.

I would not recommend anyone under the age of 4-5 going down it. Not to mention the climb up would be better suited for an older child. I have seen quite a few parents have to climb up to get a scared kiddo more than once.

There are a couple of benches in this area for the parents too.

What I Love about the Sand Nest

It is great for parents with toddlers and older kids. My 1 year old loves the small slide and the sand while my 5 year old wears herself out going up the big slide. It is nice to be able to keep both of them in the same area, having fun.

Slide Nest

The next nest is the one with all the slides.

There are two chute style slides that can be used with a burlap sack to slide down. These sacks can be hard to find but you can go down without one and still have fun.

There are two other large slides that can fit multiple kids across all at the same time. This is a fun change since slides are typically one at a time.

There are also ropes and rock climbers that can be uses as a fun way to get back up the hill after sliding down.

A music wall with some noise makers is something that we usually bang on for a minute on our way out.

What I Love about the Slide Nest

Since the slides are so wide, it makes it super easy to slide down with a toddler if you want to give them some extra help. Don’t get me wrong, I have certainly crunched my legs up on a twisty traditional slide before but this just makes it so much more comfortable.

Swing Nest

The swing next will come up next. It is filled with several different ways to swing.

There are traditional swings and baby swings. There are also several ADA swings available.

There are tire swings and ropes.

What I Love about the Swing Nest

We usually do this after doing the other two and so it is a relaxing way to end our play time. There is something kind of relaxing about pushing your kid in a swing.

Climbing Nest

This area is currently closed due to repairs and renovations.

When it is open, it is a large area full of ropes for climbing. This area is best suited for school aged kids due to the difficulty of scaling the ropes course.

What Else Is There To Do At Shelby Farms?

So much! Don’t stop at the Shelby Farms Playground, there is so much more to offer.

I think there is literally something for everyone that enjoys the outdoors at this park.

Ziplines

I haven’t done this yet but I really want to! I always see people on the course and it looks so fun!

Your kids have to be at least 10 years old so keep that in mind. The park website also says to allow 2-3 hours to complete the course so keep that in mind.

The ziplines are a paid activity and it isn’t cheap. However, keep a look out on groupon! I have seen passes on there for about 1/2 off before. You can read more about the ziplining at the park here.

> 20 Lakes

If water fun is your thing, there are tons of things that you can do to enjoy the more than 20 lakes on the property.

You can rent paddle boats, canoes, kayaks and stand up paddle boards in order to experience the lakes from a different view. And you can bring your own non-motorized boat if you have one.

Fishing more your style? There are no fees to fish at Shelby Farms but if you are 13 or over, you will need a TN fishing license. More fishing info here.

Food At The Park

Food options at the park is a relatively new undertaking.

The visitor’s center and the FedEx Event center both have new restaurants coming in the Fall of 2019.

Cheffie’s at Shelby Farms Park will be in the Visitor’s Center and offer breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

Coastal Fish Company will be in the FedEx center and offer dinner daily and lunch/brunch on the weekends only.

You can also find snacks and vending options in the Visitor’s Center gift shop.

Another favorite is the food trucks that will pop up to offer fun local specialties. I see Memphis’ choice for gourmet popsicles there fairly often. So if you see the Mempops cart, be sure to stop for a yummy treat.

Laser Tag & Paintball

This is another one that I have not personally used but I’m sure it would be popular with the kids. More info about these activities can be found here.

Water Spray Park

The splash pad is only open seasonally, so you will want to check the website for available dates.

This is another paid experience and costs $5 for kids 3-10 and $5 for adults if the child is 0-3 (up to 3 children 0-3 can accompany one paid adult). There is a 50 minute time frame on this

Dog Park

100 acres of the park is dedicated to off leash fun for your dog. There are ponds, unpaved trails and open fields for your dog to have a blast and run free (with your supervision of course).

Just keep in mind that the other areas of the park that allow dogs do require a leash (trails outside of the dog park etc).

I hope that if you are in town or new to town that you will check out the Shelby Farms playground and park. And if you want to eat a yummy breakfast before you go, be sure to check out Brother Juniper’s near the University of Memphis. It is about 15-20 minutes from the park and really yummy.

Boo-La-La Witch Spa Book Activity

September 21, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Treat your kids to a day at the witch spa – a fun book accompaniment to the Boo-La-La Witch Spa Book.

Book accompaniments are something that I have always seen on Pinterest but never actually done with my kids, until now. Another blogger that is in one of the social groups that I belong to posted the other day that her girls had been loving this book.

So of course I had to get it and read it to my kids. My daughter and I love a good book, especially if it has to do with Halloween.

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. We like to make tons of no bake treats like these mummy snack cakes, pumpkin cupcakes and spooky ghost bagels.

After reading this book once, we knew that a Boo-La-La witch spa book activity was in order. It was a really easy and inexpensive way to bring the book to life and my 5 year old had tons of fun getting to participate in these witchy spa treatments.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Boo-La-La Witch Spa Book Activity

The book is basically about a witch that is overworked and stressed after a busy Halloween night (sounds like a mama I know after a Monday). It is a really cute book with nice illustrations.

We had lots of giggles and fun by acting out some of the fun experiences that the main character did during her spa day.

Dollar Tree Supplies

I spent about $5 getting the supplies for this Boo-La-La Witch Spa Book Activity from the Dollar Tree. It is awesome because you can find tons of stuff that you already have at home to make this witchy spa day more fun.

Here is the list of things that I used. Some of these were bought & some we had already.

Black Nail Polish
Bag of Candy Corn
A 4 pack of Pudding Cups
Blue Hair Highlight Kit
A can of pumpkin
Candles
Makeup Brush
Plastic Spiders

Witch Spa Activities

To start this boo-la-la witch spa book activity, we got our copy of the Boo-La-La Witch Spa. We decided to read through the book do our activities as the little witch in the book did them. Here are some ideas for things that we did.

Set the Witchy Spa Mood

We lit candles to help us start to relax and give us some mood lighting.

A Candy Bar

I set out a little dish of candy corn and pumpkins that we snacked on.

Spa Activities

My daughter wore her witch costume from last Halloween for her day at the spa. But she also put on her bath robe to be a little more festive!

Next we had some spooky tea (apple cider).

A broom facial with a makeup brush.

The pumpkin mask did not go over well. You know when you go to a cute Pinterest inspired birthday party and all of the food is named to go with the theme? Well, she is not eating anything that sounds weird. Same thing for this mask. She let me dab it on and then she wanted it off. And fast.

We used the plastic spiders that I got at the Dollar Tree to do a head rub.

A spooky sauna was created in our bathroom thanks to the help of shower steam.

A yummy candy corn dessert was a nice way to break up our spa day. We used a vanilla pudding cup and candy corn. Even little brother joined in on this part!

I even found a highlight kit at Dollar Tree so she got some temporary highlights! (They washed right out)

Our last spa event was at our in home nail salon. I painted her nails black and we added silver glitter for the “Stars.”

Cookie Cereal Sensory Bin

August 31, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

An easy set up cookie cereal sensory bin to encourage fine motor skill development and imaginative play to keep kids busy.

Sensory bins are such a fun way to engage with your children outside of traditional toys.

My favorite types of sensory bins for toddlers are the grab and dump kind. You know, grab a few things, throw them in a bin and call it a sensory bin. That is pretty much how this cookie cereal sensory bin was born.

A few simple items from the pantry and the kitchen is all the you need to get this activity ready for play.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Cookie Cereal Sensory Bin

“I hungee (hungry)” is a phrase that I sometimes feel like is said 3,000 times a day by my toddler. So this day was no different. He was walking around, shouting his favorite phrase.

He saw the cookie cereal in the pantry and wanted some for snack. I was about to get him a little cup of dry cereal when I had an idea.

I could combine play time and snack time in a fun sensory bin. Here is what I did for the cookie cereal sensory bin. It is so easy!

Cookie Cereal Baking Sensory Bin Materials

Cookie Shaped Cereal

Baby Spoon or Larger spoon depending on the child’s motor skills

Silicone Muffin Liner Or Paper Muffin cups

Lid to Tupperware for a “baking sheet”

Cookie Cutter

Play Prompts for Cookie Cereal Sensory Bin

Pretend Baking

My little guy is turning two in a few months, so his imagination is not developed like my 5 year olds. Nevertheless we still worked on some ideas to play pretend in order to help him develop those skills.

When I do this with younger kids, I just give them ideas about how to play pretend. Typically the child will them mimic your actions even if they can’t come up with it on their own.

We pretended to make cookies. We placed cookie cereal on the lid to “bake” the cookies. We stirred the “cookie dough.”

Scooping and Transferring

Starting when your child is still a baby and all the way to elementary school you will hear about the importance of fine motor skills.

Fine motor skills work to develop those little muscles in your child’s hands and fingers. This development will help them to do things along the way like write their name, feed themselves and manipulate buttons and zippers on their clothing.

It is so important to develop these skills early on. Thankfully, you can do this through play so that your kiddo won’t even know they are “working.”

In order to work on these fine motor skills while playing with the cookie cereal baking sensory bin, we practice scooping and transferring the cereal.

I encouraged my toddler to scoop cereal using a spoon and then to transfer that into a small bowl. We also picked cereal up using our fingers and placed it on the lid of the tupperware container that we were pretending was a baking sheet.

Communication and Language

If you have read the post on sensory activities with low effort, you know that communicating with your baby is on the top of my priority list.

Since my oldest was an infant, my husband has always commented about the way that I communicate with my children. I start talking to them like they are tiny little adults when they are babies.

Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t adapt to their childhood needs. However, in general I just talk to them like they can understand even when they are infants.

I detail out our day or activity as I am doing it. For example, while doing the dishes, I might say something like this:

“Right now Mommy is washing the dishes. I am rinsing the dishes with water. Now I scrub, scrub, scrub with soap and this white brush. Next, I will place these dishes into the dishwasher. Push the button to turn it on.”

I could go on but you get the point. I try to incorporate colors, shapes and other age appropriate details that they will need to start learning. This is a great way to start talking to your kids, regardless of their age.

So this cookie cereal sensory bin is no different. I talked about the shape of the cereal, the texture, and the color. I gave directions for my child to try and follow and then asked him what he wanted to do with the activity. Mostly he wanted to eat!

Tasting

Sensory bins that are edible or taste safe are the best for young kids! My daughter literally never put anything that she shouldn’t in her mouth.

And my son makes me crazy daily by putting things in that don’t belong.

It is funny how kids can be so different. Anyway, this cookie cereal baking sensory bin is perfectly taste safe.

My toddler had a great time snacking on his baking creations throughout the play time.

Big Kid Play

When my daughter came home from school, she saw our sensory bin activity on the counter and asked about it.

I gave her a brief overview of what we did earlier in the day and put it on the table for her. She encouraged my toddler to engage in the sensory bin again.

They played pretend. They scooped and transferred. Snacked. And then she “sold” lots of cookies to my husband and myself. It gave us a chance to pay her some pretend money and to go over the currency lesson that she has been learning at school.

We did all of this just by playing!

Where to Play

For sensory bin activities that are not super messy, I like to set them up on the kitchen table or in my office. It is nice to be able to watch your child play but still be able to get something else done.

I will often times get dinner started, clean the kitchen or get some computer work done while my child enjoys a sensory experience.

It is easy to encourage, discuss and monitor the play time while knocking tasks off your to do list.

Mess Meter

Overall, this activity should be a fairly low mess and easy cleanup. Just don’t follow my lead. I literally walked out of the room for 3o seconds.

Why do the bad things always happen in the 10 seconds you are gone? I guess my baby didn’t want me missing out on all of this fun.

He picked up the cookie cereal sensory bin, tripped and dumped the entire bin into the floor on his way to find me.

At least it gave us some time to discuss the importance of picking up your messes!

Other Fun Sensory Bin Activities:

Vegetable Soup Water Table Activity

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Activity Bin

Back To School Would Be Nuts Without You Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea With Free Printable

August 13, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

An easy and inexpensive Back to School gift for your child’s teacher that can be put together in just a couple of minutes. Make the first day of school special for your kid’s new teacher too!

Preparing for back to school is a lot of work. You have new clothes to find, school supplies to purchase and backpacks to pack. But as you prep your kids to return to school, you want to acknowledge the new teacher that your child will spend the year with.

Last year we did the “Back to the Grind” Coffee Teacher gift for the first week of school. The coffee gift was nice because you could grab the item that you need at the grocery or drug store. Let’s be honest, making a gift easy to buy increases the likelihood that I will actually get it done.

So just like the coffee teacher present, this back to school would be nuts without you teacher appreciation gift can also be easily purchased at a grocery or drug store. Stick the free printable on and take that baby to school!

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Back To School Would Be Nuts Without You Teacher Appreciation Gift

So I may or may not be struggling with sending my sweet girl to kindergarten this morning. She has been begging to go for weeks so at least she is excited. And actually as I write this at 6 a.m., she just came in my room (without being woken up by me) fully dressed in her first day of school outfit. Ready to go!

It is funny how the mind works. On the one hand, I am excited for her. To see what she will learn, to see her new friends and to see her embark on a new chapter in her life.

But on the other hand, my mama heart is just a little sad. Big kid school signifies what I have known for a while. She is not a baby anymore. She will probably have to deal with some things at school that I won’t be able to immediately fix. And I will want to but as we move to this chapter, I will focus on teaching her to be able to stand up for herself. To be kind (although she doesn’t need many lessons in that). To be confident. To be herself.

Ok, while I go sob in the corner, we can get back to these cute little Back to School Would Be Nuts Without You teacher appreciation gift.

What You Need

You know what else I love about this little teacher gift? You only need two items!

I can’t ever remember to pick up the cute colored baker’s twine or ribbon or washi tape to elevate my gift giving. So I made the printable super colorful. No bow needed!

Here is your supply list:

Nuts – You could do a package of mixed nuts or chocolate covered almonds like I did
Free Printable

Just attach the printable with a little piece of tape.

What I Love About This Teacher Gift

Easy – You can find nuts at pretty much any gas station or grocery store. No special trip to a specialty store.
Gender Neutral – This would work for male or female teachers! I love that because male teachers tend to be a bit harder to buy for.
Inexpensive – You can buy one of those individual packs of nuts for usually around $1. You can choose to get a bigger package but it could be done for $1. A teacher gift doesn’t have to be expensive to show that you care. The package that I used was right around $5 at my local grocery.

Back To School Would Be Totally Nuts Without You Free Gift Tag Printable

To print, just click this Link. It will take you to a PDF page to print the tags.

Cut the gift tags and attach to the teacher’s gift. The end. You are done.

Will anyone else be joining me in a good cry after making up their back to school would be nuts without you teacher gift today?

Blue Without You Gift Basket

August 11, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

A cute going away gift for friends, co-workers or young adults moving for college. The Blue Without You gift basket features all blue snacks and gifts to show how sad you will be without their daily presence.

Yesterday my husband and I took a trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see my middle step daughter’s new dorm room and walk around the University of Alabama’s campus. If you haven’t been there before, it really is a beautiful school. We walked until I had blisters on my feet and had a belly full of Rammer Jammer Fried Green Tomato BLT’s.

We were both having some major college envy thinking about all the fun that she will have over the next four years! Those really were the best days. No major worries, a little school and a lot of carefree fun.

So I knew that she had most of the actual dorm essentials covered but wanted to take a little gift to let her know how much we will miss her while she is away. This “blue without you” gift basket seemed like the perfect way to give her a few dorm life necessities and some fun splurges.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Bama Fans: Check out this Ultimate Bama Fan Gift

Blue Without You Gift Basket

The criteria for this gift is simple, if it is blue it makes the cut! My 5 year old joined in on the search for all things blue to include in the present. We shopped the Dollar Tree and Target for the perfect little “happy’s” to go inside.

Here are the items we included in the Blue Without You Gift Basket:

Dollar Tree:

Blue Basket
Pineapple Cups (They were in blue packaging so they worked)
Blue Striped Flip Flops
Life is Sweet Blue Notepad
Blue Gatorade
Buncha Crunch
Jolly Ranchers
Car Clip On Air Freshener
Air Heads

Target:

Blue Spiral Notebook
Bronner’s Peppermint Lip Balm
Blue Softsoap
Pretzel Crisps
Blue Lounge Pants (so soft!)

Blue Gifts From Amazon

Here are some other things that would be cute to include in the blue without you gift basket.

Blue Without You Free Printable

After filling the basket with all of the goodies, I created a Blue Without You Printable to attach to the front. The printable helps to explain the theme to the recipient and let’s them know how much you will miss them while they are gone.

This Blue Without You Gift Basket Printable intentionally has only one tag per page to save your printer ink if you are only making one basket. If you need to make multiple gifts, just print the number of printable copies that you need.

Click HERE to get your freebie.

What other Blue food/gift items would you include?