"Camping out"

Supplies required:
Flashlight
Play tent or something else to make a tent (blanket and chairs, blanket and card table, etc)
Water bottles
Homemade trail mix
Sleeping bag or blankets
Candle

One evening a few weeks ago, I told E that we were going to camp out the next night after dinner.  I told her that she and her dad had an important job to do for our camp-out--make homemade trail mix.  Since my husband was going to the grocery store that day anyway, he picked out a bunch of things to go in the trail mix, and he and my daughter made it while I was at work.  He said she was so excited about it (probably at least in part because she was putting M & Ms in the trail mix.) 

After dinner the next night, I told E we had to get all of our camping supplies, so we went around the house gathering the things we would need.  We then "drove" to the campsite (which was in our living room).  I set up the "tent" which was a blanket draped over some chairs.  I put E's sleeping bag inside.  We collected "wood" for our campfire (a bunch of wood blocks that I had scattered all over the living room floor outside the tent).  When it was nighttime, we turned off the lights, lit a candle, and used our flashlights.  We "slept" in the tent and also ate the trail mix.  E had a lot of fun, and this was a pretty simple (and cheap, since we already had all of these things) activity. 

We "camped out" on a warm fall night.  If it had been cold out, we probably would have lit a fire in our wood-burning fireplace so that could have been our campfire.  We sometimes roast marshmallows and make S'mores when we build a fire in our fireplace, so that would have definitely added to the activity.  I think we'll do that sometime this winter.

You can just use things you already have around the house for this activity, but I have also seen a really neat play camping equipment set online:  http://www.amazon.com/Pretend-and-Play-Camp-Set/dp/B00021Z2FK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322622982&sr=8-1

I didn't really take any pictures of this activity, but here is our tent:

Grocery Store

Supplies required:
play food (or you could use real food that won't spoil/spill/get ruined)
grocery cart or shopping basket or reusable grocery bag
chairs (or something else that could be a "shelf")
calculator or play cash register

For awhile, "grocery store" was one of E's favorite things to play.  It's a little bit of work sorting out the food and then putting it back in place to play again, but well worth it if your child likes the activity as much as E does. 

We kept this activity pretty simple, but you can make it as complicated as you like.  We turned our dining area into a grocery store by lining up the dining room chairs so that the chair seats could be "shelves."  We then sorted E's play food into food groups  and put each food group onto a different chair.  Then, one of us would be the shopper and the other one of us would be the cashier.  E would take her pretend grocery cart around and pick out the food she wanted.  She would then bring it to me to ring up.  Before we had a play cash register, I just punched random numbers into the calculator and told her how much each item was and then gave her a total.  Once we got the play cash register (I found one for only a few dollars at a Goodwill!), I was able to scan the items and it would come up with a random price.  Then, I would take a turn being the shopper and E would be the cashier.  I enjoy "grocery store" because there is a lot of learning involved (numbers, food groups, etc.) and it doesn't take a lot of time/work to set up.  Plus, having E help me sort the food can be part of the fun. 

It's been awhile since we played grocery store, but E was very into this activity when she was between 2 and 3 years old. 

Animal/Doll Hospital

Supplies required:
stuffed animals and/or dolls
blankets (we have a couple of doll blankets but also use old receiving blankets)
cardboard box lids (or anything else that could be a bed)
pretend doctor's kit (we have this one:  http://www.target.com/p/B-Dr-Doctor-Medical-Kit/-/A-12026416#?lnk=sc_qi_detailimage and we love it; you could also just use medical supplies you have at home)

As E is getting older, she is starting to come up with more ideas for projects and for imaginative play.  One of my favorite things to hear her say is: "I have an idea!"  Back in August, she found some cardboard box lids that we had lying around for some reason.  E decided that she wanted to line them up in the hallway, put animals and dolls in them, and pretend that it was a hospital.  So she set to work doing this, and we also found some blankets for the "beds."  We got out her doctor's kit so she could treat the patients.  Although honestly, she had more fun just arranging the dolls and animals and covering and re-covering them with blankets! 

This isn't a very good picture, but it at least gives you an idea of what the animal hospital looked like: