Outdoor Play....

What do you do when you have a backyard full  of Dandelions?

Build a Mud Pie Cafe of course!! 

The kinders and I were talking about how they made such a mess the other day making mud pies on the back patio, and having to clean it all up when they were done.. So I suggested we make a spot where they don't have to clean it up!

Pinterest had some great outdoor mud pie stations for inspiration, and we set out to make our own for FREE.

We picked up some pallets ( FREE!!!) and got to work! 

I am 39 weeks prego, and so they were able to do almost all the work on their own.. choose the paint colors, carry the gravel , screw in the pallets, make up the menu... This was their thing. I found some items in the garage to help them organize it a bit, and we had lots of craft paint on hand.

 Here is what we created!

We had this extra gravel on the side of the house left over from the previous owners. We laid down a scrap of weed cloth and poured this one. It took them 9 trips of shovels to bring it over here... But now we won't have to deal with growing in there, and I won't have to worry about extra muddy shoes when the water and dirt fun get's crazy!! !

I showed  JT how to drill the pallets to the supporting tree house wall... It was hard.. the drill was heavy and the screw was hard,but KT helped hold the drill up straight. =) It was a good lesson for him. 

Letting them do it on their own.... 

Plus, how am I supposed to fit in there? =) 

While we were hard at work... Brinkley had a nice snoozer!!! 

We had an old large box we screwed onto the pallet  for the "work station" and an old plant rack to hold their "dishes."

Here we found an old shelf  then added some chalk paint to take "Orders"

An old water pipe we spray painted Silver ( only color on hand) and used for a fun drop box on the side of the Cafe... 

Lots of paints were brought out, and KT's Pinwheel was the color inspiration for their Cafe ... Thankfully we had lots of craft paint that daddy just brought home from the states!

Buckets to collect "ingredients" in

Important Tool: Rocks for smashing and mixing! You MUST have a rock for this job you know.... =)

                                             Some left over wood for making "Tickets"

ORDER UP!!! 

                                   (Yes, Dandelion is spelled wrong... totally my fault! LOL~!)

And now it won't get rained on! So great isn't it? I am proud of them! They stuck it out till it was done.