Outdoor pretend cafe

My sister is busy planning a tea party for my niece's 3rd birthday party. She has been visiting charity shops and buying cute cups and saucers. What a great way to get an eclectic ceramic tea set without breaking the bank!

Cakey, Boo and I visited our local charity shop. The kids were very excited. They loved choosing their own cups and mugs from the huge variety of shapes and designs. We made it out of the charity shop with the help of a lovely man carrying our box full of ceramics: tea pots, sugar bowls with lids (my kids love lids), milk jugs, tea cups with matching saucers and coffee mugs.

Cakey and Boo are no strangers to making pretend tea and coffee – they call themselves the 'cafe makers'. Previously they had been using plain plastic cups and jugs. They were keen to try out their ceramics – each one slightly different in design, some with flowers or butterflies, some with gold trim or others bold and bright.

We set up the 'cafe' immediately, positioning the table over a grassed area to reduce the chance of any breakages (we didn't lose a single piece). I gave each girl a bucket of warm water. I filled their sugar bowls with flour (pretend sugar) and handed over a couple of spoons, teabags and some old, stale loose tea in a tin. They happily made 'delicious' concoctions, regularly overfilling their cups and watching the tea leaves run down the sides.

Our almost 2 year old, Boo, loves this sort of play. She used to be hesitant when it came to messy play. Watching Cakey throw herself into water play has been a wonderful example. Now she does not hold back. Our ecletic ceramic tea set has a permanent home on our patio and I expect it will be used over and over again.

For more water play ideas for toddlers have a look at this post from Creative with Kids.

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