Modern Parents Messy Kids

We're all about finding ways to make family life better while keeping our sense of humor. Check out our famous MPMK Top Toy Awards, already viewed over 7,000,000 times!

  • Start Here
  • Travel
  • The Kids
    • Our Famous Toy Gift Guides
    • Play Activities & Art Ideas
  • The Home
    • In the Kitchen
    • Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life
      • Cleaning House
      • Meal Planning
      • Decluttering
      • Organizing
      • Schedules & To Do Lists
      • Daily Rhythms
    • The Holidays
    • Photography & Memory Keeping
  • Parenting
    • Parenting Discussions
    • Happy Family Habits
    • The Book Nook
    • Mom Health & Beauty

Playtime Cheat Sheet No. 2: Sports

May 6 by Alli

Another month, another play theme cheat sheet to get you through.  Did you guys enjoy trying out all our nature ideas from last month?  Alli's back today with another stellar list of activities, books, etc. you can refer to all month long.  This time our focus is sports - so grab a ball, get outside, and get those little ones running! May is the perfect month to get outside and get active with your family, which is why it's also the perfect month to focus on sports. When I first started … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alli, Play Theme Cheat Sheets, The Make & Play Vault Tagged With: DIY sports games, sports games, sports games for kids

Build STEM Skills: Make an “Inventor’s Box”

April 26 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

DIY Inventor's Box - a super easy and cheap way to build STEM skills at home (and to keep the kids entertained!)

I'm super excited to share with you a project I put together for eHow's mom channel recently.  You guys know how my ears perk up anytime the words "STEM skills" are uttered, right? Well, the good folks over there at eHow asked me to contribute a few easy STEM skill building activities for home and I took it as my chance to finally try a couple things that have been percolating in my head. The first activity had to be building an Inventor's Box.  I've been wanting to start one of these for the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Educational Activities, The Make & Play Vault Tagged With: inventor's box, rainy day activities, rainy day ideas, STEM, STEM activities

The Kitchen Experiment Garden: Growing Plants from Food Scraps

April 23 by Kaley

Grow a windowsill garden with your kids using food scraps (with a free printable)

The other day I walked into my mom friend's kitchen and found the top of a pineapple sitting in a jar of water. I thought it was odd so I immediately quizzed her about it and she politely told little-ol-woefully-uninformed-me that if you plant the top of a pineapple, it will sprout.  What?! I was still digesting this info. a few days later when my contributor Kaley (a wonderfully creative mom in her own right) emailed to ask if she could do her next post on growing stuff from food scraps. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Creating & Engaging, Educational Activities, Kaley, The Make & Play Vault Tagged With: Earth Day activities for kids, growing experiments, growing from food scraps, growing with kids, kids science activities, kitchen science, kitchen science activities, science experiments for kids, STEM activities for kids

Make it: Plant-able Paper Earth

April 17 by Alli

DIY: make a plantable paper earth and watch your garden grow - We're doing this for Earth Day!

Every once in a while we do a project here on MPMK that I'm over-the-moon excited about. That's how I feel about these plantable earths for Earth Day.  They're so cute, I want to send a few to everyone I know. I loved making paper as a kid. I don't know why, maybe it's something about the mess. Or maybe it was the idea that I could make the very same thing I used so often in my daily life, all by myself. (just prettier) Regardless. I loved making paper, and this time was no different. It was … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alli, Creating & Engaging, Outdoor Play, The Make & Play Vault Tagged With: Earth Day activities, Earth Day activities for kids, Earth Day crafts, Earth Day crafts for kids, How to make paper, plantable Earth project, plantable paper

What the Kids and I Have Been Up to Elsewhere

April 13 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

We've been talking a lot of food around here lately.  You may even be wondering if we forgot about the kids a bit. Rest assured, the littles and I have been up to our usual tricks - we've just been sharing them elsewhere.  Here's a recap of our latest adventures. Over on eHow's mom channel we've been making "Critter Snacking Ladders" (pictured up top)... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Art + Kid Crafts, The Make & Play Vault

Ways to Play with Nature (Inside & Out) All Month Long

April 8 by Alli

Ever noticed how much kids love a good theme?  A central topic is such a great way to get little ones engaging in all sorts of things - reading, writing, art and (best of all) new types of open-ended play.  Plus planning a few weeks of play around the same topic gives the kids time to come up with deeper questions and learn more. Announcing MPMK's latest venture: Play Theme Cheat Sheets!  As we said, playing around a theme is a great idea - the only drawback being that it requires a bit of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alli, Outdoor Play, Play Theme Cheat Sheets, The Make & Play Vault

3 New Approaches to The Easter Egg

March 27 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

Love these Easter projects using melted crayons, washi tape, and stamps - perfect for older kids.

Happy hump day friends.  Do you all have big Easter plans for this weekend?  We're actually double booked - which I'm bummed about.  Friends of ours are hosting a hunt in their backyard and the idea of all our littles running around together sounds so fun. But our annual tradition is to head home for an organized egg hunt with both sets of grandparents - anything else just wouldn't be Easter.  (Plus the Easter bunny himself makes an appearance, which the kids love).  So we'll be piling in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Projects, Style & Simplify, The Make & Play Vault Tagged With: Easter activities for kids, Easter art, Easter crafts, melted crayon Easter eggs, stamped Easter eggs, washi tape crafts, washi tape Easter eggs

How to Instantly Double Your Play Space (Plus a Giveaway!)

March 26 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

Time for another play/art room update.  The last time I showed it to you guys we had just chucked the couch and acquired a huge new art table (thank you craigslist).  Since then we've been getting tons of use out of it - we can be found creating in the room almost daily.  I've been so, so happy with it, with one exception.  While the addition of the art table has exponentially increased our creative endeavors, it takes up quite a bit of space and has cut down a bit on the amount of area we have … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dramatic Play, The Everyday, The Make & Play Vault

Watercolor Eggs: For a More Creative Dyeing Experience

March 18 by Kaley

The perfect method for dying eggs with kids - allows for more creativity and less mess!

Hope everyone had a good St. Paddy's Day, now it's time for Easter - it's so early this year! Kaley's here sharing an awesome idea on how to make egg dying more fun for the littles.  I'll definitely be trying this with S and C for Easter.  In fact, boiled eggs have become a daily snack around here ever since New Year, New Rules so this might become a regular art activity for us. QUESTION OF THE DAY Speaking of Easter - how do you all hunt?  Do you prefer a small backyard gathering or do you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Creating & Engaging, Holiday Projects, Kaley, The Make & Play Vault Tagged With: Easter activities for kids, Easter egg dying with kids, mess-free Easter eggs, watercolor Easter eggs

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • …
  • 25
  • Next Page »

Get your kids' kit

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • xing

Finally Get Organized

Our Famous Gift Guides

MPMK's Famous Gift Guides

Find the Perfect Toy!

Copyright © 2025 · Parallax Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Web Design & Hosting Servously.com