Hi friends! It is week 3 of my Soak up Summer Reading Series! I am so excited to introduce my friend Christina from Sunshine Tulip Design. Over on her blog, she creates the cutest printables to help the DIY enthusiast. She has taken us down memory lane with her book choice. Just wait till you see her craft and free printables to go along with it! This could not be any cuter! Enjoy!
Backyard Pooh Party
Summer is here! Looking for fun & educational ideas to do with the kids this summer? Let’s talk about how to host a backyard Pooh Party! My friend Laura is a fellow teacher and asked me to participate in her “Soak Up Summer Reading” Series! I was thrilled! Let’s get ready for a little backyard Pooh Party, shall we?
My kids are grown now and reading in the summer with little people is not something I do on a daily basis anymore. When they were little…yesss! We picked a storybook every night before bed. During the summers, we went to the library and participated in their reading programs! Reading is such a fun activity to do for pass time and in learning new things. I love to teach from books and incorporate them into my art class as lessons. We read the stories, talk about the illustrations, the elements of art used and then depending on the story plot, create something either in the book or inspired by the book.
This collaboration inspired me to use some of my kid’s books from when they were young children. Yes, I have kept a lot of their books…I hope to pull them out when I have grandchildren someday and share with them! It will be fun to talk about with my grandchildren that this was their dad or mom’s books when they were little!
We loved Winnie the Pooh in our home. We loved him so much that along with my older two children’s input, we decided to make Winnie the Pooh the theme for our last child’s nursery. This was fun to go down memory lane. I actually painted a mural in my son Landen’s nursery with Winnie and friends. The stuffed animals and books you see in the photos were items I have kept from his younger days.
I chose the book Once Upon a Time with Winnie the Pooh by Kathleen W. Zoehfeld. It is “A Disney Treasury of Favorite Nursery Tales and Rhymes”. You can find it here. There was a story in this book called “Rabbit Decides to Make a Cake”. It is such a cute story about Rabbit wanting to bake a cake on a spring day. He asked all the friends one by one if they wanted to help and each of them said “no” they were too busy. As the cake was baking all the friends could smell the cake and show up on his doorstep. Rabbit’s friends said they would be happy to “help” him eat it. Even though Rabbit was frustrated that he had asked for help and they declined, he shared the cake anyway.
It would be fun to have a Pooh theme “week” during one week of the summer. Read a Winnie the Pooh book each day and then at the end of the week celebrate with a Pooh Party in the backyard. Activities could be done a few days during the week after reading and then use the items created at the party. The first activity that can be done is to paint terra cotta pots into honey pots or into beehive pots since Pooh always has a HUNNY Pot!
Here is what you need:
A quick trip to Walmart to buy baby terra cotta pots (.38 ea) and one small size (.79 ea) for a “HUNNY” pot centerpiece! You can also pick up small bottles of craft paint (.50 ea) and brushes in the craft section of Walmart as well.
These little cuties were inspired by pots in the story. They were perfect to hold mini cupcakes at the party! Speaking of cupcakes, since the story was about Rabbit baking a cake, it would be fun to make cupcakes as one of your summer activities and decorate them to add that personal touch to your party!
The small 6″ terra cotta pot turned out really cute for the centerpiece don’t you think? I purchased a drip plate that normally goes under the flower pot to catch the overflow of water and used it as the lid to the “HUNNY” Pot. In addition to the cupcakes to eat at the party, there should definitely be honey finger sandwiches! So simple and yummy. Two pieces of white bread, butter spread on each piece, with dripping honey takes me back to childhood days. There were many times I had this for a summertime snack with an ice-cold glass of milk!
The last activity you can do to get ready for your Winnie the Pooh Backyard party is to make decorations! Download this free “You’re My Hunny” banner here to add a cute backdrop to the fence or hang on the table. You can shop the cupcake toppers here and have on hand for future use and print as many times as needed for personal use!
Go on a walk to a park or in your neighborhood and pick wildflowers and put in a vase you have on hand for the party! Our backyard just happens to back up to a creek and there were the sweetest wild sunflowers growing. I remembered my daughter gave me the cutest little vase of flowers one time that looked like a beehive. PERFECT! Wouldn’t you say? These stuffed animals brought back a flourish of memories. You squoosh their bellies and they sing and talk. Love that…I could hear Landen’s, Drew’s and Jordan’s laughter as they use to play with them. I’m a little sentimental and maybe a pack rat too. 🙂
I even used a gingham baby blanket that both my boys used as babies for a little table cloth thrown over a small patio table we own and then used a couple of step stools we had that would be just perfect for children to sit at.
Definitely pulling out the time capsule here…our youngest turned eighteen in May. Here is Landen in his one-year-old portrait with his Pooh and friends who just happened to show up to the party 17 years later!
Photography/Styling + Printables: Sunshinetulipdesign
Terra Cotta Pots & Craft Paint: Walmart
Milk Bottles: Old Time Pottery
Oh my goodness, how adorable was this book, craft and free printables!?! I just loved it! Christina is the sweetest and her printables are always so much fun! She is definitely one to follow!
Follow along with Christina, you will be so glad you did!
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My gosh could this be any cuter!? I absolutely love this!