Friday, May 16, 2014

Heat Things Up This Summer With HABA

As summer creeps closer and closer, the temperature is steadily climbing, but with school about to wrap up for the summer, that's not the only thing heating up. Kids will be home all day with an extra eight hours to fill.

As a parent, it is important for me to make sure my kids have something fun to keep them entertained. During the summer, I want to make sure my son keeps building his knowledge. Just because he is not in a classroom, does not mean he cannot still learn new things and grow his skills by using toys that spark creativity.

The same with my daughter. Even though she is not in school yet,  I want help her grow and learn as much as she can before she gets there. Knowledge is power, and I think it is never too early to start learning. I feel you should try to learn something new every day. No matter how much you know or can do, you can always improve.

As great as it is to get outdoors and explore nature, that is not always possible. Rain, excessive heat, or scheduling can keep us indoors, and in those cases, I still need great activities for us. And while summer may be a "vacation" for the kiddos, Daddy still works hard every day, and when he is home, he needs quite sometimes.

That's why I so quickly fell in love with HABA's Soft Play Foods. The come in quintessential summer (American-Style) foods like Apple Pie, Hot Dogs, Ketchup and Mustard.

There are also more diverse foods like Sushi.
All of the foods are just to cute for words. I absolutely love them. I really like that he hot dog  bun opens and the pickles are removable. The same with the apple pie, the top "crust" comes off and the apples come out, so the kids can actually fill and top the pie themselves. The Ketchup and Mustard even really "squirt"(strings - red and yellow respectively).

The kids have so much fun playing with these foods. I feel they are learning about how foods work(following steps to create a recipe) and the Sushi has been a great stepping stone to teach about other cultures.

As much fun as these play foods are, they are making the kids, my son especially, want to cook real foods. That is exactly what I expected and I am so glad that is the case. I love teaching him that he needs to follow directions to make sure the recipe comes out correct.

HABA is heating up these recipes with their super fun and functional Silicone Baking Molds like the adorable flower one that I have.
Not only is the mold itself super cute, it obviously makes adorable cakes. The children and I made one the other day, and it was wonderful. My son wanted to measure and mix everything. He had so much fun and was so proud of himself for helping. My daughter liked watching. She felt like she was helping simply by doing so, and she certainly enjoyed eating the cake.

The cake came out BEAUTIFUL!
It came out of the mold effortlessly and cooked to perfection without burning or being gooey inside. This is such a lovely presentation(not my cookie sheet, clearly). I have never made a cake so pretty.

I wish it looked as nice once we had frosted it, but I am not very skilled in that department, plus the kids helped. It still looked awesome though, compared to my usual cakes.
It tasted great too, it was very moist, even after 2 days. The pan is just fantastic. I wish all my bake wear was this nice. Better still, this would be perfect used as a chip and dip/fruit and yogurt/veggies and dip platter. The separate sections makes it ideal and it is so pretty it would look nicer than any standard platter.

I have never met a HABA product that I did not love, and these are no exception. If you are looking to heat things up in your house, I highly recommend giving HABA products the chance to help.

*Although I received these products at no cost to facilitate a review, all opinions are 100% my own.*

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