Kudos to Cranium for coming up with this awesome idea…which we totally stole from their ad in Parenting Magazine ;o)

It’s Mix & Match Snack Time

What to do: Toss a variety of snack time ingredients onto a Piggy Platter and let the kids make their own creations. For instance, use rice cakes, peanut/almond butter and raisins and let the kiddos make their own silly faces. Or swap out the rice cakes for celery for good ol’ fashioned “ants on a log.”

What can your kids create?  Let us know below:

Check out the amazingly fun art-maker at Kerpoof Scholastics! It’s a great tool for designing and printing your own Platter Pix-like art. (Or you can let the kids do it themselves with your help. It’s very thematic and drag-n-drop.) Have fun!

Below are some fun and free activities that go great with a Piggy Platter.  Simply download, print them out and let the kids go bananas!

Coloring Pages: Sesame Street, NASA, Nick, Jr., Noggin, Veggie Tales

Hidden Pictures from Highlights:  Print out these pages then cut out the two image boxes.  Place them side-by-side and let the kids go at it.  Then they can color the Hidden Pictures page and put it under their Piggy Platter!

We’ve been scouring the wonderful Web to find some fun, free art that you can print on your own for the kiddos. Then place the art under your child’s Piggy Platter. In most cases, you desktop wallpaper for your computer is perfect for the Platter because it’s high-resolution and built in a “landscape” format.

Disney Images: Choose from Alladin,  Alice in Wonderland, Bambi, Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, Pinocchio, Snow White, Tarzan, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh

NASA’s Image Gallery: tons of great space photography. Create your own montage!

You’ve just got to try this! It has got to be the simplest art and craft session ever:

1. Tape a piece of paper to your child’s Piggy Platter.
2. Place the Finger Paint a the top of the Platter. (The raised edge will help keep those slippery little paint buckets in place.)
3. Let your child have at it!
4. When they’re done, just pull up the piece of paper and post on the wall or fridge.
5. Take the Platter to the sink and rinse it clean.

How’s that for fast clean-up! (Well, not including your kiddo :o)

piggy platter

You know how Play-Doh leaves little balls of dried gunk everywhere? Well your child’s Piggy Platter placemat & craftmat is awesome for keeping the Play-Doh mess to a minimum!

The rubber gasket underneath not only helps keep the Platter in it’s place (unlike any other kid place mat or craft mat that goes sliding across the table unless you duct tape it down :o), but the gutter on the front and raised edge helps keep accessories and Doh from rolling off the table.

And clean-up? No problem. Just carry all those goobers right to the sink and rinse away! Simple, eh?

piggy platter
play-doh

The fun for kids using their Piggy Platter is that they can put whatever they want underneath. When Patagonia catalogs come in the mail with extreme skiers on them, we rip out the pages and place them underneath my sons’ Platter. When greeting cards or photos from their recent visit come in the mail from Grandpa we’ll put them underneath for the boys to fondly retell their adventures while eating at the table.

The sky’s the limit on what fun, exciting and educational material can go underneath the Piggy Platter!

toddler placemat