Sweet Lou's - Lou's play restaurant and market - plays a really big role in our general playtime around here. For months, Lou and I discussed the need for menus at Sweet Lou's. And, since moving to Brooklyn and paring down a bit, the play market we constructed has given way to a more restaurant-focused operation, so the need for menus became even more acute. Then, on our trip to Paris, Bret and I ate breakfast at a charming little joint called LouLou' Friendly Diner.

Obviously, we stuffed as much of the LouLou stuff into my purse as we could - right down the receipt. We knew Lou would get a kick out of it (Lou frequently goes by Lou Lou in our house), and we were right: She immediately announced a change in name from Sweet Lou's to LouLou's Friendly Diner. I'm not one to waste time or money, so when I decided I'd finally get around to making Lou her menus, I decided to use the existing menus to save some re-branding costs. I explained to Lou that when we ate in Paris, there were English inserts for the French menus, and we would make an insert of our own.

First, Lou and I determined which items should be on LouLou's breakfast menu. Having decided on eggs, donuts, pancakes and coffee (the essentials), I made a bunch of little pictures to denote each option. Then I handed over the project to Lou. She glued each item onto her insert (a piece of card stock) and then wrote the item name and price.

Creating the menus was a great activity for a cold afternoon, and a great reading and writing exercise for Lou. Of course, Lou could have participated more in the pictures themselves, and I went back and forth on who should write the words - on whether it would be better reading practice for her to see her own writing or my more standard writing. In the end, this is how we settled - I did the pictures, hoping for some real clarity on what each item was, and Lou practiced the sounding out and writing. She did a great job, so I'm hopeful the words will stick for her.

Once we had chosen our items, we needed to decide on prices. Lou suggested $50.28 for donuts, but we landed on smaller, whole numbers. I'm hoping that these will provide really good math practice for Lou when we play Sweet Lou's - excuse me, LouLou's Friendly Diner - from here on out. Then I punched holes in each insert and menu and used some ribbon to tie the inserts in. As they say in Paris, Voila! (Seriously. They said that every time they brought out our food, and I thought maybe they just think that's the only French word Americans know?).

My next step is to make her a bunch of slips she can use as bills - both to tally the prices and because she really, really likes to sign her name to our extra copies of receipts at restaurants, so it should provide some entertainment.

And that's it! A pretty simple project that I'd recommend for any kid - even one who's not running  her own establishment. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!