{"id":723,"date":"2025-03-24T04:53:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T04:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newdadsewingschool.com\/wordpress\/?p=723"},"modified":"2025-03-24T04:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T04:58:39","slug":"sew-a-reusable-menu-sleeve-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newdadsewingschool.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/sew-a-reusable-menu-sleeve-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Toddler-Proof Your Play Menus: Sew a Reusable Menu Sleeve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Quickly sew up this reusable menu sleeve to help your toddler feel grown up when eating and save all those play menus from getting marked up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Molly Baskette and Ellen O\u2019Donnell, PhD in their book Bless This Mess talk about Self Determination Theory and the role of autonomy in developing intrinsic motivation when raising kids. We\u2019ve tried in raising our kids to foster that sense of autonomy whenever we can. A big part of that is giving our daughter opportunities to simulate \u201cgrown up\u201d experiences like ordering at a restaurant. And I try to create opportunities to sew things, like restaurant-style menus to give them options at breakfast or dinner get my kids involved in meal planning. That’s why I came up with the idea to sew a reusable menu sleeve that we can use at meal time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menu Sleeve Backstory<\/strong>: The Ice Cream Playset Menu<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Christmas my brother got my daughter a play ice cream set for her birthday. It\u2019s one of those Melissa and Doug, Montessori style wooden play sets with interchangeable ice cream and popsicles with a pretend counter. It\u2019s actually really fun. We want to encourage creative and independent play with her and I\u2019m glad she is really into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only hesitation is that it came with a pretend menu with checkboxes next to each of the ice creams so that she can pretend to order things from the menu, like at a sushi restaurant. It\u2019s a sturdy cardboard but is in no way reusable. If she marks on it, then that\u2019s it. So I want something where you can mark on it multiple times or write things on it. Like mark the check boxes with different choices on different days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Options for Menu Protection<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So one option I have is to laminate it. That way she can use a dry erase marker to make her choices and I can wash it easily. But my other thought was \u201cI can also make other menus of my own that she can use for other situations.\u201d I try to be more frugal with my kids and am very mindful about teaching reusability. So I decided to sew a reusable menu sleeve using vinyl and bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level: Beginner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will need:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n