Veronika adores her two dollies these days (or as she happily says, “Baby!”). So I thought today I’d set up a tea party for her and the dolls. This super-sugary dough can really be eaten, adding a new dimension to the pretend party!

To prepare the dough, stir together 1 cup almond butter (or peanut butter), 1 cup corn syrup, 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, and 1 and 1/2 cups powdered milk. For a vegan alternative to the milk, I used a bag of vanilla protein powder I had on hand, which worked perfectly as a substitute. The dough comes together great, neither sticky nor gooey!

I set out tea cups and plates and made sure to serve everyone.

Veronika immediately leaped into the pretend play, helping to feed the dollies.

She was quite pleased when she realized the dough tasted delicious.

Candles were a wonderful addition to our play. I showed her how she could put them in the dough. It was far more fun to pull them out, of course.

And she tried to feed the candles to the dollies as little treats!

We also used cookie cutters, pressing fun shapes into the dough.

In sum, I love that she’s now at an age where sensory play and imaginative play are starting to intersect.