MESSY KID

Pods and beans of all sizes

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:02:00 +0000

Beans and pods have been a bit of a focus this week. Broad beans from the Grandparents' garden and a walk through a field of oil-seed rape gleaned two types of pod and even provided a good opportunity to think about big and little (ever the teacher...). Actually, once you start thinking about seeds and beans you start to see them in everything. The broad beans were a source of particular interest - their feather bed pods an example of Nature's talents as a nurturer.

You will need:

Broad beans in their pods
Peas, runner beans, mange tout, oil-seed rape pods, poppy-seed heads - basically anything pod-like
Bowls

Activity:

If possible, pick the pods in situ. The further back to nature you can go, the more meaningful the experience. Choose a selection of beans, seeds and peas .

Shell the beans together taking time to look at the pods, feel inside etc.
Broad beans can be shelled by ripping off the strip bisecting the sides, but it's also fun to snap off the top and pop each one out by putting pressure just underneath the bean.

If you can get hold of oil-seed rape, you can get the seeds out in the same way - it's just a bit more fiddly. Peas in their pods are obviously a great one to explore, as are runner beans with their pink beans.

A very quick, simple one...

Elderflower Fizz

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:16:00 +0000

The elderflower bushes are groaning with heavy-scented flowers, just ripe for the picking. You need just a few large heads for the 'champagne' below (more for the cordial) and the crop is so plentiful, new flowers will appear the next day. The perfect thing to make with kids - just like one of their potions but you can eventually drink this one!

With many thanks to Nicola for this family recipe...

You will need:

3-4 large elderflower heads
8 pints (4.8 litres) cold water
675g sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 large lemon

Activity:

Gather elderflower heads on a sunny day - the pollen from the flowers is what gives the scent and will be at its strongest after some sun. It's a nice activity to do on a walk with your children - they can spot the flowers in the hedgerows (and you can attempt to pick them).
Your child can trim off the stalks and shake the flowers very gently to get rid of insects.
Put the flowers in a large bowl and add the water, sugar and wine vinegar.

Peel the rind from the lemon and add to the mixture along with the juice.
Cover with a clean cloth and leave to stand in a cool place for 24 hours, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.
Strain through a muslin and pour into sterile screw-top bottles.
Leave for 2 weeks. It should be bubbly and ready to drink.
So that your children don't forget about it, take a look at the bottles every once in a while to see if anything has changed in the bottles.

Or you could:
We're rather addicted to picking elderflowers now so needed a few more recipes... Cordial is also very easy but requires slightly more flowers. You also need to get citric acid from the chemist:
(From Lotte's Country Kitchen, Lotte Duncan, Absolute Press 2010)

450g granulated sugar
3 pints boiling water
20 elderflower heads
25g citric acid
1/2 lemon, sliced
1/2 orange, sliced

Pour the sugar into a large bowl. Cover with the boiling water, stir and leave to cool.
Add the citric acid to the cool liquid.
Shake the flowers very gently and submerge in the liquid. Add the sliced fruit and stir gently.
Cover the bowl with cligfilm and leave in a cool place for 48 hours, stirring occasionally.
Strain through muslin and then into sterile glass bottles. Keep in the fridge for up to a month or freeze 'portions' in freezer bags. Serve diluted with still or, even better, fizzy water.

Paint rolling

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 08:19:00 +0000

A packet of polystyrene balls provided surprising outdoor activity for a sunny afternoon (before the weather broke). Ordering them in size, lining them up, blowing them with straws, counting etc. We then found an old tin, threw in the balls, mixed in some paint and rolled it down a hill. This is definitely an activity for its own sake (you end up with lots of similar looking pictures), but they are the best anyway. Great to take out to do in a park or some countryside...

You will need:

A packet of polystyrene different sized balls (available in stationery shops, kids suppliers, Amazon)
Cylindrical tin with a lid
Poster paint
Paper
Straws

Activity:

Take some time to ook at the balls: explore their shape and size, order them in size height, count them.
Take a couple of straws and blow them around. See which is hardest to move and discuss why that might be. Practice picking them up by sucking and putting them down by blowing (much more difficult for a young child than you may think!).

For the painting:

Take a piece of paper and fit it inside the tin, folding it so that it fits snugly around the edge (you may want to tape it).

Put the balls into the tin and add your colour of choice.
Secure the lid and shake up the tin (you may need to do this quite vigorously depending on the thickness of your paint.). Open it up to check the paint has covered the balls and mix up if necessary.
Go to the top of a hill and roll the tin down.

Run down and open the tin.
Extract your paper and marvel at the results...
Add other colors and repeat.

To extend the activity: Roll some big paper down the hill so you have a 'run' for the balls and roll or blow the paint covered balls down. Watch as they leave tracks on the paper.

Or you could:

This idea is based on marble painting where you lay a piece of paper in a tray with sides, put in some marbles and paint and move the tray around so you end up with marble-paint tracks on the paper. Also a good way of using Autumn conkers.
Try different things: pasta, rice, lentils, pebbles etc and see what differences you get in your pictures.

Blossom

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:18:00 +0000

We made this house two summers ago and it has now outgrown my son but has come into its own again with my daughter who likes to play shops. The inside was looking a bit dull, so, inspired by the blossom that is frothing on every other tree and hedgerow at the moment, we made some stenciled blossom wallpaper to put up inside. A big roll of paper, sponges and lots of paint... It almost feels like summer. This idea is very effective for painting with the very young. They can splodge paint as much as they like and still have a 'picture' at the end. It also teaches them about shape and outline and it can be an exciting moment when you peel off the stencil.

You will need:

A large roll of paper (wallpaper would work really well)
Poster paint of various colours
Large sponges
Card
Blu-tac

Activity:

To make the blossom: roughly, cut out lots of small flowers from the card.
Attach the flowers to the rolled out paper with blu-tac.

Decide upon a background color (remembering that your flowers will be the colour of the paper) and squeeze it onto a paper plate or tray.
Sponge the paint onto the paper, trying to make sure that the flowers stay firm on the paper and no paint gets underneath.
Leave to dry.

Remove the card flowers and you should have a pretty 'blossom' pattern underneath.
Attach flowers to the next bit of the 'wallpaper' and repeat.
Leave to dry and use as wallpaper if desired.
Use the flowers for decoration - we put them as a creeper on the outside of the house.

Or you could:
You can obviously use anything as a stencil (remember whatever it is will get covered in paint!): leaves, real flowers, different shapes, masking tape (see below).

Hot Cross Buns

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:35:00 +0000

It almost feels like a waste of time making hot cross buns as they are so widely available (from Boxing Day onwards), but there is nothing quite like a home-made batch fresh out of the oven. We did all of this at kid level which was a little bit hairy with two eager toddlers (I would usually only let them do selected tasks), so didn't manage many photos...
Recipe from Sarah Raven's amazing 'Food for Friends and Family'.

You will need:

1 tbsp dried yeast and 1 tsp caster sugar
300ml warm milk and water, mixed half and half
225g strong plain flour, sifted
225g wholemeal flour, sifted
1 tsp salt
2 tsps mixed spice
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
50g melted butter
100g currants
Finely garetd zest of 2 lemons
100g ready rolled shortcrust pastry

Glaze

1 tbsp water
1 tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp milk

Activity:

Prepare all the ingredients so you are ready to mix them (I find that children are pretty unforgiving when it comes to waiting around during the baking process).
Stir the caster sugar with the milk and water mixture and sprinkle over the yeast. Leave for 10 mins.
Put the flour, salt, spices and sugar into a large bowl.
Make a well and add the yeast liquid, egg, melted butter, currants and lemon zest.
Mix well and make a dough (add more milk if necessary).

Place the dough on a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes. The bashing and hitting can be really fun for children (especially boys) but you need to keep them going - a song or a rhyme usually helps! Stop when the dough is elastic.
Together, roll the dough into a long sausage and then cut into 12 pieces (your child can do this with a blunt knife).
Roll into bun shapes and place them onto a lightly oiled baking sheet.
Cover and put in a warm place until they have doubled in size (an hour should be enough).
Preheat the oven to 200C, mark 6.
Spread out the pastry and cut strips for the crosses.
Put a cross on each bun, glueing it down with water or milk.

Bake the buns for 15-20 mins.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Melt the glaze ingredients together over a high heat until boiling, then brush it over the buns to make them shiny.
Eat the same day with lots of butter.

Easter Nests

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:39:00 +0000

A walk in a wood provided the inspiration for this giant nest. We discovered a house built with sticks that someone had lovingly constructed and left for others to play in and, further on, a nest that had fallen from a tree... We first made a little version with some twigs and then graduated to a big one. Of course, we had to have the obligatory play-house tea (chocolate easter bunnies a little bit early).

You will need:
Small nest

A bowl or pot
Twigs
Flowers for decoration
A toy bird

Large nest

Logs/large sticks
Twigs and branches
Moss, leaves and dried grass for the middle
Balloons
Toy birds
Easter eggs

Activity:

To make the smaller nest, collect twigs and break some into small pieces so that you have a mixture of big and small.
Place the twigs in the bowl, layering them in a circular pattern around the outside of the bowl and moving inwards and upwards. Of course, it won't be as easy as that with small hands, but have a go...

Carefully turn the bowl upside down and remove. The twigs should stay in the same shape. Rearrange them so you have a hollow centre.
Put some moss or leaves in the middle and then sit a toy bird on top of the nest. Decorate with flowers and eggs.

For the large play-house nest, you work on the same principle as the smaller version.
Start with a circle of logs or big branches, just to get your shape sorted.
Gradually build up the branches and twigs on top so that you have a nest shape.
Choose some soft moss or dried grass/hay to put in the middle and decorate with ivy or similar leaves.

Decorate the nest structure with flowers and blossom.
For the eggs, we used blown-up yellow balloons and then put a selection of decorative/toy birds around the nest.
It was a lovely place to have tea (my kids always rise to the occasion, especially when there is chocolate involved) and then provided an afternoon of playtime.
It would be a great place to put Easter eggs on the day...
Enjoy!

Painting on different textures

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:56:00 +0000

The good weather brings the opportunity to paint outside and to try different textures. This week it was a couple of paving slabs, some sacking and even a window, but you could really use anything...

You will need:

Poster paint of different colours in pots
Brushes
A sack/material
Paving slabs
Anything else you don't mind to be a canvas

Activity:

Set up your paints in the garden or park so that they are easily accessible (a brush for each colour in the pots) and so your child can keep coming back to the painting throughout the day.
Hang up the sack cloth on a wall or stapled to a tree/between two trees.
Look together at how the paint goes onto the cloth and how you need quite a lot of paint to make a vivid colour splash.

Lay out other things to paint on such as stones, an old paving slab, some textured wallpaper, a piece of bark etc.
Encourage your child to look at how the paint settles on the different textures - talk about the differences together.
Our sacking has been up for a few days and is a work in progress. The paving slab pictures came and went with a rain shower (although there was something quite satisfying about the transience of those particular paintings)...

Or you could:

Endless possibilities for textures: look out for interesting things to use as a background - corrugated cardboard, textured wallpaper, plastic (although you will probably need to use acrylics), wood, stones, shells etc etc.
Try out different paints, felt tips, chalks, pastels on your chosen textures. See which make the best combination.
Add texture with glitter, sand, feathers, leaves, wool, felt. You could even try painting on top of these additions to make yet more interesting textured backgrounds.

Hall of Mirrors

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:16:00 +0000

A few pieces of silver and gold card provided an instant activity - our own hall of mirrors...

You will need:

Silver and gold card (or card covered in tin foil)
Selotape

Activity:

Begin by looking having a look in the mirror card. Bend it and see how the image changes.
Attach the card to a wall - some flat, some bent into convex shapes.
Fix two pieces of card together and create a worm-like structure. Tape down on the wall.
Experiment with the mirrors to see how the images change.

Fold the card so that you can stand it up. Put an object into the apex of the card and observe how the image is repeated in each surface.
Set up lots of these folded pieces and see how may repeated images you can create.
Make patterns with simple objects such as leaves and flowers by positioning the into the centre of folded pieces of card.

Or you could...

For older children, you can use this activity to explore symmetry. Put the mirror along the edge of a simple picture and see how the image is replicated. Encourage them to draw the mirror image of the picture (rather than the repeated image).

Milk Marbling

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:25:00 +0000

A great emergency/rainy day activity that takes minimum preparation but produces pretty patterns.

You will need:

A bowl
Milk
Food colouring
Cocktail stick or skewer

Activity:

Pour some milk into the bowl.
Drop food colouring into the milk.

Take the cocktail stick and drag the colour outwards.
Experiment with mixing colours to create a marbling effect.

For older children:
You can turn this into an experiment to demonstrate surface tension (the idea that particles at the surface of a liquid pull on each other particularly strongly at this point). Get your child to dip the cocktail stick into some washing up liquid and then place it into the droplet of food colouring. Observe the difference: you should see the colour being pushed outwards. This is because the washing-up liquid reduces the surface tension allowing the particles at the top to spread out more and thus push out the colouring.

Ice baubles

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:05:00 +0000

We made these during the cold snap because they looked pretty in the snow, but they can be made at any time and are a lovely way of teaching children about water freezing and ice melting. A variation on a theme of our ice decorations last year, the idea was to make something spherical. They took days to melt, but it was pretty cold outside...

You will need:

Balloons
String
Pipe cleaners
Glitter (if desired)

Activity:

Thread lengths of string into the balloons so that it reaches the bottom (one way to do this is to blow a little bit of air into the balloon and drop the string in).
Put some glitter into the bottom of the balloons.

Stretch the neck of a balloon over a tap and very slowly fill it up. Keep them small or they will be too heavy to hang.
Tie up the top of the balloon and place in the freezer.
Leave over night. You will need to take them out occasionally to disperse the glitter around the bauble (we didn't do enough of that and the glitter sank to the bottom). This provides a good opportunity for your child to see the freezing process happen.

When the baubles are completely frozen, get them out of the freezer and get your child to have a feel of them. It might be worth keeping one balloon out at the beginning so you can compare the frozen and non-frozen.
Cut the balloon off the bauble up to the knot at the top. Trim the balloon knot down as much as possible.
Twist a pipe cleaner around the string.
Hang the baubles up on a tree or outside a window and watch the melting process over the next few hours.

Or you could:

Make different shapes with long, wiggly balloons.
With older children you could make this into a real science experiment by putting a bowl underneath the baubles to measure the amount of water that drips down over the melting process (measure every hour).

Biscuits for any occasion

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:54:00 +0000

These shortbread biscuits are great for any occasion (in this case, our nod to valentine's day). You just need the appropriate cutter...

You will need:

100g softened butter
50g sugar
150g flour
Icing sugar
Colouring
Hundreds and thousands

Activity:

Grease a baking tray.
Cream the butter with a wooden spoon or a hand mixer (you may want to start with a hand mixer and let your child finish off with a spoon).
Sift the flour and add the sugar.

Add the flour and sugar to the butter and knead together.
Roll out the dough thinly and cut out using your cutter of choice.
Turn out onto the baking tray and prick well.
Bake in the oven until firm and golden.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing: Sift some icing sugar into a bowl and add drips of water until you have a fairly runny mixture. Add colouring and drizzle over the cooled biscuits.
Decorate at will...

Posh wax-resistant painting and a valentine garland

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:24:00 +0000

It's worth investing in some posh watercolour paints and paper for special occasions. The effect is just so much better than the usual and will always produce things you will treasure. Wax resistant (or magic) painting works brilliantly with this paper and you can try it with the youngest of artists (although smaller children tend not to press very hard with their crayons, so may need some help). We did two sessions: made the first pictures into cards and the second into a valentine garland...

You will need:

Watercolour paper
Watercolours (either a tin or separate tubes)
A wide paintbrush
Wax crayons
Thread or ribbon (for garland)

Activity

Take a piece of watercolour paper and encourage your child to do a design (or scribble) with a crayon. You may need to help them with making big, bold lines which will show up better when they paint.

If using a tube of watercolour, you will only need a tiny amount to get the colour wash. Add water to the paint with the thick brush to get a paint with an ink consistency.Mix up about three colours - any more and they get muddy.
Get your child to explore washing the paint over the wax design.
Encourage them to add further colours (but know when to stop!).
Leave to dry.

The final pieces make lovely pictures to stick on walls but you could also cut up the pictures to make cards.
To make the garland: Cut out heart shapes from the pictures and make a hole at the top of each heart by placing it on a piece of blu-tac or play-dough and piercing it with a skewer.
Thread the hearts together and hang up.

The Hat Game

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:34:00 +0000

By far and away the most popular game in our house at the moment... After 3 weeks, the novelty hasn't yet worn off (except of course for me). You could play it with any hats you have in the house or have a look around charity shops etc and get together a collection of funny hats. It is another great rainy day game, although would work just as well in the garden/park.

You will need:

A selection of hats (e.g. Policeman, fireman, builders, crown etc etc).
Small pieces of card
Felt tip pens
A small bag or box

Preparation (adult or older child):

Draw pictures of the hats on the small pieces of card - one for each hat - and label each one.
Put the pictures into the bag.

To play the game:

Either adult or another child: hide the hats around the house.
Get your child to take a card from the bag. They must search for the hat on their card.
Once they have found the hat, put it and the card next to each other in a place where you can display all the hats together.
Repeat until all the hats have been found. Look at the hats and cards together and talk through each one.
To play with more than one child:
Either take it in turns to take cards and find hats, or give cards simultaneously and make it a race to find the corresponding hats. You can make it as competitive as you like!
Repeat ad nauseum...

Or you could...

Of course it doesn't have to be hats. You could play with items of clothing (perhaps to dress a doll or even a person!), necklaces and bracelets, soft toys, cars and trucks. It really would work with almost anything you can hide.
Take the hats and cards out with you and hide in a park/garden for an outside game

Winter Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:56:00 +0000

A quick activity to brighten up a grey day. This is easy to create and play with and you can keep the bits to bring out on another rainy day (essential to have a few of these for the relentless grey-dom that is the British winter). We made the flowers on a big window - looking out on our drab winter garden - but a wall would work just as well. Educationally, it can help with learning colours and developing fine motor skills (if you are at all concerned with that sort of thing...).

You will need:

Card of various colours - green essential.
Scissors
Blu-tac

Preparation:

Cut out large flower shapes from card in one colour.
With another colour, cut out middles for the flowers.
Cut out long strips of green for stalks and, finally, some green leaves.
Stick small pieces of blu-tac to the back of each piece and stick to your wall or window randomly.

Activity

Show your child how to make a flower using a stalk, a flower shape, a middle and leaves.
Encourage them to copy the flower you have made, reinforcing the language and the colour of each piece.
See if they can make more flowers to stand in a row.

Or you could:

The possibilities are endless... Make different coloured flowers, add plants and trees, make a whole garden!
Use the same idea to 'build a picture' of something e.g. a train, a car, a person.
Make it into a game by putting little pictures of the pieces into a bag and drawing one out at a time to show which piece to take. The first person to make a flower...

Shadow Puppets and Straw Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:26:00 +0000

There is something Victorian about a shadow puppet show and there is nothing as Victorian as Christmas so it seemed like an appropriate thing to be doing at this time of year. This is the easiest activity to set up - you can literally make it with a torch, a sheet and a couple of toys. It's also satisfyingly educational: experiment with moving the puppets towards and away from the light and watch the shadows change size.
If you opt for the more complicated version (below), you can make the scenery with some black paint and a straw. If your child can put a straw in their mouth and blow rather than suck, straw painting makes a change from the usual.

For the straw painting:

Poster paint
Straws
Large piece of white paper

Shadow Puppet Box:

Stiff card
A cardboard box
Bamboo skewers
Selotape
Torch/fairy lights

Activity: Straw Painting

Water down some poster paint in a large pot so it is quite runny.
Drip some of the paint onto the sheet of paper and show your child how to blow the paint into shapes.

Encourage your child to experiment with blowing the paint around the paper. You could make it into a game by having races to see who can blow their paint from one end of the paper to the other.
We made trees and grass for ours, but you could do anything - just remember to leave enough white space for the shadows.
Leave to dry.

Shadow Puppet Box

Take a large cardboard box and cut out the front making a sort of TV shape.
Cut the top of the box out so that you have space to put the puppets.
Put some sort of lighting inside the box - we used fairy lights, but a large torch would do. (If using fairy lights you will need to cut out a small hole in the back of the box so you can trail the flex to the plug socket).

Stick the 'scenery' sheet over the front of the large hole in the box with selotape.
Turn on the lights and practice moving puppets or your hands towards and away from the light.

To make puppets:

You could use any story or set of characters or even just some random puppets and let your child make up a story with them - we did 'Where the Wild Things Are'.

Draw and cut out the puppets on stiff card.
Tape the bamboo skewers to the top of the puppets.
Work out the story with the puppets - you can demonstrate to your child how to do it and then let them loose on it.

Christmassy fun for a cold winter evening...

Or you could:

You don't need to make your own puppets - small toys or pictures backed onto card and cut out would work just as well.

Mincemeat

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 09:05:00 +0000

There's nothing quite like the smell of mincemeat to get Christmas going. We always used to make our Christmas cake and mincemeat in the autumn half term, but that seems to have passed us by... Anyway, this is one for all the family: simple chopping and mixing. Traditionally, everyone in the family must have a stir. This is a non-suet based recipe and the fried bananas give it a lovely sweetness.

You will need:

500g currants
400g sultanas
120g glace cherries, chopped
60g almonds, chopped
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 allspice
120g butter
3 bananas
3 cooking apples
Rind of 1 lemon
180g soft brown sugar
Brandy

Activity:

Get your child to chop up the bananas into discs with a table knife. Melt the butter in a frying pan (a low heat) and fry the bananas slowly until they have broken down. With close supervision, your child can carefully turn them over in the butter.

Peel, core and quarter the cooking apples and get your child to chop into small pieces.
Mix all the ingredients together in a very large bowl, leaving the bananas and the brandy until the end. Give your child the opportunity to pour, measure and mix with their hands.
Add the fried bananas and stir well with a wooden spoon.
Add enough brandy to make the mixture really moist.
Make sure everyone in the family has a stir.

Cover with cling film or baking parchment and leave for two days.
Sterilise jars by washing and rinsing, then putting on a tray in the oven. Turn on the heat to 150C and leave them in until the oven has heated up.
Take out the jars and put in the mincemeat while they are still warm.
Mince pies to follow...

Spaghetti and Marshmallow construction

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:52:00 +0000

A brilliant rainy day activity that will amuse kids and adults alike (and makes a change from Lego). Build towers and bridges, make strange creatures and challenge each other to build the tallest/most well-supported tower you can. The first time you play this, you might be able to get through the activity without your child discovering that marshmallows are actually puffed up sugar sponges, but after that strict rules must apply! You could use play-dough instead but it's not as fun and the great thing about the marshmallows is that they roll so you can make wheels.

You will need:

Dried spaghetti
A packet of Marshmallows

Activity

It's always good to put things out in front of children and see what they come up with. Of course, watch out the eating factor, but pretty soon they should get the idea of using the marshmallows to stick the spaghetti together.

Once this has been established, talk about what shapes you could make. Start with simple 2-D shapes such as squares and triangles and then see if you can make them into 3-D shapes. So a square becomes a cube or a cuboid, a triangle a pyramid or prism. It really doesn't have to be very adult- guided, however - you can take it in whatever way they want.
Tip: To make 3-D shapes it is best to snap the spaghetti in half and use short pieces instead of long ones. This way, you can also make diagonals when making cubes to further steady the shapes.
Once they get the hang of building shapes, see how high you can build a tower to support an object like a car. Our activity was a bit more experimental - we just made shapes and strange creatures. Older children would enjoy more challenges.

Or you could:

Make it into a game by making cards with things to make that you deal out e.g. A car that moves, a structure that will support a £1 coin without involving anything except spaghetti and marshmallows, a balanced bridge etc etc.

An Autumn Tile

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:02:00 +0000

Another good way of using up collections of Autumn treasures, these make good presents for grandparents etc and if you manage to finish with varnish, they can last for ages.

You will need:

Autumn treasures: conkers, leaves, pieces of bark, acorns, beech nuts, seed-pods, small pine cones
Plaster-of-Paris
Cling film
A mould (the lid of a tin works very well) in any shape
Clear wood varnish
Paint-brush

Activity

In a park/street/countryside collect your Autumn treasures together, stopping and looking carefully for the best specimens you can find.
At home, spread them out have them close by the tray you are using for a mould.

Line the mould with cling-film.
Make up the plaster-of-Paris according to the instructions on the packet (NB be careful not to make it too watery or it will not set properly).
Pour into the mould and leave it to half-set.
Get your child to carefully lay some of the bits they have collected into the nearly set plaster. Encourage them not to put everything in the middle, but to lay each thing out leaving a bit of space although let them really make this their own, so hands off as much as possible!

When they are happy with the tile, carefully wipe the plaster off the objects with a damp cloth.
Leave to set completely.
When the tile is completely dry, put a film of clear varnish over the whole thing and leave to dry again.

Or you could...

Use the same moulds to display things for any season.
Use glitter, sequins etc to liven up the picture.
Make the plaster of paris tile and paint with acrylics.

Fireworks

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:17:00 +0000

Nothing quite like fireworks so trying to replicate their spleandour isn't something I would normally try, but we had the glitter out so it seemed the right thing to do... Using old pictures to add to new is really effective and these two seemed to go so well together. Felt, PVA, glitter... what more could you need?

You will need:

Large pieces of felt (or paper)
Glitter, sequins, shiny paper - anything that sparkles
PVA glue
Ribbon or string if you are making a wall hanging

Activity
We did this in two sessions, the first with paint and printers, the second with just glue and lots of glitter.

On large, dark pieces of felt or paper, use paintbrushes, sponge printers, kitchen implements (whisks, egg cups, pastry cutters etc etc) to put on the paint. Leave to dry and then come back to with glitter.

It is sometimes hard for children to understand how to put the glue on first and glitter on top. Encourage them by demonstrating what happens when you don't put the glue on (i.e. the glitter will come off) and then get them to only sprinkle glitter where they can see glue. Really little children won't get it, but it's always worth a shot...
Let them have lots of fun with all the shiny things. The pictures are of course so much better the more you use.
Leave to dry overnight.

Choose which picture is going to be your base and then cut out sections of the other where you can see firework shapes emerging. Cut out star shapes, rockets, comet shapes etc. Do the same for lettering if you want to put it on.
With your child, go back to the original picture and stick on your new shapes with PVA glue again.
Leave to dry.
If you are making a wall hanging, turn over the top of the picture and sew along the back so that you have a place to put your ribbon or string. You will need to put some sort of stick through (I used a wooden skewer) to reinforce it.

Hang up and admire.

Pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:53:00 +0000

Halloween has never been very big in our house but, after a Pumpkin Hunt at Waterperry Gardens www.waterperrygardens.co.uk/ this half term, it was very firmly on the radar. This was our own version of the hunt.

You will need:

Orange and green card
Scissors
Glue stick
Yellow tissue paper
Glitter
Pumpkin
Knife

Activity:

(Adult or older child): Draw a pumpkin shape on orange card and cut out. Draw around the shape several times and cut them out (around 10 pumpkins should be enough).

Stick the pumpkins onto the green card and cut out again, this time cutting a stalk for the pumpkins.
Finally draw and cut out faces for the pumpkins.
(Child): cut out yellow tissue paper to stick to the back of the pumpkins (to look like the candle light). Decorate some of the pumpkins with glitter.
Stick the pumpkins on the window until you need them for the game.
Cut the top of the pumpkin off and get your child to pull/spoon out the seeds and as much flesh as possible.
Cut out a face.

Game:

Hide the small pumpkins around the garden/house.
Write a speech bubble for the large pumpkin and stick it next to/behind inviting the children to look for the pumpkins.
Put prizes inside the pumpkin for the children go find when they have collected the smaller pumpkins.

Apple Day contd...

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 08:58:00 +0000

Apple and Blackberry Pots

The simplest recipe to do with kids you can imagine and absolutely delicious. Obviously made a hundred times better if you can pick the fruit yourselves but not at all necessary.

You will need:

Blackberries (a small bowl full)
2-3 apples - any variety will do but be prepared to use more or less sugar depending on their natural sweetness
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg beaten with a splash of milk
4 ramekins
Table knife

Activity:

Preheat the oven to 180 C/Gas Mark 4
Carefully peel and chop your apples (child using a table knife) into bite size pieces and put into a large bowl.
Sprinkle a dessert spoon of brown sugar per apple and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon onto the apples. Put in the blackberries (as many as you wish).

Spoon the mixture into the ramekins so that it comes to the top.
Lay out the pastry and cut around the top of a spare ramekin (or guess) to make circles of pastry to go on top of the fruit.
Place carefully on top and tuck in the pastry over the fruit. Cut two little holes in the top of the pastry and then brush with the milk and egg wash.
Put in the oven for 20 mins until the pastry is brown and the fruit is bubbling.
Eat warm with creme fraiche or on their own.

Apple Day - Apple Slicing and Printing

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:39:00 +0000

So many Apple Days we keep missing - so I thought we'd do our own. The Grandparents' Bramley tree has once again born a bumper crop and it is a matter of how quickly you can eat the apple cake before you move on to making the next one...

We ended up doing a mixture of art and cooking (with a couple of games thrown in). More to follow but to start with...

Apple Slicing and Printing

You will need:

Apples of different varieties if possible
Sharp knife
Paper plates
Paint
Jay cloths
Autumn leaves
Sponges

It is worth taking some time to thinly slice some apples before you start to print so that your child can get a look at the shapes inside (and which will hopefully come out in the printing). You will see star shapes inside the apple that change and open up the further towards the middle of the apple you get. You will need to do this with a sharp knife but look carefully at the slices with your child and see what shapes they can see. Hold them up to the light and look at the texture. We used Russett apples for this because of their compact, firm flesh.

With a variety of different apples, slice in half and set aside for printing.
Get your child to squeeze different colours (autumnal colours?) onto paper plates or trays lined with jay cloths. The cloth will absorb a bit of the paint and make the application of the paint onto the apples
easier.

Set up some paper - we taped some wallpaper to a window, but you could just do it flat on a table.
For extra effect, stick some autumn leaves with double sided or folded over tape onto the paper and sponge paint around them to reveal the leaf shape.
Print away.

Or you could:

Print onto textured paper for extra effect.
Add collected autumn treasures to your printing implements.
Save the prints, cut out and stick to card for perfect thank-you/birthday etc cards.

Mud pies

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:58:00 +0000

Mud pies are a brilliant activity for a messy toddler. Digging earth and pouring water to make thick, sloppy mud, foraging for ‘ingredients’, mixing, chopping, sprinkling – all things that toddlers love to do. The best thing is that you don’t have to be exact with anything in the way that you do with baking so there is none of the frustration involved in cooking with a toddler. And, because it all takes place outside, you don’t have so much clearing up to do (although do expect your child to get pretty dirty)…

You will need:

Bucket/bowl and spade
Child's watering can
Basket to collect things to put in your pie
Child's knife

Activity:

Make the mud: In a bucket or bowl mix a scoop of earth with a child’s watering can of water and stir with a stick.
Collect fruits, leaves, flowers, small twigs to put into the pie.

With a blunt or child’s knife (under adult supervision), encourage your child to cut up the fruits and drop them into the mixture.
Sprinkle in flower petals, herbs and twigs - anything you can get your hands on.
If you make the mud thick enough, it is possible to turn out the pie onto the ground and decorate it like a cake. Alternatively, as we did, you can make a thinner mixture and decorate the pie in the bowl.

Or you could..

· Make smaller pies and decorate them like fairy cakes.

· Experiment with sand and gravel mixed in with the mud - you could even do layers of each.

· Choose different types of herbs and encourage your child to recognize the different smells.

· Use vegetables from the garden or kitchen.

· Use different implements from the kitchen such as whisks, spatulas, wooden spoons (but remember they will get muddy!).

If you only have a little bit of outside space:

· Use compost from the garden centre and vegetables, fruits, nuts etc from the kitchen to make the mixture.

· Collect the ingredients from your local park and surrounding area.You could even make the pie in the park.

Autumn tree (and the Gruffalo)

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:49:00 +0000

Back to school and it suddenly feels like Autumn. A walk in the park on a very windy day and we collected autumn leaves, acorns, beech nuts, pine cones, sticks and even an early conker. Our house is usually littered with bags of stuff we have collected on walks in the hope that we'll do something creative with them. They usually rot and we have to throw them away, but this time we managed to get them out and do something. This is a really simple activity which can be put away as easily as it appears. Making the tree was fun but we happened to have a copy of 'The Gruffalo' lying around (it's never very far away), and turned it into a 'deep, dark wood' tree with soft toys to act out the story (you of course don't have to do this bit!) ... We also added a bit of colour with some hand-prints that we turned into leaves.

You will need:

Collected items: lots of different coloured leaves, conkers, acorns, beech nuts, branches - anything you can find.
A long sheet of paper (wallpaper ideal) or a sheet.
Magnifying glass
Something to make the trunk of the tree: we used some packing material that came in a parcel but you could use scrunched up brown paper, cardboard, a brown scarf or material.
Paint (autumnal colours) for hand printing.

Activity

Collect autumn leaves and anything else you can find that is lying around at this time. Discuss where things have come from, look up at the trees and see if they can see seed heads, conkers, pine cones, coloured leaves etc.
Put your collection into a large box or basket.
Lay out a roll of white paper or a sheet on the floor.

Put your tree together. If you are using paper or cardboard for the trunk of the tree, you can lay bits of bark on top to make it more authentic. Start with bigger branches and work outwards, putting on smaller twigs. Add leaves and other things you have collected.
Put a layer of leaves at the bottom of the tree and add acorns, conkers, pine cones etc.
Finally, add cut-out hand prints that act as colourful leaves.
For the Gruffalo activity, collect toys that can be the characters and act out the story as you read...

More plums

noreply@blogger.com (Siobhan) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:56:00 +0000

Here's the second installment of that 3kg of plums...

Plum and Ginger Chutney
(borrowed from Lotte Duncan's lovely 'Lotte's Country Kitchen' Absolute Press, 2010)

Again, a lovely activity to do with children because they enjoy squishing the plums and because you don't need to be too exact with everything else.

You will need:
25g butter
1 large onion, chopped
450g plums
2 teaspoons fresh ginger
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

Activity:

Show your child how to stone the plums, extracting them with (clean) fingers.
Grate the ginger together.
Chop the onion together - child using a table knife.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion.
Add the plums and ginger and cook gently for 10 mins until the plums are soft. They will go a lovely pink colour. Add water if the plums are not very juicy.
Add the balsamic vinegar and sugar.
Transfer to a sterilised jar.

Lotte Duncan says you should serve this warm, but we have eaten it as an accompaniment to cheese and cold meat. Delicious.