cooking with kids, crafts, create, education, gardening with kids

Make a Natural biodedegradeable Dream Catcher

Making a Dream Catcher using natural, found objects and at the same time ticking the boxes of three STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and the Arts) practices:

The Science (making dough with salt, water and flour for the beads)

The Arts (designing and sculpting the salt dough leaves, and assembling your dream catcher)

The Maths (geometry of weaving a pattern with a single length of twine)

Dream catchers with organic cotton yarm and hand made salt dough beads — *dream catchers, with natural cotton yarn and handmade salt dough beads*

This is such a fun project. And one that you could do either indoors or outside in the warmer weather – we really love a craft that all ages can enjoy – and this three sides dream catcher can be a bit of a challenge when it comes to the weaving, so we will link some YouTube tutorials at the foot of this article so that you can get acquainted with the dream catcher weaving geometry at your leisure.

Before you get started, make sure you have everything you need for your beautiful natural dream catcher – go on a nature hunt, look for feathers, acorns, pine cones, and lots of sticks!

You’ll need some cotton string, or strong yarn, and we also made some colourful salt dough beads and ‘leaves’ so that everything is biodegradable – this means you can eventually hang your dream catchers outside in the garden or the woods, for them to let nature decay them – hey, that may even be a bit of a science lesson right there too!

Salt dough leaves and beads recipe

1 part salt
2 parts plain flour
half to one part water
optional – some natural food colouring (if you are feeling ambitious – you could go as far as making your own dough dye with beetroot! hey – experiment, have some fun)

We mixed the dough into three bowls, and added three colours – subtle so that they would blend well with nature – and rolled small balls, pushing a skewer through to make a bead, we dried the beads by ‘stringing’ them onto metal skewers and propping up off the baking tray to harden in the oven on a very low 100 degrees temperature, checking on the beads after about fifteen minutes, and turning them on the skewers so that they didn’t stick.

The leaves we made by rolling the dough out to about 5mm thick, and used a leaf shaped cookie cutter and a knife to score the marks on the ‘leaves’ and push a hole at the top of the leaf to allow it to be attached to the dreamcatcher. Again, we allowed these leaves to harden, baking them at the bottom of the oven, for about half an hour to an hour, using a cooling rack from the kitchen. We made these beads and salt dough leaves in advance of our dream catcher construction to allow them to harden – word of warning – don’t let them get damp, they will go soggy!

The assembly of your dream catcher

Now you have everything you need, start to pull it all together. Make a triangle from three sticks of the same length, tying them tight in each of the three corners.

Make a ‘bobbin’ with one short stick, about 4cm long, wrap the yarn around and around until it’s full of yarn – (you’ll have to experiment, but you’ll need enough yarn to create the geometrical pattern on the dream catcher ‘web’).

Using the yarn on this bobbin, start by tying a knot next to one of the three corners of the triangle frame.

Get weaving that web

As you start to ‘weave’ your web the first row can be quite loose.
Evenly spaced, start to work the yarn around the triangle:

Pass the end of your yarn around a stick.
Bring the end under the straight part of the yarn.
Bring the end up and pass it through the eye of the loop you just made.
Pull it tighter to complete a half hitch.
Tie the hitch the same at each intersection of the yarn.
Continue around the triangle, to ‘row two’ in the same way, see diagram (and the video links below)
The next hitch is made at the midpoint of the first loop in the first row.

As you tie these hitches you start to pull each stitch in the web a little tighter. Continue around the web tying a hitch and pulling tighter on each row until you are down to a small centre hole in your web. Tie it off in a knot.

Now tie three strands of yarn from the ‘bottom’ of the triangle and attach the beads, feathers, leaves – And tie a hanging loop at the top of the triangle and you are ready to decorate the trees by hanging your wonderful dream catchers in the forest – or, if you REALLY want to catch those dreams in your web, hang your natural dream catcher up in your bedroom for a real conversation starter!

Sleep well, and sweet dreams.

We would love to see what you create – do tag us on Instagram where you will find our new account https://www.instagram.com/kidschaos_blog/ use the hashtag #31DaysofLearning as we are joining in with KiddyCharts creative STEAM project this month.

Ali also writes over on incredibusy.
Cotton yarn: Wool and the Gang.
Shoot location: fforest, during the fforest gather workshops.

Tap here for a YouTube tutorial of the weave

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A post shared by Ali Clifford [incredibusy] ™ (@incredibusy) on Jul 22, 2018 at 12:07am PDT

kids, life

Preparing For A New Baby? Here are some things you need to know

Are you starting to, or have you been preparing for a new baby recently? If so, the first thing that we want to say is congratulations. That’s such exciting news, and we’re super happy for you. Now though, you want to start preparing for a new baby as much as you can to get ready for their arrival. It’s going to be tough sometimes, and you’re probably going to question whether you can do this at least 100 times over the next few months, but we promise that you can. Keep reading down below if you are interested in finding out more about what you need to know when it comes to preparing for a new baby.

Understanding Sleep Safety

First thing that we’re going to mention is that you need to understand sleep safety. Now, there are so many different views and opinions on this, but the facts are the facts. Your baby is going to be at their safest when they are swaddled in a blanket, in their own sleeping space. However, a lot of people do not agree with this, or this becomes too difficult if they have a fussy baby, so they tend to co-sleep instead.

Co-sleeping is a super controversial topic, and not one that we want to get in the middle of. You need to do whatever is best for your baby, but if you are going to co-sleep then you need to read up on how to do it in the safest possible way. Of course, they are going to be safer in their own space, but sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. There are lots of people who co-sleep, but there have also been many problems with it in the past.

Breast VS Bottle Feed?

Another controversial topic that we want to address is breast fed or bottle fed. Every mother has the right to choose which way they decide to feed their child, and you should make that decision according to what you feel is right for you and your baby. Yes, that’s right, we said what is right for you as well. Your baby is not the only consideration that you need to make here, you are important as well and you need to take your feelings into account.

For example, if you don’t like breastfeeding, if it’s too draining, if it’s hurting you too much, or if you generally just do not like it, you do not have to do it. Yes, there will always be those people out there who say that breast is best, but this is mainly the colostrum in the beginning. You don’t have to do anything that you’re not comfortable with. Fed is best. Always.

Typical Gifts You Will Receive

There are some gifts that you are more likely to receive than others, and you need to know this so that you know what to buy and what to expect from others. Of course, you should never expect anything from others without a reason to. If someone has said they’re going to get you a gift or if you know them to be that type of person then sure, but try not to rely on anyone else if they have not voiced their intentions.

Your friends and family may go online and type in newborn boy gifts or girl gifts depending on the gender of your baby. They will then use whatever comes up to help them decide on a gift which most of the time are cute little outfits, blankets and things like this. If there is something specific that you would like though and you have someone who asks you what you want for the baby, it’s okay to ask for things. Of course, as long as they are not outrageously expensive 🙂

You Do Not Need Everything

One of the things that we feel you need to know is that you do not need every baby item and product that you see. We promise you that. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you might need this, that, and the other, but more often than not, you don’t.

You don’t need 500 muslins, five or six will do (although you will be washing them a LOT!). You don’t need 500 blankets, a couple will do. You do need quite a few outfits because they tend to have a leaky nappy or sick up their milk, quite a bit in the beginning, especially if they have reflux issues.

You also do not need mountains of toys for a new baby. Yes, getting a baby swing, a baby mat, or a baby chair is a great idea as it keeps them entertained when you need to do something, but you definitely don’t need all three until they get a little older. Most of the time, you won’t use half of the things you purchase, so try not to go too crazy.

You Will Never Be Fully Prepared

The final piece of advice, and potentially the most important piece of advice that we are going to give you is that you can never be fully prepared. This doesn’t mean that you should not try, and it doesn’t mean that it’s pointless to do so. You can get as prepared as possible, and it will definitely help you in the long run, but you will never be fully prepared as it’s impossible. Your life will change a lot, and you will never be able to fully comprehend that until you experience it for yourself. We don’t say this to scare you, just so you understand the reality of the situation.

We hope that you have found this post helpful, and now have a more firm understanding of some of the things that you need to know about preparing for a new baby. It’s a long journey, but it’s one of the most rewarding things that you will ever experience in your life. You’ve got this, even when it seems impossible, even when it seems like you can’t do it anymore. We promise, you can.

This is a collaborative post.

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Foraging recipes – blackberry and rhubarb cake

Delicious Rhubarb Cake Recipe

I make this rhubarb cake quite regularly, it’s delicious, and made even more special when the rhubarb has been harvested from your own garden. Rhubarb is a great fruit to grow, it comes back every year (see TEDx talk below) – for years – with little or no effort it seems!

We picked blackberries locally this year too, so much spring rain has made the blackberries big and juicy – we’ve frozen some of them and used a handful for this recipe too – they are optional, however I like the added colour and tartness they bring.

We made this last week as a birthday cake, eventually finished with a flourish of icing sugar and a birthday candle.

Martyn from LagomChef gave me a top tip, to weigh the eggs – so if the eggs weigh 200g, you use 200g of butter, and the same for flour and sugar… funnily enough, four eggs did indeed weigh exactly bang on 200g!

Ingredients:

200g (7oz) softened butter, plus extra for greasing
200g (7oz) caster sugar, plus 3 tablespoons for the topping
4 medium free-range eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g (7oz) ground almonds
200g (7oz) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (if you don’t have any baking powder, use lemon juice and bicarb of soda)*
300g (10½oz) young, slender rhubarb, trimmed and cut on an angle into 2cm (¾in) chunks
optional – a handful of fresh blackberries

Method:

Prepare the Oven and Tin:
Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan)/Gas 4. Grease a 23cm (9in) cake tin with butter, and line the base with baking paper.
Make the Batter:
In a food mixer or processor, combine the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla or almond extract, ground almonds, self-raising flour, and baking powder. Mix until the batter is smooth and thick.
Wash and cut the rhubarb into diagonal chunks, toss them in a light coating of flour so that they don’t SINK to the bottom of the cake when baking.
Assemble the Cake:
Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin. If using blackberries, sprinkle a handful of them across the top of the batter. Arrange the rhubarb pieces on top, pressing them gently into the batter. Sprinkle the reserved 3 tablespoons of sugar over the rhubarb.
Bake:
Bake the cake for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. If the cake starts to brown too quickly, cover it with foil during baking.
Cool and Serve:
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack. This cake can be enjoyed warm or cold. When it’s cool, sprinkle with icing sugar. And I serve with crème fraîche.

Recipe Tips:

For best results, let the butter soften at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before using, or gently soften it in the microwave (but don’t let it melt).
This cake will stay fresh for up to 3 days, and it can be frozen if wrapped tightly in foil.

*To substitute 1 teaspoon of baking powder: Combine 1/4 teaspoon baking soda with 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice.

If you enjoyed this, you’ll love a lemon and poppy seed cake too: https://incredibusy.com/lemon-and-poppy-seed-cake-recipe/

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The Main Ingredients To Your Child’s Development

When you are trying to ensure that your child will have a good start in life, it all comes down to their development, and ensuring that this is as strong as can be. There are actually quite a few elements to this that you will need to consider, and it’s important to make sure that you are going to think about early development. A strong early development is the kind of thing that can really help your child in many ways, so it’s definitely important to focus on this.

Pic Source – CCO License

However, you might be wondering what the secret is to your child’s development working out as it should. As it happens, there are a number of ingredients to this that you will want to look out for and actively encourage if you are going to ensure this is going to work as well as possible. So let’s take a look at what those ingredients are and how you can help your child to build them.

Love and Acceptance

This is one of the main things that you will always want to make sure you are providing, as, if there is enough of this, it really will make a huge difference to your child’s life in quite a powerful way. It’s incredible actually, how well this can work, and you should definitely make sure that you are thinking about this if you want to try and encourage your child to develop as fully as possible. Love and acceptance are going to mean that pretty much everything else falls into place easily.

Of course, you don’t need to learn how to love your child, but you will find that the acceptance part can take a while. And what is most important is not only that you are feeling love and acceptance, but that you are actively expressing it to them. This is what will make the difference, and what they will notice, and you will find that it will help with their development more than pretty much anything else at all.

So be sure to express this as early as possible and frequently too. You will find that it’s going to make a world of difference to how effectively they develop.

Encouragement

At every stage of development, no matter what the specific skills are that are being developed, you will need to make sure that you try to encourage your children as best as you can. Encouragement is going to mean that you are much more likely to actively and effectively expect their development to go well. Put simply, children are always going to find that their own development is stronger and better when there is plenty of encouragement from the parent.

Strong encouragement from you means that they are going to feel that anything is possible. Of course, it can take a while to get this right and you might find that you need to figure out for yourself what kinds of encouragement work and what kinds don’t seem to work so well. But all in all, having a strong ability to encourage your child in whatever they are doing is one of the best things you can give them. You will notice the effects of this quickly, and it’s really amazing what it can do for your child in general.

Learning Types

It’s also a good idea to try and figure out the learning types of your child, as everyone has their own combination and this is something that you are going to find really useful to consider. For instance, some people tend to learn better through kinetic movement, and some people find it much easier to learn by rote. Those are just two examples, and perhaps something that you are going to want to help your child to discover for themselves, but the point is that you should be looking out for what their learning type is so that you can hopefully encourage them to make full use of this.

The earlier you do this, the more of a positive impact it can have on their own overall development, and it’s really quite incredible how well this can work in the long run. So make sure that you are thinking about this if you want to keep your child’s development as strong as possible, as it’s the kind of thing that is going to be hugely important to them now and later on as well.

Play

People often forget this, but one of the most important ingredients to any development is play. Your child needs to have plenty of play in their life, and this is one of the main things that should be encouraged at every step of the journey. Play is so central, and vitally important to your child’s development that they are simply not going to get anywhere without it. Not only is it enjoyable and fun, it’s also one of the main early ways that children learn, and it’s a naturally powerful way to make use of one’s curiosity in trying to find out more about the world.

With that in mind, it’s really important to make sure that you are encouraging play as much as you can, and that your child is going to be able to make full use of it as a way of being. The more that this is the case, the better that it’s going to be for their development, and it really is incredible how much of a difference this can make.

As it happens, just as there are different learning styles, so too there are a range of play types, and you might want to try and figure out which type your child tends to enjoy the most. They might be able to get more out of that way of playing, as well as trying out some others, so a general awareness of both can be really useful all in all.

Building Blocks of Education

As well as those qualities, there are also a few building blocks to their education which you are going to want to encourage too and which can help a great deal. In fact, you would probably consider these to be absolutely essential if you are going to try and ensure your child’s development is as strong as possible. That’s the kind of thing that you should absolutely make sure you are not overlooking if you can help it.

These include basic numeracy skills as well as early literacy skills too. That is the kind of thing that you are going to want to think about, and it’s vital that you are going to try and do all you can to keep this as strong as possible. The building blocks of education are going to be really important for you to think about, so make sure that you are.

Those are the main ingredients to your child’s development you will want to encourage.

This is a collaborative post.

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Baby Sleep Safety: a 101

Ensuring safe sleep is something you quite obviously must take seriously as a parent. The baby’s sleep and safety rely on you. From newborn to toddler age, there are some things to consider and practice to help your child sleep safely and soundly.

Today, we will explore the top sleep safety rules for your child.

Know when to switch beds

Your baby won’t stay in the same bed forever. It is common to buy a next-to-me or a cot for the first 12-18 months. Some babies might need this sleep environment for a little longer.

Knowing when to switch baby to toddler bed will ensure that they sleep safely and comfortably. It is best to switch beds before your baby can start to climb out. This can happen as early as 18 months, it depends on how wriggly and strong they are. You will be able to understand where it is safest to switch beds. Some babies might not manage this until 24 months. Making the switch will guarantee the utmost safety when they are sleeping.

Encourage them to sleep on their backs

Newborns will happily sleep on their backs without a fuss. As they cannot roll or wriggle much, they don’t move a lot during their first few weeks of sleep.

When your baby does start to move around in their sleep, you must be watchful. Encouraging your baby to sleep on their back can reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). They will sleep comfortably and safely when they sleep on their back throughout their nightime sleep and daytime naps.

Put them on a firm surface

Another top tip for safe sleeping is to put them on a firm surface. Again, they start to roll as they grow, which can cause them to roll onto their face and put themselves at risk.

A firm surface will reduce the ease of movement and encourage them to remain on their backs throughout their sleep. Make sure it is somewhat cushioned but not too soft so that it encourages them to roll with slight movement.

Create a sleep routine

If your baby isn’t sleeping well or safely, it can hold you back from feeling happy in life. Poor baby sleep will reduce your time spent asleep, which isn’t good for stress or mood. It is important to practice a sleep routine with your baby so that both they and you can get as much sleep as possible.

When you practice a routine, it can help the baby understand when it is time for bed. Settling them down and making them comfortable can enjoy safe and comfortable sleep. A warm bath, followed by a baby massage, and a baby book, and setting up a positive sleep environment will help them feel relaxed and, hopefully, encourage a long, safe sleep.

Keep hazards away

When you put your baby down to sleep during the day or at night, you must check the area for hazards. Babies must not have anything in their sleep space with them. Although they might not be able to move and grab things, objects can roll onto them and increase the risk of incidents.

Keep your baby at the right temperature

Babies need to be at a comfortable temperature when they sleep. Being too cold or too hot isn’t good for their health. You want to avoid overheating, which can be done by checking their temperature throughout the day/night.

You can do this with your hands and/or a thermometer. If they are too hot or too cold, layer them correctly to help them be safe and comfortable.

Avoid sharing a bed

Although you might want your baby to be as close to you as possible, it isn’t regarded as 100% safe if you want to sleep, too. Sleeping with your baby increases the risk of SIDS.

It is fine to put them near you in their own bed environment. You don’t want to risk rolling onto them while you are both asleep, so do your best to keep them in their own bed. A contact nap is fine if you know you will stay awake during nap time. But when you want to sleep, always provide them with their own sleep environment.

Breastfeeding and pacifiers

It is advised to breastfeed for at least the first six months of life because it has been demonstrated to lower the risk of SIDS. Staying awake during night feeds is crucial if you are nursing your child in order to reduce the chance that you will nod off while your child is in bed.

The incidence of SIDS can also be decreased by dummy use, but it is best to start using them three to four weeks after nursing is fully established.

Provide a smoke-free environment

A smoke-free atmosphere is essential for a baby’s safe sleep. Both throughout pregnancy and after delivery, smoking exposure dramatically raises the risk of SIDS. Make sure there is no smoke anywhere near your baby’s sleeping quarters, and refrain from smoking within your house.

To reduce the chance of exposing your child to dangerous pollutants, change into clean clothes and wash your hands before handling them if you or anyone else in the home smokes.

The use of monitoring devices

Although they can’t replace proper sleep practices, baby monitors can give you peace of mind by letting you watch or listen to your child while they sleep. There are many different kinds of monitors available, ranging from simple audio monitors to sophisticated video monitors equipped with movement and breathing sensors.

Especially if you’re not in the same room as your baby, pick a monitor that meets your demands and use it to stay in touch with their sleeping environment. When they wake, you can leave them a few minutes before attending to them so they can try to self-sooth, and don’t always rely on you immediately.

Enjoy the time with your baby, they grow up very fast x

Collaborative post, photo credit https://www.pexels.com/Alicia

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What Is Holding You Back From Feeling Happy In Your Life?

What is holding you back from feeling happy in life? This is a good question, and not one that most people like to ask themselves for the pure reason of it’s more convenient not to. It’s easier to stay in your unhappiness than it is to do something about it, but that’s never the option that you should use.

In this post, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the things that could be holding you back from feeling happy in your life, and what you can do to help yourself. Keep reading if you would like to find out more.

Too Much Stress

The first thing that we’re going to talk about is too much stress. If your life is full of stress and there is nothing that feels like it gives you relief, you’re not trying the right things. We know that stress can impact a whole load of things in your life, including but not limited to your sleep, the way that you feel about yourself and your mental state as a whole.

If you are struggling with too much stress, there is help out there. Of course, there are things that you can do yourself to see if you can lower your levels of stress. For example, it might be worth taking a step back from work, asking for some help in some areas in your personal life, finding time for some exercise, managing money better and so much more. There are so many different ways to eliminate stress, but the best one is to get on top of it, rather than letting it be on top of you.

A Home Out Of Order

Another thing that we’re going to say is that you might not be happy because your home is not in order. This is the place that you are supposed to feel most comfortable and happiest in the world. If this is not true for you, then this might be getting you down. For example, it might sound like a silly thing to worry about but if your ice maker isn’t working, or if your washing machine has broken and you can’t fix it, this could be causing you no end of problems.

No Clear Direction

Last, if you have no clear direction in your life this could be holding you back from being happy. This one sounds a little harsh, but what we mean is that you haven’t taken the time to work out where you want your life to go, what you want to be, what you want from life and more. It’s important that you do this so that you can work towards it, make manageable lists, and only then will you start to feel better overall.

So, there you go then. Hopefully now, you see that there are certain things in life that could be holding you back from happiness, and seeing how you can work through them. There is never going to be an obstacle that is so high in life that there is no way over or around it. That is not to say that it’s going to be easy because it likely won’t be, but it is possible and that’s what matters at the end of the day. We wish you the very best of luck!

collaborative post, Photo credit: Source Image – CC0 License

crafts, father's day, FREE printables, kids

Tin Can crafts – savings tin

How about a Tin Can Savings Tin?

With Father’s Day looming, we decided to do something a bit different for Dad and as one of his foibles is collecting coins. *Saving* £2 coins in piles around the house, particularly on shelves… So we came up with a genius tidy-up plan…

We decided to tidy up the favourite shelf for Mr.KidsChaos, our bedroom mantle piece.To assist with the tidying, we made him some Savings Tins, and they look nice too don’t you think?

Can we call this photo a #Shelfie?
Our bedroom ‘Shelf’ is often very cluttered, with our favourite wedding pressie painting from Jill Barker & Jonathan at Middlewick, and the odd pair of his daft colourful sunglasses. His collection of coins tumble constantly, as they get knocked and fall to the floor and it makes me go a little crazy!!

The kids decided he needed somewhere to save his £2 coins, and told me what the text should read on the tin cans. They picked the colours, and I designed the graphics. Bonus is, you can print these off and do the same thing too, for FREE!

Simply print them off here, and trim them out, and glue them on to your clean tin cans.

Don’t tell him, but I often BORROW the odd coin when we’re dashing off to Martial Arts club, or Cubs…. Sssh, he never reads this anyway, he’ll NEVER know. Perhaps if he saves enough, I could BORROW some of it for a bit of Bathroom DIY…watch this space!

For more FREE printables for tin cans, click here for a fun game for the summer – kick the can.

For more FREE Father’s Day Printables, try our Monster Truck card and Jigsaw Puzzle Cards.

And other uses for bean tins, and soup cans can be seen over on A Greener Life For Us, using up old paint to make plant and pencil pots click here.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on instagram, Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

crafts, create, google+ hangouts, key stage 2, kids

Fairy Tale crafts – Snow white mirror

Fairy Tale crafts – taking inspiration from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves we decided to upcycle a charity shop mirror and create the famous Mirror Mirror on the Wall….

This was a fabulous team effort, and my son now proudly has this Fairy Tale Craft beauty hanging on the wall in his bedroom.

You will need:

Old sheets of newspaper
Cocktail stick
Glue stick
Stronger glue, (I recommend a glue gun!)

Instructions:

1) Roll the newspaper sheet diagonally from the corner, using the cocktail stick to get you started, so that the roll is nice and tight. When the cocktail stick starts to disappear inside the paper, gently pull it out, and continue to tightly roll the newspaper to create a long ‘stick’ – the first of MANY!

2) Flatten the ‘stick’ using a hard surface.

3) Taking your cocktail stick, start to roll the flattened ‘stick’ into a tight spiral, securing it with glue as you get to the end of the spiral.

4) When you have enough of these spirals, you can start to build up the pattern around the mirror – we found that the glue gun was the best tool for this!

You could also spray paint the spirals, however we like the newspaper spirals in their natural form!

Ali also blogs over on incredibusy.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! And I’ll be adding this to Lizzie’s#MagpieMonday as I love to salvage, upcycle and re-use stuff!

If you’d like to see more Fairy Tale crafts, firstly pop over to see our Jack and the Beanstalk Reward Chart, and then click the youtube link here, as I got together with Missie Lizzie who talked magic beans, Anthea with her elves’ shoes, Kelly talked Rapunzel, and Maggy at Red Ted Art (talking three little pigs) who hosted a Fairy Tale Craft google+ hangout.

baking, cooking with kids, create

Carrot Cake recipe with Lemon Icing

The carrot cake is a classic, and this carrot cake recipe’s a super-simple variation on that delicious theme. Just add grated carrots to the dry ingredients, which include both plain and wholemeal flour for extra texture.

Once you’ve beaten in free range eggs and some butter, you’re away – just pop it in the oven. The tangy lemon icing on this carrot cake recipe contrasts with the sweet, cinnamon-flavoured cake to really bring the flavours to life.

Ingredients
200 g (7oz) self raising flour
115 g (4oz) wholemeal flour
350 g (12oz) caster sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250 ml (9fl oz) butter
3 Large carrots, peeled and grated
4 organic free range eggs
Icing
2 unwaxed lemons, zested
225 g (8oz) Fairtrade icing sugar

Method
Mix together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Mix in carrot and gradually beat in Flora Cuisine and eggs. Pour into a greased and bottom lined 20cm (8-inch) square cake tin.
Bake in preheated oven 180°C, 160°C fan, gas mark 4 for 45–55 minutes. Cool on a wire cooling rack.
Icing – Zest the lemons. Squeeze out the juice and add to icing sugar in a bowl with the segments. Mix gently and spread over the cake. Sprinkle with the zest.

Note – make sure your icing is not too runny – we had lots of fun scraping the icing off the board as it dripped through the cooling rack!!

Ali also blogs over on Incredibusy.com and is a lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello!

crafts, google+ hangouts, halloween, key stage 2, kids

Stick Crafts – Shadow Puppet

Chaos writes:

Here’s a very simple stick craft we’ve been doing this week… great shadow puppets inspired by Chinese New Year:

You’ll need some sticks (!) from the garden, or as we do, collected on weekend walks by small children. Some black card, sellotape, a pencil, scissors and some ‘brads’ (the pins with bendy legs, I never remember what their name is!) Oh, and some coloured tissue paper or sweet wrappers. AND a torch if you fancy doing a shadow puppet show!

We drew the dragon ‘pieces’ out onto the black card – cut them out, and joined them together with the brads (we used a bit of plasticine behind the card, and pushed a pencil through to make the hole for the brad).

Attach the sticks with tape at the back and you’re ready to go! You’ll need a couple of characters for the shadow puppet show – standing behind a large white sheet – we dimmed the lights, shone the torch and tried them out. We made up some short stories for our characters and put on a fun silhouette show!!

Click the YouTube link to view the Google+ hangout hosted by Maggy Woodley from Red Ted Art and meet me Ali Clifford at the Stick Craft hangout with Anthea Barton from Zing Zing Tree, Kelly Innes ( Domestic Goddesque) and Liz Burton.

Don’t forget to head over to Red Ted Art and check out the links for all the crafts featured on the video:

I also write over on www.agreenerlifeforus.com 🙂 and incredibusy.com (first published 2013)