Wimpole farm lambing

Today we went to Wimpole home farm for their lambing event. It has nearly finished and we had access to less pens than in previous years which was a bit disappointing, but still the girls had a good time! The girls enjoyed grooming donkeys, stroking cows, watching lambs being bottle-fed and playing in the adventure playground. 
I never feel Wimpole is the most child-friendly farm to visit but if you want to see where your food comes from it is great place to visit!

Stained glass Easter Eggs 2

The girls made tissue paper stained glass Easter eggs by sticking pre-cut squares of tissue paper onto egg shaped sticky backed plastic. Prefect for fine motor control development and colour recognition.  They look quite effective! This could be extended by thinking about pattens.

Stained glass windows 1

Today the girls used some 3D peel-able glass paint (bought from hobby craft) and some acetate cut into the shapes of eggs to make stained glass windows. The paints were easy to squeeze out but were hard to use accurately and the girls seemed to get sleeves and hair in to their paint! Two of them ended up doing butterfly painting style pictures (where we folded the egg in half to cover both halves with paint!).

To extend this next time I might buy some of the glass pens to allow more detailed work. 

 

 

How to Catch a Star

Today I took the girls to see this at the Junction (http://www.junction.co.uk/) which often has fab children's theatre on Sundays. They have mats at the front to allow children to be able to see but actually all the seats seem to offer a great view. 

The show itself started with the both actors making an effort to get to know kids in the audience which then later allowed them to personalise the show. It was a great adaptation of this well known book which plenty of audience participation. Even P joined in with the actions.

chocolate easter nests

• 10 shredded wheat biscuits
• 250g milk chocolate
• 50g butter, cut into little cubes
• 3 tbsp golden syrup, approx
• mini easter eggs
• baking cases

1. Crush the Shredded Wheat biscuits into a bowl using your hands 
2. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it with the butter and golden syrup in a microwave on a low heat, stirring every 30 seconds
3. Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl and mix with the crushed Shredded Wheat
4. When mixed and all the Shredded Wheat is covered with chocolate, spoon the mixture into bun cases and press down in the middle of each to create a place for the eggs
5. Press two or three Mini Eggs into each nest 
6. Leave to set for at least 2 hours 

 

 

Yummy White chocolate, fudge and oat biscuits

• 225g  self-raising flour
• 200g  demerara sugar
• 225g  rolled porridge oats
• 225g melted butter
• 50g golden syrup
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, mixed with 1 tsp hot water
• 200g fudge
• 250g white chocolate
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1. In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, porridge oats, butter, golden syrup and bicarbonate of soda mixture in a bowl.  Make 3cm balls and place a lined baking tray, leaving plenty of space between each ball.
     
  2. Flatten each ball with a fork, then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180C or until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
     
  3. Place the fudge between two sheets of greaseproof paper and roll out until the fudge is about 2mm thick. Cut into circles the same size as the oat biscuits and place over the top of the biscuits.
     
  4. Pour melted white chocolate over the biscuits and fudge (you may want to do this by placing the biscuits on a cooling rack with some greaseproof paper underneath to catch any dripping chocolate).
     
  5. Chill the biscuits in the fridge until the chocolate is set.
     
     
     
     
     

Science Festival

This weekend we went to the Science Festival in Cambridge. It is run by the university and most events are free. the first weekend is mainly biology and chemistry with the second weekend mostly maths and physics.  T took the older two to some talks and then explored some of the biology and chemistry demonstations where E and G made goo and ice-cream made by liquid nitrogen.

Then we went back on Sunday and again T took I and G to a lecture and P, E and myself went back to the biology department and dissected owl pellets, carried out chromatography and made a flu virus from a polystyrene ball!

Coton walk

Today we cycled to Coton (it is really easy with very little road riding) and walked around the nature reserve. It was lovely, with very few people around - although there was the load hum of the M11.  We printed the map from the Visitor Guide and got out 2 older girls to navigate. It was a lovely 3 and a bit mile walk (and we didn't get lost once!!!)

The paths were wide and easy to get a pushchair down (although some of the walking is on wide grass field boundaries)

 There was lots of evidence of wildlife....

 and sticks to collect ...

 and general things to point out along the way!

This is the view from the "top" of Red Meadow Hill. We enjoyed finding Cambridge landmarks such as the UL, King's and Addenbrookes:

Condensed Milk Cookies

Condensed Milk Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Sprinkles

400g butter, softened

1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk

500g self-raising flour

Toppings e.g. chocolate chips, sprinkles

We preheated oven to 180°C and lined two baking trays with baking paper. 

We beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. 

We add  the condensed milk and the flour until just combined. 

We then used desert spoonfuls to make the cookies on the baking sheet and added our toppings.

We then baked in the oven for 12-15 minutes.