Bake Off Lab box

As P enjoys science but being busy working/riding it is hard to find the time to have ideas and collect resources so a box which has everything in it to carry out experiments is really appealing. We tried a Curiosity Box. Each Curiosity Box is packed with hands-on activities and collectable lab kit to help children explore the world around them – and beyond. The topics are curriculum linked and are ideal for children between the ages of 6 and 11. Every experiment is individually wrapped and includes all instructions, guides, ingredients and tools needed to become a budding scientist. The information in each pack is well written and explained for both little and big minds to easily understand. The experiments are fun and intriguing and really make you think about the science behind it all.

We started with the Bake Off Lab box which contains 3 delicious activities.

The first one we tried was making honeycomb. We saw that by adding bicarbonate of soda, it breaks down with heat to release carbon dioxide gas. The gas causes the sugar and syrup mixture froth and bubble. The bubbles become trapped in the mixture and set there!

 P then made a showstopper -using marshamallows and rice krispies to make different structures (P made marshmallows). The powder contains maltodextrin which joins with the fats in melted chocolate to create a powder!  

 

 Finally, she made biscuits - plain, raisin and mystery (we added chocolate) to find out which one would be the best for dipping. Biscuits are basically starch held together by sugar. Dunking melts the sugar leading to a more intense sweetness but also leading to disintegration. At the same time, the starch grains swell which temporarily helps to hold the dissolving biscuit together. We found that chocolate ones were the worst (disintegrated the quickest) and the plain were the best!

 We really enjoyed it and have ordered another one.

They also have 3 sizes of boxes for children aged 7-11 on monthly subscription:

Pico (1 activity) from £6.95pm

Nano (2 activities) from £11.95pm

 Jumbo (3 activities) from £19.95pm

There is also a CuriosiTots Box for younger children aged 4-6.

Thriplow Daffodil Weekend

The husband, myself and P visited Thriplow Daffodil Festival. Over two days, visitors walk the car-free village to look at the daffodil displays, visit the attractions and open gardens, and potter around the stalls.Thriplow is a village about 20 minutes out of Cambridge. Back in 1969 the church roof in Thriplow was in need of repair - hardly a unique state of affairs in an English village. They'd always had a particularly fine display of daffodils in the village so people decided to open their gardens to the public and to serve tea from their own kitchens. The event raised £206, and thus encouraged, they decided to do it again the next year. Over the years it has raised over £400,000 for charities. Almost everyone in the little village does something to help out - manning car parks, printing posters, serving teas and all the many tasks involved in bringing the event to life. We pre-booked tickets which was 10% cheaper than buying them on the day.

  Apart from the daffs there is much to see: horse and cart rides, the local blacksmith's shop, merry-go-rounds, morris dancers, stalls selling all manner of local produce, a punch and judy mn, folk music, rock and jazz, the raptor foundation, vintage cars and tractors,stalls selling local produce......

 We had lunch there - P enjoyed a pancake and some ice-cream!

Stowe

Today, in glorious but slightly unseasonably warm weather we went to Stowe to meet up with my parents who had P to stay for a few days. We had a lovely picnic by the Chinese Temple and then went for a wonder round the grounds.

 We saw lots of snowdrops!

 We had a cup of tea (and E had her first ice-cream of the year) before going our seperate ways!

Ickworth

G, E and myself popped to Ickworth for their scone of the month - which was a rather yummy Toffee Apple flavour. They were a little dry but there were pieces of toffee in them.

We then went for a quick walk round the estate. It was a beautiful sunny day and I loved all the shapes of the bare trees.

Day 24 - The Wizard of Oz @REP Birmingham

We have totally loved every show we have been to see at The Rep and the Wizard of Oz was no exception.
When we arrived there was some lively skiff music playing by members of the cast against a background of corrugated iron. This really set the scene perfectly. When the play started, we were instantly transported to the farm in Kansas where the farm hands relax between shifts. The simple set of the farm building both inside and out felt so real that it made the whole story.The story starts with Toto being a real dog and when the play moves to Oz he turns into a puppet - P hadn't noticed this till the end when she said "Oh there were 2 totos!".
The Munchkins provide a hilarious welcome to Oz. They manged to be both funny and creepy, setting the tone for the rest of the story. Oz is a magical land full of vivid colour, towering plants and trees, and eerie animals and otherworldly creatures. The ensemble works so hard to bring it to life and it feels like you have been transported into another world.

The thing which made the play so innovative and fresh was the stagecraft and use of the set. The journey to Oz on the yellow brick road is told through a variety of props including yellow steps and chairs which give a feeling of movement along with the stage floor which is a giant turntable. Oz itself has some visual gags, green billboards with Oz puns in them and Dorothy and her companions getting an Oz makeover complete with traditional Dorothy costume. The Wicked Witch of the West was truly terrifying and P had her hands over her eyes for some of it!

I am looking forward to next's years Christmas show already!

Day 20 - Wilton's box of delights

Like so many people, I totally love the Box of Delights BBC television series which I try and watch each advent! As soon as I saw that there was a theatre show of this, one of my favourite books, I tried to book tickets! Sadly I failed last year but was one it as soon as they came on sale this year!

So tonight P, E and myself took the train down to the beautiful Wilton’s Music Hall. The theatre whole-heartedly embodies the show, such offering lemon posset ice cream which is referenced several times throughout the story, although P was not impressed! The programme is a fully detailed newspaper, ‘The Tatchester Times’ which includes games and ‘news items’.

I thought it was cleverly done with a small cast that do a lot of doubling up and make each person unique.  The staging was simple but for the most part effective. There were some lovely, imaginative scenes, like when the old man opens the Box of Delights and we see a golden, be-jewelled phoenix flying around the stage before it smolders in its own embers.
However, if you are not familiar with the story I thought it could be confusing with the the parallel story lines, time travel, and the cast playing multiple characters.

Day 19 - Polar Express

This evening P and I visited the North Pole on the Polar Express courtesy of the mid-Norfolk railway. It was about an  hour and half drive from Cambridge. We only managed to get standard tickets which meant we had to park in one of the free car parks in Dereham and had to walk about 10 minutes before we arrived.

 It was really well done with lots of actors in each carriage. They sang, danced, told the story...

 .. provided us with hot chocolate and cookies.

 We made it to the North Pole where Father Christmas arrived and gave the first gift of Christmas.

 The conductor even punched holes in our tickets. And we had a sing song on the way home.

I really loved it and P took her bell to bed with her,.