Something simple and fun for the morning snack for the Royal wedding today

Using the traditional colours of the union jack with Red (strawberries), white ( melon) and blue ( blueberries).

Drizzled with toffee sauce.

Enjoy the wedding……………

Royal Wedding kebabs is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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Lemonade is good whatever the time of year in our house. It is especially a favourite when lemons are on special or in season. Whenever I buy lemons, the assumption is always ” Are you going to make lemonade?”

The BG has enjoyed more jobs in the kitchen recently and the MO feels he wants to be doing more than the fetching and sorting he was so good at. Considering he’s the one to ask the most for lemonade. I figured it was time he learnt how to make lemonade.

Have a look at our slide show below to see how we make our lemonade.

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I added a little something that I  now love………………. vanilla.

He was thrilled to be doing it all himself. I think the dog only narrowly escaped some lemonade that day, though I can’t be sure. She was licking those chops a lot and hanging around the MO a lot.

It’s amazing how proud they are of their own work.

What drinks do you make with your children? or your children make for the family?

Make special lemonade is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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Children love helping especially when it comes to food. If you listen to Raising Playful Tots show #35 Memetales, I share some recent experiences of fruit picking with the kids.

At this time of year there are a lot of fruit and vegetables in season. Traditionally, it’s the time to celebrate the Harvest.

Having lived and grown up in a farming area, this time of year is a busy one. The combine harvesters are out ploughing the oilseed rape, the onion, the sugar beet, the little midges, the manure fertilizer. But my biggest memories around school is the Harvest festival. Each child brought in some can gifts. They were all set out like a large supermarket during assembly. I loved to see all the different types of food, ones I didn’t usually see or ones I had never known. Someone would always bring in the bread made into a plait and one in a sheaf. It was amazing to me that bread could come like that.

If you were in the top classes, or the oldest children in the school you got to gather with the help of a senior teacher the cans and produce into baskets and boxes. There were always bunches of carrots with the stock, fresh garden produce from many gardens. It was a physical reminder of how blessed we were. I think as kids seeing so much food and knowing we all had a hand in it really made giving tangible to us.

Those baskets were taken to select people in need. Thinking about it, they had to be people who would accept enthusiastic 4-5 year olds bounding in their space. As no matter how we were told or knew how to behave seeing my 4-year-old I can imagine how much we took up their space!  The mere act of going to another person’s house or group home when you’re so young was too exciting. We’d then get thank you cards, usually handwritten that our teachers would read out and we’d feel warm inside about helping.

I still remember harvest festival time and the hymns we’d sing of thankfulness for the bountiful harvest.
I guess the feeling was gratitude.

When you work on the land or work for your food you feel a little different about it.
Whether it’s starting a vegetable garden or picking your own fruits this is the perfect time of year to plan to include the children. It’s an easy time to express gratitude for what the earth has given us.

The boys had an opportunity to shell peas. Something I had done on occasion when I was younger. I remember siting with my mother, talking and shelling. We had good conversation. When Grandma came in with fresh peas from the market they were really hesitant to join in. They didn’t know about peas, distrusted the process and frankly were more interested in their Lego creations at the time. But Grandma stayed and shelled peas. They wandered over and asked what she was doing and kept coming back with more questions. Soon they were sitting down and trying it themselves. Guess what they ate for dinner that night?

I was able to thank them, oh and Grandma, for the lovely peas. When that rogue pea fell of their plate, as they do, they scooped that little one back on. They didn’t want to lose it. This is in stark contrast with other mealtimes where food is left, abandoned or dropped without a moments thought.
They were grateful, perhaps. Curious? Their fingers ‘hurt’ from stripping and popping peas. In other words, manual work was hard.

How are you sharing opportunities for gratitude and sharing with your young children?

Are there special traditions or memories you have about this time of year?

Cultivating gratitude in the Early years is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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We stumbled across this recipe from Our best bites. We often have a pizza night along with our family night where we often make pizza.

We decided to use the family night to make and eat the pizza. This was a great together activity. The boys cut, weighed, placed and worked on these pizzas.

We made two types of pizza balls; a cheese based one and a meat based one.

Our basic ingredients

• Mozzarella cheese
• Pineapple and sweetcorn

( slices of precooked chicken- leftovers)

Plus refrigerated pizza dough.

• Layout the dough according to package instructions.
• Using a pizza cutter. Divide into large squares.
• Add your filling

• Pinch each closed so the filling is inside and the dough is outside.
• Place seam side down in a greased dish.
• Brush top with garlic butter/oil and sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese.

We poured seasoned sauce in a ramekin for dipping.

Cooking with kids is a lot of fun. They can get really creative and usually eat what they make

As a recipe we all loved it. It was labour intensive having to roll up each bite but the time together was totally worth it.

Thanks to 

Pizza fun with kids is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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When you go out to eat what do you do between ordering and food arriving?

Here are our top 6 boredom busters when waiting for food to arrive when we’re eating out.

1. Stack the packet condiments
2. Dump and fill the sugar/salt packets container ( Who can be the fastest?)
3. Count the packets ( sort the colours/size/ shape etc)
4. Kim’s game- hide things and guess what’s missing
5. I spy ( aka People watching )
6. Make a small pile of salt/sugar and draw letters shapes)

Things we have brought with us that has worked

• book
• paper
• crayons
• small toy

Photo credit: greenkozi

We’d love to extend this list. What do you do? We try not to bring too much and use what we see around us?

6 boredom busters when waiting for food to arrive is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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Play Activities are about fun!

Today I’m combining the boys two true passions; food and play.

I have one who eats enormous meals and is very light on the snacks.

One who will feels snacks and milk are the better choice-always and OK if I have to eat a meal I will very slowly and whine all the way through.

One who is just happy to eat everything that is about if he can feed himself. He’s been known to climb to get what he wants and wrappers are no test when you can bite a hole in it and squeeze the little something out!

About once a week we bake a cake or cookies.

Everyone gets involved with the weighing ( Yes we use scales!) We use those lovely cup scoops to pour into the bowl. The older boys get to collaborate together. It’s funny how they learn to be a bit more understanding when they know the pay off!

The youngest gets to scoop and pour and the oldest gets to check the measure. Apart from that they swap out who does what.

What I love about cooking with the boys

• They get so enthusiastic
• They have so many fun ideas like can you add mint and raisins together in a cookie and if we make carrot cake can you have aubergine cake. ( Not tried any of those suggestions…..can’t see how they would work) But their willingness to try and experiment makes me smile. I know one day I won’t be able to distract them.
• Most of the time they keep it together.
• They do the cookie happy dance and peer into the oven to see if it is done yet.
• They are learning about so many things without even realising it.
• We have great conversations while we cook.

………….the clean up is amazing and huge but well worth it to me.

Cookies we’re eating this week

85g Crunchy Peanut Butter

175g Soft Butter

175g Soft Brown Sugar

300g Self Raising Flour

2 tbsps of milk

85g Roasted peanuts (2/3 roughly chopped or any combination of seeds/craisins

175g Plain chocolate, roughly chopped.

180C/360F/GM4

1. Line 2 large baking sheets with non stick paper. Beat the PB.B and S until light and fluffy. ( use an electric whisk or processor)
2. Add the dry ingredients, stir in the flour and milk then the chopped nuts and chocolate. Bring the mixture together to make a dough
3. There’ll be approximately 18.



4. Roughly shape into a ball by rolling the in palm of your hand. Space well apart to allow for spreading.
5. Flatten each cookie with a fork and sprinkle the remaining nuts.
6. Bake for about 12-15 minutes until cookies are pale and golden around the edges but still soft in the centre.
7. Cool for about 5 minutes before packing away.

Ours were crunchy this time instead of chewy. We made small ones and big ones for little hands and little snacks times……well that’s the theory

What cookie recipes do you enjoy cooking with your kids from scratch?

Baking with kids is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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There is a program I loved to watch in the UK called Ready Steady Cook…..well I think it was this one. Contestants would bring in 3 things and the chefs had to cook a meal using those items. Some would choose foods they had never heard of and fancied trying, some would choose things they always wanted to cook but never knew how. I loved how the cooks would come up with easy meals in such a short time.

So what does play have to do with Ready Steady Cook?

Do you have toys and games you see languishing in the corner that the kids don’t use and haven’t for a while?

When you have just 5 ingredients you have to think creatively and use that old imagination. Same with toys. Bring out 3 groups of the toys that aren’t played with much and start playing with them yourself. Your child will probably come over and want to play with you. Gradually let them lead in the play until you are playing by their rules. This is your exit strategy. Adding the second set into the first set of play slowly and the third until you are interweaving all three things.

Grouping toys and showing how they interact is something you may need to demonstrate with some children. We label their toy areas with Manipulative, blocks, trains, cars, balls etc that they often tend to play with just one thing then another thing but forget they can mix and match. ..just like the  new meal. It takes a while to get the flavours right and the right toy combinations. There is a lot of trial and error but usually the marriage of toys leads to better play. It does take intervention from us in just 3 things

1. to set up situations
2. allow time for development of the ideas
3. Be present to intervene, encourage, observe, participate or redirect

What two or three toys to you know that are at the back of the toy box? Go dig them out and have a think ‘Ready Steady Cook’ style- What recipe can you come  up with?

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Ok I know you’re hoping to see a Ready Steady Cook to be inspired for dinner tonight.

How to use under used toys is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Find out the story behind this Wordless Wednesday post tomorrow.
For more Wordless Wednesday posts go to WordlessWednesday.com and 5minutesformom.com

WW: Making together is a post from: Play-Activities.com
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