Rainy Day Marbled Chocolate Biscuits (Dairy Free)

What a miserable day!  Such a waste of a bank holiday weekend, although we shouldn't have expected anything less really.

D1 has been pestering me for ages to make biscuits so with D2 watching Ben & Holly and The BigD & D3  upstairs having a little afternoon snooze we sneaked into the kitchen and did just that - some great Mummy daughter time.

Shhh - I think I may be in trouble for posting this

You will need:

• 75g Melted Dark chocolate (make sure it is dairy free - Most of the good stuff is) 
• 250g Plain flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 2 capfulls Vanilla extract
• 100g Golden Caster Sugar
• 200g Dairy Free Spread (Vitalite or Pure are good brands)
• Good pinch salt

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 (we have a fan oven).
2. Line baking trays with parchment paper.
3. Mix salt/baking powder/flour together.
4. Wisk together spread/sugar/vanilla extract until pale and creamy.
5. Fold in flour mix.
6. Pour on melted chocolate and stir only a couple of times to give marbled effect.
7. Roll into balls a bit smaller than a golf ball, place on lined baking tray and flatten them just a little - Watch out the mixure is a little sticky so this bit is a bit messy!
8. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes.
9. Leave to cool and then enjoy.

Vanity And A Self Portrait

D1 has become so vain since starting school.  It is ridiculous.  I want to burn all the hairbrushes and hide the mirrors.  This morning she got in bed with me and before we went downstairs, in fact, before we had even turned the lights on she was tweaking her hair and smoothing it all down.  It wouldn't possibly do for the coco-pops to see her hair a state!

I  decided to give her practical reason for looking in a mirror.  I gave her a mirror and asked her to draw what she saw.  

look at that tongue poking out with concentration

This is the result and I am sure you will agree it is such a great likeness!

 

Mirrored Writing

I must say I was very impressed with her observational skills and the detail she has picked up on - from the teddy on the front of her jim jams  to the blue of her eyes.  It took the BigD and I a while to figure out what the back-to-front writing was all about.  Well, I did tell her to draw what she saw!

I have dated this wonderful picture and I am going to ask her to repeat the exercise every few months and make a little book of them.

Button Necklace

D1 and I spent the evening eating junk and making necklaces from a value pack of colourful buttons!

The buttons cost a whole £1 from hobby craft.  Some are a little defected but there are plenty of usable ones.  I picked up the thong from the local charity shop for a measly 20p - We are lucky to have one specialising in beautiful crafty bits and bobs.

D3 is suddenly getting very nosy and is easily distracted when feeding and my colourful creation made for a fantastic nursing necklace.  I shall be wearing it a fair bit over the next few weeks I think.

Easter Learning - Chocolate Colours

D2 is learning her colours.  Once we had purchased back the stash of cheap and nasty foil wrapped eggs from D1, The Big D set up a little colour sorting game.

D2 had a great time and seemed to catch on really quick, even going to the toy box and presenting BigD with a yellow toy.  A very successful lesson I hear you say.

This video is her showing off her new skills!

She has become really fond of this "game" and has played it daily since Sunday - My baking session with the surplus chocolate may just have to wait a while.

Ernie The Elf Comes To Stay

Today Ernie the Elf has come to stay in the Mayhem household. He will be staying with us until Christmas and will report back to Farther Christmas on the children's behaviour.

He will be meeting D1 for the first time tonight after school and has brought with him a little note to introduce himself. Now he looks quite sweet and innocent with those BIG brown eyes but don't let appearances fool you, he has all kinds of mischief lined up. Tonight he will raid the Christmas treat box and D1 will find him, in the morning, on the living room floor, surrounded by the contents of a large tub of quality street! Naughty Elf. He has also told me that he thinks knickers make great Christmas tree decorations so there is another little adventure for him.

I would love it if you have any more ideas of things our naughty little house guest could get up to.

Homemade Toys - Picture Discs

I made this game/toy for my youngest daughter (D2) who is 19 months old and I must say I am so so pleased with the play value it has provided - even my 4 year (D1) old loves it.

Initially I made them just to give D2 a way of looking at photographs.  She absolutely loves sitting at the computer with me looking at pictures of people she recognises so I wanted to find a way that she could do this by herself.  Our efforts have 21 faces but can be as large or small as you like.

They were so simple to make - the trickiest bit will be finding enough jar lids (You could always mount your pics on cardboard but I feel the Jam jar lids make them really easy for little fingers to handle and should give a little more longevity too).

You will need:

• Photos of close friends and family
• Scissors
• A pen/pencil
• Glue (I found the only glue that would hold the pictures firmly in place was super glue)
• Jam jar lids or similar
• Something to cut round (I found a pastry cutter to be the perfect size)
• Half an hours peace and quiet to get the job done.

What to do:

• It really is as simple as cutting out the faces and glueing them in to the discs/lids.
• Leave plenty of time for the glue to dry.

Ways to play:

1. Just allow your child to explore them alone.
2. Look at them together and talk about each person.
3. Play sorting games for example:
• Who lives in our house? (The BigD's family all live in NZ so we do that too)
• men/women
• Adults/Children
• Hair colour
• Explore relationships - "Can you find Daddy's Mummy", etc...

If you dream up another way to play with them then I would love to hear it.  Please leave me a comment below or email with suggestions and I will add them here.

If you liked this post then you may also like to take a look at the "Busy Day" personalised story book we made.

Not suitable for really young children that are likely to put things into their mouths as the glue, I am almost certain, will be full of toxins!

The Sock Game

We love a good family game and we are slowly developing a small stash, acquired mainly from the local charity shop. As soon as the word "Game" is mentioned D2, who is 18 months, begins to shout "Play, Play, Play" over and over building up to quite a crescendo until the game makes an appearance.

Guess Who is a massive hit with D1, who is 4, and Connect 4 is loved by both D1 & D2, although they don't play by any of the rules I have heard of. The most loved game of all is The Sock Game, it costs absolutely nothing and everyone can join in.

You will need:

• Socks - Lots of them (Folded in pairs)
• A large basket (D1 has quite a small sock drawer so we just tend to bring the whole drawer downstairs)

Rules:

• Place basket/drawer in the middle and take aim.
• If you want to get competitive then you can keep score but my lot just tend to enjoy it for the game itself.