Ice breaker games: the Just So Tag I’m It hat
Here’s a super fun active play idea that’s great for an ice breaker game at the beginning of the school year or when groups of children come together: try the Tag, I’m It! hat.
Ice breaker games: Tag, I’m It hat! [Read more…]
How to make a child’s hat
How to make a child’s hat couldn’t be simpler but with a creative kid involved the results are super fun and oh so stylish!
This idea is inspired by one of our favourite books: Millie’s Marvellous Hat by Satoshi Kitamura. The book is about a little girl who longs for a beautiful hat but has no money to buy one. It’s a tale of imagination, positivity and overcoming problems. It also features the most wonderful illustrations of fabulous hats. We couldn’t read it without creating our own marvellous hat!
How to make a child’s hat [Read more…]
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was the perfect birthday party theme for my little bookworm. B turned nine last week and at the weekend we hosted a Book Party for her family and friends, with crazy food and fun activities. The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was such fun to plan and prepare, with the kids excited about sharing the mad ideas with their friends.
All the invitations were little books, illustrated by B, with the story inside telling the tale of how all the guests were invited to a party. Everyone came dressed as a favourite book character – I was Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, although sadly no photos of that incarnation remain. I do have lots of photos of what we made and what we ate though, so here’s our round up of how we hosted a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. [Read more…]
Meringue recipe
This meringue recipe makes the perfect party dessert and as they’re so easy to make it’s a great recipe for the children to try out for themselves. It also calls for a little showmanship and daring, much to the kids’ delight.
I won’t make any attempt to pass them off as being a healthy option though as they are of course very sugary, but serving them with a pile of fresh fruit balances things out a little. This recipe makes mini meringues, which is a better child-sized portion. Not that I care about easing my conscience too much – they were for my birthday party after all!
Here’s how to make our Mini Meringue Recipe
To make 12 white and 12 pink mini meringues you will need 2 egg whites, 100g caster sugar and two drops of pink food colouring
Preheat your oven to 110C / 225 f / Gas 1/4 and then place your egg whites in a large bowl.
Let the children crack their own eggs – go on! If you have any stray pieces of egg shell it’s easiest to use another piece of shell to scoop them out as like seems to attract like. You only need the egg whites for this recipe. To separate them you can strain the egg through your fingers, keeping hold of the yolk. An easier way with children is to crack your egg on to a saucer or plate, then use an egg cup to enclose the yolk. Then you can pour off the rest of the egg white into your bowl.
Use a whisk to beat the eggs until they form thick, white peaks. This is great fun for the children as the eggs totally transform in colour and texture as you beat in the air- science in action. When the egg whites are stiff enough you can hold the bowl upturned over your (or their) head and the eggs will stay in the bowl – ta-daa! Then whisk in the sugar, adding it little by little.
Line a baking tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper and use teaspoons to place 12 blobs of the meringue mixture on to the tray. Add a couple of drops of food colouring to the remaining mixture and very gently stir the colour through. Use teaspoons again to make 12 blobs of pink meringue on the tray.
Bake for 40 minutes, then turn off the oven. Leave the meringues inside the oven for another 5 minutes if you like yours to have a delicious chewy centre, for another 20 if you prefer them to be crisp.
You can serve them as they are or sandwhich one white and one pink meringue together with some whipped cream. Serve with fresh berries and other chopped fruit. Just right for birthday or summer party.
You can find more recipes here.
happily shared with share your Sunday best and craft schooling Sunday
10 tips for a traditional birthday party
As it’s our first birthday this week here our ten tips for a traditional birthday party. ***
Tip #1Traditional birthday parties continue the rituals from your childhood: think of your favourite party memory and include this in your child’s birthday.
Tip #2 A traditional birthday party can work out much cheaper: set a budget, bake your own cake and play traditional games.
Tip #3 You can bake your own cake: try this all time favourite birthday cake recipe or be adventurous with this rainbow cake from I Am Baker
Tip#4 Pick a fun theme: Try the very Hungry Caterpillar or Where The Wild Things Are
Tip#5 How about a Space themed party or a robot themed party?
Tip#6 Traditional games are fun and free. Try this sock guessing game or this memory game.
Tip#7 Keep decorations simple but wow! Hang bunting made from the kids paintings and tie balloons to the front door.
Tip#8 Let the children have fun making their own party bags: these loot bags are easy to make.
Tip#9 Don’t forget we have a birthday present for you to win in our OrchardToys giveaway
Tip#10 My best party fun tip: Relax! Keep it simple and have fun.
What’s you top tip for a playful kids party?
***These #goplayTwitter Tips are tweeted each Friday at 8.30pm – follow @nurturestore or the #goplay hashtag to share
View the Twitter Tips on playdough, water play, travelling with kids, preschool science, junk modeling , balancing school and play and encouraging reading and writing
happily shared with Top Ten Tuesday
What’s in the sock? game
This is a great party game and can also be used to link in with a topic you’re looking at. You need to use your fingers to feel inside a sock and guess what’s hidden inside.
Start with a few old socks -we bought some cheap men’s sports socks especially for the game. (They might get messy, depending on what you fill them with.)
Fill each sock with a different content. We used feathers, dry pasta, fir cones and jelly.
Each person has to put their hand into the sock (no peeping!) and see if they can tell what’s inside just by feeling.
You could give a sweet prize if they guess correctly, or if you have a few children playing you could work as two teams, with a prize for the team that gets the most correct answers.
You can vary the contents to fit with any theme or topic you like.
For Hallowe’en you might use cooked spaghetti (dragon’s intestines), green jelly (witch’s snot), peeled grapes (monster’s eye balls) or tomato ketchup (bat’s blood).
If you’ve been on a woodland walk you might fill each sock with conkers, acorns, fir cones, moss and so on.
Extend the game to nurture language skills
You can use this game to promote children’s language too. Have one child feel inside the sock and describe the contents to others – see if the child can give enough clues so the others can guess what’s inside without seeing or even feeling it.
Or play the game and ask all the children to see how many words they can use to describe the contents – is it slimy, squashy, soft, slippery, gentle, hard, crunchy…?