In Which I Bake a Lot of Cakes...

Emma's 'Thank you and Goodbye' cakes for her playgroup teachers

The last week of the school year is usually a busy baking week for me. I like the Podlings to take gifts to their teachers on their last day, but I appreciate the fact that most teachers probably have enough 'World's Best Teacher' mugs without us adding to them. I always like to give fairy cakes because they are consumable, so the teacher doesn't have to find a home for them and I think homemade is so much more personal. I was particularly pleased with the cakes for Tom's teacher this year. It was the first year I have had to make cakes for a male teacher and I didn't think he would appreciate flowers and butterflies! Tom's teacher is in charge of pretty much all the sport in the school and takes the football club that Tom went to after school this year. I was thrilled to find these football-themed cake decorations.

Football cakes for Tom's teacher

Cakes for Lily's teacher

We always give a little gift to the headmistress too

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Sunset, Sea and Sand

A few pictures and some video from another sunset trip to the beach. I love these days with my family so much!

Tom wanted me to photograph his drawing in the sand

More Peg Dolls

There's been a bit of peg doll fever around here. After seeing the mermaid dolls I made the other day, Lily was keen to have a go at making some peg dolls of her own. I set the girls up with some dolly pegs and some paints and they had a great time. Tom wasn't interested in taking part this time, but so that he didn't feel left out I made him a bee and a ladybird peg doll. Tom loves anything to do with bees and ladybirds, so he was thrilled with these.

The peg dolls I made for Tom.

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Fairy Dust Fun

Making marks with her fingers. The camera doesn't pick up how pretty this dust is with its fairy sparkle.

Emma had a fabulous time playing with our homemade fairy dust. I coloured some salt pink and added a generous helping of glitter. I poured it on a tray and gave her a few things to make marks with. She started off using her fingers, then drew some pictures with a chop stick. After that she used some wands to make impressions (it is magic fairy dust after all!). Finally she got some of her small pony toys and used it as a landscape for them to play in. I was astonished how much mileage we got out of this simple activity. It is best done somewhere you can clean up easily, but it is well worth the little bit of mess for the enormous amount of fun.

Emma drawing with a chopstick

Emma's drawing of a rocket

Making marks with fairy wands

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Felt Beach Fun

We enjoyed some more beach-themed fun yesterday with this little felt scene I set up on a small table in the lounge. The background, dolphin, clouds and sun are part of our extensive felt storyboard collection, but the rest of it I made yesterday. Emma told me what colour she wanted her fish and starfish to be and I just drew them freehand and cut them out of felt. I suggested she might like to put a few shells on the beach, so she put all the shells on the beach! I think you would need to keep your sandals on on this beach! To finish the play set, I made two mermaid peg dolls for Emma to play with. Emma loves mermaids, so this went down a treat! This little set-up provided lots of entertainment for my imaginative little Emma, so I will leave it there for a few days until she loses interest in it.

A mermaid peg doll with a felt tail

I just painted this peg doll and drew on the scales with a permanant marker. The hair gave me a chance to play with my glue gun, which is always fun! This one was really quick to make and I actually think it is my favourite.

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Beach in a Bowl

With our recent trip to the beach fresh in our minds, it seemed appropriate to put together this little beach play bowl for Emma on Wednesday. A blue washing up bowl with some play sand and water formed the base. I propped one end of the bowl up so we had a 'beach' and a 'sea' and then Emma had fun filling it with shells, pebbles and rocks. It was such a simple thing to throw together and Emma had so much fun with it.

It wasn't long before Emma was on the beach too!

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Patriotic Party Girl

Lily's class have been learning about the Second World War for their project this term. To mark the end of their project and to celebrate the end of term next week, her class had a VE day party on Wednesday afternoon. The whole class had to go to school dressed in red, white and blue, so it was a great chance for her to wear the Jubilee skirt I made her last year. She looked so sweet in her little outfit that I had to take her picture before school.

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