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This cloud dough recipe is a great one to make when you haven’t got anything planned using things that you would usually have at home already.
You will need:
All purpose flour
Vegetable oil
Oil based food colouring or powder food colouring
Mixing bowl
A tray for play
Cloud dough can be made by mixing 1 cup of vegetable oil to 8 cups of flour.
Getting the flour ready
To make coloured Cloud Dough, divide the mixture between the amount of colours you require.
Based on this ratio we made three colours so used 1/2 a cup of oil to 4 cups of flour and mixed the colour into the oil before adding to the flour.
Once mixed, add to a tray or sensory bin and let the kids loose. Give them a selection of cutters, spoons, cups and play things and let them enjoy. We used shells, pebbles, biscuit cutters, playdoh shapes, plant pots (for making sand castles) and then added some glitter which Isabelle really enjoyed.
This is perfect for the garden and any spillages can be hosed away. This can be kept for as long as your little one will play with it and will not harm them if they have the odd sneaky taste.
The dog even got in on the action and as you can see he thought it was a tasty treat.
Our day at Peppa Pig World originally posted 26.09.13
I’ve just realised that I was meant to blog about our birthday day at Peppa Pig World.
Our daughter turned three at the beginning of September and we deliberated over whether or not we should have a party or a special day out. We thought we’d give Isabelle the choice knowing full well that she was going to choose Peppa Pig World.
The drive there was plain sailing and only took us a couple of hours from Exeter.
On arrival we were directed to our parking space which is possibly the only thing that I could complain about as they packed all the cars in the carpark like sardines and as usual we managed to park ourselves in between a 4 x 4 and another car parked too close which meant that it was a bit of a squeeze to get in and out of the car.
Having a Toddler and a Teenager
Having a toddler and a teenager can cause a lot of problems, especially on days out which wasn’t a problem as whilst we visited Peppa Pig World, Ryan and his friend went to the normal Poulton’s Park theme park and just met us for lunch.
Isabelle was absolutely amazed by Peppa Pig World and didn’t know which way to look or run first. We had a quick mooch around to decide what we wanted to do, and whilst we made our minds up Isabelle went in the playpark which was Fab. Everything was made to look exactly as it is in the programme with attention to detail every step of the way.
It totally made Isabelle’s day when she spotted the Muddy Puddles Water Play area which is right up her street. Off came the shoes at the speed of light and off she went before we had a chance to head her off. We were going to save this for towards the end of the day but hey ho it was her birthday treat!
This was loads of fun. I happily sat with the bags etc whilst Daddy went in for a bit of splashing. After much splashing and getting completely soaked it was time to move on to something else.
Unfortunately the day that we went there were a few showers which were quite heavy but thankfully only lasted a few minutes at a time and a bit of drizzle towards the end of the day. We went on every single ride including Miss Rabbit’s Helicopter which was the one we queued the longest for, the Balloon Ride and Isabelle’s favourite was the Windy Castle Ride.
We had planned to take a picnic, but in the end we decided to eat there instead. There were quite a few places to choose from dotted around both Peppa Pig World and the remainder of Poulton’s Park. We met up with the boys and sat underneath this huge outdoor roofed picnic area. This was when the first and heaviest shower started and we were grateful for the shelter.
The Ducks are Real
When we sat down to eat, Isabelle found it really amusing that like the real Peppa Pig the ducks came for a bit of our picnic (or burgers as was the case). The food was standard pricewise and more than acceptable tastewise. I had a spicy beanburger which was very tasty.
Hotfooting it into the shop which we had hoped to save until the end, but the rain started again Isabelle was again amazed at all the things that you could buy. As it was a birthday treat she chose herself a Peppa Pig Nightie, A Snack Box and Peppa Pig’s Teddy and away we went.
Throughout the day Peppa and George make guest appearances. Isabelle wasn’t sure about these so Daddy picked her up so that she could have a closer look. Isabelle seemed to mellow and even reached out to touch Peppa, at which point Peppa whipped her head round and head butted Isabelle in the face.
There was plenty of photo opportunities in and around the park which looked just like we were onset ourselves. We don’t really have a willing participant with photographs which generally come out looking rather blurred (or maybe I’m just really bad with a camera).
Our Thoughts
It was a great day and the teenager and his friend had a great day in the main part of Poulton’s Park despite the weather. I would definitely recommend it to anybody with a Peppa Mad infant, or just for a great family day out.
Keep up to date with all our Family Day’s Out in the Family Life Section of the blog.
Bush Baby World Princess Melina – We were selected a few months ago to be toy testers for the Rainbow Toy Awards and were really excited when we got the email to say that we were going to be sent a Bush Baby.
I looked these up before it arrived and I knew that Isabelle would love it.
Isabelle is crazy mad about any kind of collectibles, and this was cute, pink, and furry so ticked all the boxes.
The Bush Baby
We received Princess Melina who has flecks of glitter through her fur and has a Princess crown. She lives in a sparkling palace within Shimmer Mountain where Shimmer Stars grow. Only Princess Melina can pick the Shimmer Stars which are very rare and are used to protect the Dream Tree.
The Accessories
Isabelle is all about the accessories. The accessories are the difference between a thumbs up and thumbs down when it comes to toys.
Princess Melina comes with a pink pod which she sleeps in, a comb, a Royal Sceptre and a Shimmer Star which comes in a little silver drawstring bag.
What does she do?
She waggles her ears and eyes using a little button on her back.
You can brush her fur and hair.
She is one of many Bush Babies that you can collect. You can also get the Dream Tree which all the pods hang from which Isabelle has her eye on.
You can also visit the Bush Baby Website where there are some videos to watch, activities, colouring sheets and printables.
As I’ve said previously, Isabelle loves watching a You Tube video so we thought we’d do an unboxing video of our own.
I must point out at this stage that Isabelle had absolutely no idea what was in the box so that you can see her genuine reaction.
The Video
What we thought.
Princess Melina gets a huge thumbs up from Isabelle. She’s soft and brushable and the pod fits perfectly over the edge of her bed. Once you’ve put Princess Melina into the pod, all of the accessories fit in as well which is a bonus. This was the first time that we’d seen the Bush Babies but it is definitely something that Isabelle would choose herself. She has (or will) add the Bush Baby Tree to her Christmas list. I should also point out that Isabelle has just turned seven and this was very suitable for her age range, but would also have appealed to her at a younger age as well.
The Bush Babies retail for £19.99 which we think is entirely reasonable.
*Disclaimer – We were sent a Bush Baby for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.
We love to watch all of the latest films with Isabelle. We set up camp on the sofa with pyjamas, blankets and snacks and snuggle down, and this is what we did to watch the new film Spark.
Spark is released on DVD and Blue-Ray on Monday 18th September 2017.
You may guess the voices of some well-known names including:
Patrick Stewart
Jessica Biel
Susan Sarandon
Hilary Swank
Rob deLeeuw
A.C Peterson
Jace Norman
The Film
Spark is about a teenage monkey called Spark whose planet was destroyed by the ruthless Zhong leaving him as an orphan with only Chunk, Vix, and some insects for company.
Zhong took over what remained of planet Bana and enslaving everyone who remained.
Spark along with Chunk, Vix, Nanny the Robot and some insects managed to survive on a shard of the planet which was used as a garbage dump whilst Zhong plotted to destroy the entire universe with the help of a deadly space Kraken.
When Spark reaches thirteen he feels ready to take on Zhong, and unbeknown to Chunk and Vix replies to a secret space mission.
Leaving the shard with only his pet roach for company, Spark sets off on the mission of his life.
Making his way into Zhong’s palace with the help of Chunks gadgetry he meets the Queen who gives him a Kraken finder to hide so that Zhong cannot carry out his deadly plan.
Instead of returning to the garbage shard Spark decides to find the Kraken himself. After finding the Kraken he guides it back towards the garbage shard, but Khong’s men have already destroyed everything that had become home to Spark including Bananny the Robot.
Zhong’s men seize the Kraken and capture Spark and imprison him along with Chunk and Vix.
The Kraken is kept under a torturous force field and the garbage shard is destroyed and Spark, Vix and Chunk are thrown into the black hole created by the Kraken.
They land on a planet where many from the original planet Bana had been hiding out. The Captain of the Royal Guard and some of his men have been living not knowing that planet Bana still exists.
Spark is revealed as the Prince of Bana and discovers that the Queen is actually his mother. Vix and Chunk had been keeping Spark safe from the truth on behalf of the Queen until the time came to take back Bana.
They prepare to take back Planet Bana by using Chunks technical know how with the help of mutated bugs. Unbeknown to Spark, Chunk had saved Bananny and pimped her up.
They create a new Kraken slick and return to battle against Zhong. After a great battle where Zhongs ship is destroyed, a black hole is created and Zhong is punched into it by the Queen.
Peace is resumed as Planet Bana is restored to former glory, and the Queen and Prince Spark are in their rightful place.
What we thought:
This was a refreshing change from our usual princessy themed films that we tend to watch. Isabelle was in a telly-trance for the whole film which means it gets a big juicy thumbs up from us. As a parent some of the kids films can be a bit boring, but this was action packed with lots of humour throughout.
Happy Days Linky – A weekly round-up of all the things, big or small that make us happy. I’m linking up with Katy from What Katy Said and Sian from Quite Frankly She Said.
The teen getting a sprinkle of humour- for those of us with teenagers you will know all too well how they seem to have a serious lack of sense of humour. We saw a glimmer of return when my two had a pants fights. It started off with Ryan putting a pair of his pants on Isabelle’s head (clean of course). Isabelle grabbed a pair off the airer and the fight commenced. No shouting or ending in tears (Isabelle’s). It was silly but fun!
The ukulele
I was greeted the other day by a newly bought blue ukulele which Nanny had bought for Isabelle. She can’t play it for toffee but wholeheartedly gives it a go. She sang and played everything she said to me for the rest of the evening. Yey!
A lie-in
I had one! Until 9.30 and then breakfast in bed which I ate downstairs. My sleep pattern has been shot to pieces for a long while so I spend most of the time feeling exhausted. I woke up at 6.30 and nearly got up. I read but I must have dropped off as the next thing it was 9.30. Perfect!
Work Free Evenings
I work on my blog in the evenings every night. There is a lot to do and I get stressed if I have an evening off. Anyway, as I haven’t been sleeping that great again I thought that I would try and reduce the amount I did which wasn’t a lot as my brain was so fuzzled I was quite often sitting in front of my laptop but actually watching TV. Not productive at all. So this week I’ve had Friday and Saturday night off and it felt good. I think I’m going to try and do this on a regular basis. We watched the newest Purge film which was pretty rubbish.
Decluttering
I’ve been watching What Katy Said’s decluttering videos (which are awesome) and it’s got me motivated to do the same. My starting point is storage so I need to go and buy some boxes/baskets etc so that I can start to sort and have somewhere to put things. The amount of NEW pink plastic we have since Isabelle’s Birthday is ridiculous.
Baking
Isabelle and I with the help of one of her Brats dolls made Jam Heart Biscuits yesterday. The weather was pants as it kept bucketing down and Isabelle gets a bit stir crazy if you don’t give her something to do. They were really easy to make and it was something to show Daddy when he got home as well.
Walking
I love walking Charlie. It gives me time to think or not. Yesterday the little pain in the butt took himself off to the skate park to scav for food. There’s usually pizza boxes and McDonald’s wrappers so plenty to choose from. Every time I think he’s got over this he does it again. How he doesn’t get run over by a bike or skateboard (they don’t stop) I don’t know. This probably shouldn’t feature on my Happy List but after the fact I always find it funny. I do wonder if I’m going to end up on You Tube entitled ‘Crazy Dog Catcher Hits the Skate Park’. Charlie thinks it’s a great game to run up and down the ramp thing, usually with some stolen food hanging out of his mouth. Little sod!
Jam Heart Biscuit Recipe – Today the weather was so weird. One minute it was bright blue sky and the sun was shining so I put out the washing and was due to head out for a walk with the dog. I turned my back and the next thing it was bucketing down and I had to run like a crazy person to get all the washing back in. This occurred three times so I gave up and put the washing on the airer and we made the decision to bake. So here the recipe which is really easy to make.
What you need:
For the dough
300g/10oz Plain Flour
150g/5oz Caster Sugar
250g/8oz Butter
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 tsp Salt
For the filling
60g/2oz Butter
90g/3oz Icing Sugar
Jam
A couple of drops of Vanilla Essence
1 tsp Water
How to make the dough:
Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together.
Add in the egg yolk and vanilla essence and mix until smooth.
Sift in the flour and salt and mix everything together to form a dough.
Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm and pop in the fridge for around 30 minutes.
To make the biscuits:
Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4 (180ºC/350ºF)
Sprinkle the work surface with flour so that it doesn’t stick and then roll out the dough so that it is about 1/2cm thick.
Grease your baking trays (we used two).
Get your cookie cutter of choice (we went for a heart shape with a circle in the middle) and cut out your biscuits.
Once you have cut out the biscuits, count them. Put one half of the biscuits to the side and the other, cut out a smaller circle in the middle. These will be the tops.
Bake the cookies in the oven for approximately 12 minutes or until golden.
Whilst these are cooling you can prepare your filling.
For the filling:
Put the butter in a bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds. This makes it so much easier to make butter icing.
Sift in the icing sugar and add the water and vanilla essence.
Mix together until you have a smooth consistency.
Once the cookies are completely cooled, spread a small amount on the bottom biscuits (without the hole) and then add a small blob of jam before popping the lid on.
Happy Days Linky – Back to School and off into the World of Work
Happy Days Linky – Social media will be packed full of smiling little faces stood in front of their front doors with their brand spanking new school uniforms, shiny shoes, bags and book bags all eager to start or be back at school.
Monday I was totally the beamingly proud mum sending off my ‘little one’ for his first day at work! Ryan started his first day as an Apprentice Carpenter today. He went off wearing his new work uniform with his high vis vest in his bag, his packed lunch and a smile on his face. Unfortunately he wouldn’t pose for the obligatory standing in front of the front door which is a bit of a shame. Nonetheless, it was a total proud parenting moment.
Routine – Tuesday Isabelle went back to school. She was pleased to go even though she was a little Monkey at bedtime last night and could barely open her eyes.
Birthday Cake Prep – With a full week at work I did something that I’ve never done before. I made the sponges for the cake and put them in the freezer. I knew that it would be stressful getting the cake made so I wanted to be as organised as possible.
Birthday – Friday was Isabelle’s 7th Birthday. The day started at around 6am and was a flurry of presents, pancakes and then a rush to get dressed and out of the door to school and work. The look on Isabelle’s face when she unwrapped her presents was what us mums and dads live for. We’re much more savvy with present buying these days. Quality over quantity. We bought her exactly what she’s been coveting for the last few months. She’s a huge Kids You Tube fan so we managed to get her a giant surprise egg which we filled with ‘blind bags’ such as Shopkins, Num Noms, Trolls and such like. Her face was priceless.
Birthday party – I am pleased to report that the birthday party that we arranged for after school at the local ibounce trampoline park was totally worth it. All the kids that were invited came (yey) and they all had an amazing time. I couldn’t resist a bounce myself and even went off the platform backwards with a little bit of encouragement from the kids! You can see that on my Instagram if you like!
More birthdays – September is the month for birthdays in our family. Clearly the result of all those Christmas party’s. Ha ha!
Sleepover – Isabelle had her first sleepover at our house this weekend. She has slept at her friends once before, and this was our turn. They had dinner then mostly amused themselves with all of Isabelles birthday presents. We watched Strictly which was a bit disappointing as there wasn’t much dancing. They did, however have a bit of a boogie in front of the TV. There was no fuss getting them to bed, and it was quite sweet listening to them whispering and giggling. They didn’t stay up all night as they’d planned and once they were asleep they were gone for the night. The morning saw them trampolining in their pyjamas before resuming trying to cram in a play with EVERYTHING. It’s fair to say that it was a success and I’m just waiting to see how long it is before we get asked again.
Photo’s – Don’t you just love it when the memories come up in your facebook feed? I love it and more so when it involves a birthday and all the pics from previous years come up. This picture is Isabelle’s first birthday when we bought her first trike. Look at that face!
New job – I know I posted about my new job the other week, but this is another new job. I’ve just had the official green light so am pleased to announce that I am the new Local Editor for Mumsnet Exeter. I’m really excited about this.
Originally posted 09.09.12 before being a stand alone blog but such happy memories not to keep.
It was our daughter’s 2nd birthday yesterday and we had a lovely family Birthday celebration barbeque. We were deliberating over what to get her for a gift as we didn’t want to buy something just for the sake of buying. We took a bit of a risk with it but in the end I won, and got her a gorgeous wooden play house. I could picture her in my mind playing with it even in the cold weather. As long as the weather is dry she can go out with her wellies and coat on and get years of play out of it.
Wooden Playhouse
Her reaction was exactly what I was looking for with squealing and laughter which made my day.
Despite my previous status of hating all things pink, I have been completely swayed with a little help of Isabelle and this was our outfit of choice. I think we may have to add some of these style dresses to the site.
Pretty in a Pink Tutu
And to top off our lovely day, after much agonising over whether I could pull off the cake. This was what I managed to muster up.
Peppa Pig Muddy Puddles Cake
We were so pleased with how it turned out and Isabelle knew that it was Peppa and George straight away. Phew.
Happy Days Linky – Celebrating the normal yet small wins in life.
Oops I missed the Happy Days Linky last week, mostly because I spent the most part of last week at home coughing, sniffing and sneezing.
Unfortunately I shared my germs with Isabelle and so she was struck down as well.
Come the weekend we felt a bit more human and headed off to one of the local pubs for some food and Pimms. We sat in the gardens (which are huge) and had a relaxed lunch and a jug of Pimms.
Running – Isabelle made up a game where we took turns in picking a tree in the gardens and she had to run as fast as she could whilst we timed her. A very simple thing but it kept her occupied for ages.
Family BBQ – Bank Holiday Monday was scorching hot so we spent the afternoon in the garden with the paddling pool out, bouncing on the trampoline and cooking and eating yummy food. Actually I should mention that I did absolutely no cooking at all. That was all down to Daddy. My actual contribution was chopping the salad and getting all the plates and cutlery out.
Tuesday – Tuesday marked the official return to work for both of us. Isabelle is back at school next week so I suppose our real return to routine starts next week.
Birthday Preparations – Birthday preparations for next week are steaming on ahead. After lots of thinking we’ve decided on a trampoline park party at the newly opened iBounce.
Birthday shopping – Again all going well. I even managed to find a site that sells the giant surprise eggs that you get surprise bags inside. Isabelle is obsessed with youtube kids so I know she’s going to LOVE this – I might just be a little bit excited about this.
Summer Fair – We spent Saturday at one of our local parks at their annual Summer Fair. We were joined by my mum, niece and nephew. We played drums, hooked ducks, won raffle prizes, ate yummy greek food, had snow cones and finished off with a play in the park.
Today we had our first roast dinner in a long time. As it was pouring down with rain we watched trolls whilst it cooked and then stuffed ourselves silly. Yummy.
Bring on this week when Monday we send Ryan off into the big bad world of adult work and Tuesday Isabelle is officially a year 2 girl.
Baby Not Included takes a much needed break to St Jean De Monts
This was originally posted 30.08.12 before being a stand alone blog but such happy memories not to keep.
Although we’ve been back a couple of weeks, I’ve yet to show you the lovely pictures from our much-needed family holiday.
We went to St Jean De Monts in France and had a fantastic two weeks of sun, sea and family fun. Our journey started at Plymouth which is just down the road from us to Roscoff and then a five hour journey in the car.
Plymouth to Roscoff
A home from Home in St Jean De Monts
This was the gorgeous house that we stayed in. It was in the perfect location with everything from the beach, restaurants and bars all a stone’s throw away. It was quite an anomaly in the area as most houses were all on one level so we got quite used to being stared at from passersby having a nose.
We’re quite a foodie family and the restaurants were amazing and very child friendly even in the evenings. We tried all sorts from Moules and frites to Galettes (savoury pancakes). Daddy even tried Carpaccio of beef which he’d been eying up for days. I was a bit hesitant with the Galettes, but if you get a chance to have these then we highly recommend them. We were near a fantastic market which was open every day until lunch time selling everything (food wise) from fresh fish, meat, cheeses, fruit and an array of breads and pastries. The children got a bit used to the ice cream which came in every flavour imaginable.
Our favourite place
We visited some lovely places, but our favourite was the beach where we spent a lot of our days. The sand was gorgeous and the water was inviting and warm.
Beautiful sandy beach in St Jean De Monts
The sun setting in St Jean De Monts
It’s a shame that we had to come back home, but we will see that sunset again. Maybe even next year!
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