Royal Wedding Celebrations!

We had lots of fun at our Royal Wedding Party on Tuesday. Unfortunately we had to have it inside as it was so cold and windy in the garden.  We had previously arranged to have a garden party.  All was not lost though.  We just bought the food and the bunting inside and celebrated indoors. The cakes the children baked were delicious and they all enjoyed waving their flags.

I only care for children under 3 at the moment, so they didn't really understand.  However we spoke about the Prince and the Princess getting married and we role-played with the Royal Wedding play set from the Early Learning Centre.  We lined up all the Happyland people and the horse drawn carriage drove past them all. Ava made the corgi bark!

We learnt words using the Royal Wedding word cards from Twinkl, such as Buckingham Palace, Prince William, The Queen, corgi, etc.

When it was time for our feast, the children all sat along the tables.  Even the two little ones sat up on the big chairs with some help! We had sandwiches, sausage rolls, salad, tomatoes, fruit, yoghurts and cakes!

Easter Nest Cake Recipe



Several parents have asked me for the recipe for the Eatser nest cakes that we made on Thursday, so I thought I would put it on here for anyone who would like to make some more.

Ingredients

150g Cornflakes
100g Butter
1 heaped tbsp Cocoa powder
a good squirt of Golden Syrup
2 packets of Cadbury's Mini Eggs (other brands are available :-))

You will also need some paper cake cases.

Method

Melt the butter in a large saucepan on a low heat.  Add a good squirt of golden syrup (about 6 tablespoons), or enough to ensure it binds the cornflakes together.  Then add the cocoa powder.  Stir together until it is a lovely dark chocolately brown colour.

Turn off the heat and gradually add the cornflakes.  Keep stirring until every cornflake is coated in the chocolate mixture.

Add about a tablespoon of the mixture to each paper case and top with 2-3 mini eggs before the mixture starts to set.  Put in the fridge to harden.

Makes about 30 cakes


Enjoy :-)

Happy Easter!

We have had some absolutely beautiful weather this week.  I have had trouble getting the children in from the garden! They have loved playing in the sand and water activity table and our new tents with adjoining tunnel.

We have been reading books about Easter and we made some delicious Easter nest cakes.  Even the little ones joined in and put the eggs on top with some help.
The children made some lovely Easter hanging eggs which they decorated with sequins and a cute poem.

We have had several trips to the park and the lakes and fed the geese which seem to have over-run Oakley Vale at the moment.  We only saw one duck there.  We also saw a heron and the children learnt how to saw its name.

Thank you to the children who came dressed in their party clothes on Monday.  We had a lovely little party to celebrate Amelia's 1st birhday and my 30th.  Thank you also for all the lovely cards and presents.  I am so lucky to work with some kind and thoughtful parents :-)  We hope you enjoyed the birthday cake I sent home with the children.  It was delicious.  I was so pleased with the work Teresa did on it.

We are looking forward to our Royal Wedding Garden party next Tuesday.  I have been busy preparing for it and have bought lots of union jack cake cases, bunting, paper plates and flags.  It will be lovely to get out into the garden and celebrate such a special day for our country.

The children have been role playing whilst playing with the small world toys.  They have especially loved playing with our new Happyland Royal Wedding play set from the Early Learning Centre.

I will update my blog next week with some Royal Wedding party photos!

Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering

I am pleased to announce that I passed my Level 2 award in Food Safety in Catering.  I have received my certificate for the course that I attended over 2 evenings on 29th and 30th March.  I met some lovely people on the course and had a few laughs.

The award qualifies me to prepare and cook food for children on my premisies.  The things I learnt were really just common sense, like how not to sort your washing in your kitchen (who sorts their washing in the kitchen anyway??) but I found some of the information very useful and will put it into practice when preparing food for the children in my setting and for my own family.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health recommends I refresh my training in 2014.  My certificate is filed in my portfolio if parents should ever like to see it.