Aromadough

It finally dawned on me today that the wee girl is of playdough age - big enough to knead and create but not so small she would just eat it up... With a bit of encouragement from my big girl I hunted through my collection of recipes and found the basic one I was looking for.

I have adapted this recipe and method to make it my own but it was originally written out for me on a scrap of cardboard by one of my homebirth clients at an antenatal visit. She had three children then, plus one growing. She homeschooled; I remember their big long table full of the children's daily work, our visits were always a little noisy and full of fun - I made a point of bringing my big girl (who was then quite wee) with me to those visits because their home was so welcoming and my client had a daughter of the same age with the same name... on the day in question they were playing with playdough; I had never made the stuff so she shared her recipe* with me; with my adaptaions it is so simple the little ones can help make it too.

You will need:
1 cup fine salt
2 cups plain flour
2 tbs oil
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
food colourings as you fancy (we used yellow, pink, purple and blue to make those colours plus red to make orange)
essential oils (we used lemon, orange, rose geranium, lavender and jasmine)
air tight storage containers with lids

Put the salt, flour and cream of tartar in a bowl and use a whisk to combine them;

Add the oil and the boiling water (adult bit) and stir to bring together - as it cools, use your hands and begin kneading it in the bowl.

Tip it out onto your bench top and knead it a bit more then roll it into a log and divide it evenlyish into the number of colours you intend to make; roll them into rough balls.

Now the little ones can join in. Flatten out one of your balls to a disk and put a few drops of food colouring and a few drops of essential oil into the middle. Fold the edges in and give it a quick knead to bury the worst of the colouring - then pass it along the bench to some keen little hands whose job it is to knead/blend the colour through the dough. Add your colouring carefully, if you need to you can always add a few more drops of colouring... but you can't take it out!

Continue adding colour and essential oils and kneading with the rest of the plain dough balls til you are heady with the divine scents. It stores pretty well, if I remember rightly, and when your aromadough loses its scent add a few more drops of essentail oil, knead it again.

Fish out the bag of playdough implements that haven't see the light of day in about six years (brush off the dried clumps and powder of ancient play dough and chuck out the dodgy looking stuff still in tubs) sit your wee ones down to create whatever their hearts desire and make yourself a cup of tea - you will get to drink the whole cup, hot and undisturbed and you will feel marvellously relaxed which might have something to do with the lavender, rose geranium and jasmine...

*the original recipe did not contain any essential oils and made only one colour. To convert it back; omit the essential oils and add your colouring to the boiling water, stir and then knead.

A stickful of sugar

The big girl and her friend made biscuits the other day; I left them to it... I was busy crafting pincushions. She said they wanted to make biscuits with cutters, not the roll in a ball and let the heat of the oven do its thing kind.

 

To be honest I didn't even know we had all those sprinkles and chocolately bits in the house. They made a special one for the wee girl who was sleeping while they were baking.

It is a Yummy Earth organic lollipop... that makes it good for her, yes? shh don't tell the big girl they use black carrots, pumpkins and alfalfa for colouring and no sugar!

Our Spring Festival

This year was extra exciting because it was our big girl's turn to dance the May Pole with her classmates...

I love the image below because all of their feet are off the ground ~ they are flying through the air with their multi coloured ribbons and flowers in their hair...

 Magic...

Happy Spring!

Here is an extra picture for you of a spring bebe; my first birth officially back in the game...that was a little bit of magic too.

Violet Trading

Anna Branford writes stories for children; she also writes bloggy snippets for grown ups ~ I like both very much.

At the end of June, Anna announced that she had received a gold(ish) star for her book writing efforts. The gold(ish) star is actually quite bronze and it is in fact a sticker in the shape of a circle but who am I to rain on her parade?

I am a fan of these particular bronze stickers, perhaps I might even be a collector. Only a few books get one each year. They are given out by The Children’s Book Council of Australia to identify the short-listed books for the Australian children’s book of the year award.

Anna got one…well Violet Mackerel got one for her brilliant plot as told by Anna.

I left a comment after the post asking Anna what it might take to get myself a signed copy of Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot; Anna suggested a trade. Ah “what a most fabulous idea” I replied, then I asked her “What is your heart's desire?”

Anna desired a gnome, a wintery icicle gnome, like this one.

Too easy – the trade was a done deal.

Not too long after we got a parcel with not one but two books! (Both signed yay!)

My big girl started reading Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot the next morning on the school bus and finished it with a grin on the drive home that afternoon. She read Violet Mackerel’s Remarkable Recovery curled up on the lounge later that afternoon; humming and singing as she turned the pages. She finished it and declared “mum you just have to read it!”

So I did; I snuck off to bed early with the last of the connoisseur ice cream (which is so good it has its own face book page!), a spoon and two little books about a girl named Violet.

Violet is delightful, as are all the characters that fill in the spaces to make the stories. Her mother is a knitter ~ obviously making her a good woman with creative bones. Even though I had a good idea early on of how her brilliant plot might end up it was a wonderful ride getting there; especially the theory of finding small things and sparkly bits. Violets Remarkable Recovery hit a real soft spot for me; I loved it. I delighted in Anna’s narrative and found myself smiling often; especially at the end. I do love a feel good tale.

Go out and get yourself a copy of each, even if you don’t have a little person to read it to ~ they will look quite pretty on the shelf when you are done too.

Ps… there is a third Violet book, Violet Mackerel’s Natural Habitat ready for release next month (October 2011) and she's written one about Neville and Sophie too.

I skipped craft and went on an excursion to Samford Museum instead

It was a fabulous morning, the volunteer staff are all dressed in period costume, have all lived in Samford since their youth and have an average age of about 80.

Class four (and a few mums - we ferried them forth and back again) learned a little local history and a little more besides.

First up we heard about tools, good old fashioned hard work and the bullock trains.

We met the Blacksmith

I did a little poking around in a relocated original house - wonderful treasures!

 

The children filed into the old school house after first pledging their allegiance to the Queen! and sat obediently at the old desks, hands on heads, slate pencils between and began 'metal arithmetic' followed by times tables and phonetics.

The general store held some delightful relics 

~ this thing (he is holding)  is a fly spray contraption!

They have a wonderful colection of bikes, scooters and the like and didn't mind at all when the wee ones rode them around on the veranda.

I took many more pictures but if you are local or local ish you should go see it for yourselves it is only $4 entry, $1 for school children, and an absolute delight.

Reas some more at the Samford Museum Website

The 'Space' has new inhabiants!

Remember when I told you that I was watching this space? WELL... with a bit of paint applied by a couple of enthuastic 10 year olds (It will not always be black...you might need to watch this space for a bit longer...) A bit more drilling and fiddling by someone who at least looks like he knows exactly what he is doing...

an arched window...

a bit of hay ...

A couple of very excited children and a mamma who is fit to burst with glee...

 

Here are our new little girls!

Miss Fern and,

Lavender.

They are Aracunas and will be laying eggs with pretty blue/green shells by mid/late September! OOOooooo, it has been so long between chickens for this little family; my beloved really does love me.

And look, my wee one has learnt to perch already!

Watching this space...

 

I used powertools, I wielded a paint brush, heck I have practically built the thing myself...except it is not quite finished and he has 'the plans'.