Banana choc-chip loaf

It's Saturday again, which can mean only one thing - baking!! 

I found a great recipe from Mary Berry on the Good Food website (Banana Choc Chip Loaf) It had all normal ingredients and can all be made in one big bowl, perfect for the Zebra to get stuck into.

You will need:

- 3 bananas 

- 2 tbsp milk

- 100g soft butter

- 150g plain flour

- 150g caster sugar 

- 1 tsp bicarb of soda

- 1 tsp baking powder 

- 2 eggs 

- 100g chocolate chips 

****pre-heat oven to 160****

First up, we had to mash the banana in a bowl. I knew this would end up with a fair bit of tasting, so I used more banana than the recipe asked for! 

Next, put all the dry ingredients (except the choc chips) into a big bowl

Give it all a good stir

Then add in the wet ingredients.

And again, a good stir! Hands or spoon work equally well...

Last to add in are the chocolate chips. Not sure if there's a baking reason behind this, but I know if they were in from the start the Zebra would have eaten them all before the mixture was stirred

And that's the cake mix made! A really easy recipe. Another tip I use - have every ingredient measured and in separate bowls on the counter before you start. That way there's no waiting around for the Zebra, and everything is to hand for me. Makes the whole experience more fun for this age. As she gets older, we can introduce the weighing aspect.

Line a tin with some grease-proof paper and spoon in the mixture

At this point I realised I have a very big tin and not much cake!

While the Zebra licked the spoon and bowl, I quickly whipped up a second batch and added to our tin - this is why my ingredients list is different to the recipe on the website

The recipe said to cook for 40-45 minutes but I found it needed 55 minutes due to the size.

Poor Zebra had quite a wait for it to cook as we are used to making cupcakes

But good things come to those who wait and I'm rather pleased with the end result for our first cake together.

The Zebra certainly approves!

Rainbow spaghetti

I've seen about a million cute pictures of babies playing with rainbow spaghetti so I thought it best to give it a go before the Zebra gets too old.

It's really easy to make!

*Boil a big pan of spaghetti until cooked.

*Rinse under cold water and pop into a big plastic bowl.

*Mix together 4 tablespoons of hot water with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and half a table spoon of Wilton food gel. 

*Pour the colour over the pasta and mix up really well.

*Stick it all in a Ziplock bag

 

Obviously, this needs to be repeated for each colour you want! Leave the bags overnight to let the colour really soak in.

Give each colour pasta a quick rinse in cold water before playing with, it makes it more playable! 

It's a weird texture and takes a bit of getting used too! 

But it does feel really good on feet!

And it's totally edible too :)

It takes quite a while to prep - I feel the Zebra is too old now to fully enjoy the sensory experience so it's not one we will do again. But it's a good one to remember in case our herd ever grows!  

Paper mâché. Just don't.

I have no idea what made me think this would be a good craft to mark the Zebra turning 18 months... It certainly isn't one we will revisit until she's much older. I'm usually fine with mess and chaos but this pushed it a bit to far!!

Having not done paper mâché since I was a child, I was a bit sceptical that one part flour to one part water would be sticky enough - so I had PVA on standby. Trust me, it is sticky and gloopy enough and we didn't touch the glue.

For the paper we used the reams of junk mail catalogues sat in the recycling!

To make things a little easier, blow the ballon up just bigger than a bowl, then wedge it in so it stays upright while making 

I think the first sign that this activity was not one for the Zebra was when she refused to rip any paper strips and just wanted to stick her head in a bowl.

Things improved a bit and the Zebra got stuck into the gloop, happy to dip in the paper and lay across the ballon like I showed her.

But the Zebra soon decided she would rather play in the mixture!

It wasn't long until the Zebra had the great idea to paper mâché herself instead... At this point I gave up and quickly did as much as I could before trying to bundle her to the bathroom. 

The mixture sticks to everything. And sets hard. It particularly sets well in hair.

The creation was left to dry in the window while we went away to brighton for a week.

After popping the ballon, we was left with a flimsy, ragged and holey bowl. At least things can't get any more messy when it comes to painting the thing...

Spoke to soon. By this point I just gave up and let her go for it, even throwing the Zebra a pot of glitter to go nuts with. 

Never again. 

Accidental Christmas decorations

I've had a little bucket of shells in the cupboard for a while now and wasn't sure what to do with them. Being a stones-throw from the beach means we can get more at anytime so we usually just play with them till they crack or get stepped on.

I've also have some rubbish finger paints so thought I'd throw the two together and see what happens. The paint will just make paper wet and vaguely stain it a dull colour.

The Zebra really enjoyed painting the inside and outside of the shells

She would also paint the paper and push the shells around the coloured parts 

Next we got a pot of glue to dip the shells into, before putting in a clean bowl.

Out comes the glitter! The Zebra loves getting her glue covered hands all sparkly 

Shake it all about to make sure each shell is covered, before leaving them all to dry

The glittery shells looked pretty, and the green and red was really Christmassy. I grabbed some ribbon and superglue, turning them into quick tree decorations..

While I did the finishing touches, the Zebra played with the shells and finger paints some more 

I clearly should have been paying more attention as it wasn't long until she had painted her feet and started making foot prints!! At least she had good fun

5 Minutes of Fun - Pom Poms

Alongside our big craft projects, we also do lots of mini-activities. They generally entertain the Zebra for long enough for me drink a cuppa while it's still warm...

They are simple, basic, open-ended play activities which are fun!

Today - Pom-poms and toilet rolls!

Middle Farm, Lewes, East Sussex

While on our venture to Brighton, we took a day trip to Middle Farm. The weather was a bit pants, but it is November and this is England! Once the Zebra was snug in her Regatta all-in-one and Hunter wellies, she was ready for the day and the puddles...

I have to say, we had a brilliant day! It had the right balance between real-working-farm and kids tourist attraction. At £4 per adult and under 3's free, it was also very well priced. There was lots of room to just run and play, and everywhere we went was full of free range ducks and chickens and birds 

Due to the weather we couldn't make the most of the outside play areas - but no trip to the farm is complete without a ride on a tractor 

There's no generic soft play here, instead there's a barn with hay bales stacked up to run, crawl, climb and hide in! It took a while for Zoe to work out how to walk on the springy floor, but once she found her feet she was off!

And no day out is complete without some peephole fun!

The first building we entered had some of the cutest fluffy bunnies you could imagine - along with guinea pigs and even more birds. At feeding time the staff put out a big tub of veggies for anyone to hand feed the animals. Or for toddlers to chew on. 

They also so a 'pat-a-pet' session where the fluffiest, friendliest bunnies come out for a cuddle. That was a major hit with the Zebra (and mummy!) 

Across from the pets was a big barn with yet more very friendly animals. There were llamas, sheep, goats, horses and the loudest donkey I've ever heard. And even more chickens! Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen so many birds in my life.

All the animals were clearly well look after, and they were happy and content. Many would come up to the sides looking for cuddles, which is perfect for a toddler who loves to stroke and pet the animals 

They also have a 'meet the sheep' session where two sheep are popped on a lead and taken outside. It was rather funny seeing a sheep taken on a walk, but they were more than happy to go along with it 

Next it was onto the pigs - after recently discovering the joys of Peppa, I expected big things. However, the Zebra was suitable unimpressed. We did get to feed them, although not by hand due to the size of their teeth. Scary things.

The cows were milked in the afternoon, but as we were there for the morning we missed out in that. But we did get lots of licks from some lovely young calves! 

No trip is complete without a visit to the tearoom for a spot of lunch. All the food is very farmy, hearty and tasty. A kids lunch box was huge and only £4. There was easily enough for two 18 month olds in one box. The tea room was in a lovely building and the Zebra was fascinated by the old beams.

There was also a lovely gift shop with lots of tradition wooden toys, along with the usual soft cuddlies. Zoe picked out a cute little brown pony to take home.

We can totally recommend a day here - it was enjoyed by all the family! It was well priced, well looked after and the staff were fantastic. It had all the basic you need and the loo's surprisingly warm and clean! Can only give Middle Farm a 5* rating