The two small people had a rather considerable disagreement earlier as to who would get to bake today. I wasn't sure whether we'd fit in two lots (and the suggestion that one do so today and one tomorrow was roundly rejected), so suggested that they could do so together, given that the main issue was actually how the fairy cakes would be decorated, rather than what they wanted to bake.
I decided to just leave them to it and as I start typing here they're getting started with making fairy cakes. It can be a bit hit and miss whether they manage to cooperate or descend into an argument, but so far it seems to be going okay. I'm trying really hard not to get involved and just let them get on with it, although I haven't been able to resist pointing out a couple of things to keep them on track.
After the baking the bit that they always look forward to...
Then the decorating. K had borrowed a cupcake recipe book from the library quite a while back and so had chosen something from there (with a twist for her 'own special one')
M did her own thing mostly, including a Bagpuss one specially for me.
Considering the icing that's green, darker pink and grey was left over from K's birthday in October and is really horribly dried out, I think they've done pretty well!
And to cap it all off, they've had a pretty good go at cleaning up after themselves (after a bit of prompting from me that is).
We've had rather a productive day today. This morning there was making and painting happening and I'm happy to say that both K & M have reached the stage when they can not only get paints and the like out themselves, but can also do a pretty good job of clearing everything up afterwards! M made 'a box for carrying things', which she painted along with a telescope and various containers.
K painted a telescope, I think probably for use in future Swallows & Amazons games.
After a quick trip to the shops and the library we came home and finally got round to using the egg shells we'd saved from Pancake Day to do an eggsperiment (sorry - couldn't resist!) from our science experiments book. Called Dome Sweet Dome in the book, it demonstrates the strength of a dome shape.
You need 4 eggs, break them at the pointed end and use the contents for making pancakes, or if you find you need more, making fairy cakes!
Wrap sellotape around the middle of eggs and draw a line round the widest part, then score around the line with sharp scissors or craft knife.
Break off the shell around the hole and then using sharp scissors, carefully snip around the line. (If the shell beyond the line cracks you have to start again.)
Lay out the four eggs in a rectangle shape. Then bring on the bricks or heavy books and see how many you can add before the eggshells break.
We then went on, by rearranging the eggshells into a triangle and repeating. After that we discovered that two eggshells can easily support a children's encyclopedia if you help it balance, but not a 6.5 year old sitting on top, and that one eggshell won't support an 8 year old under similar conditions!
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