Homemade Playdough Recipe

  

Ingredients:

1 Cup of plain flour
1 Cup of water
1 Tbsp of cooking oil
1 Tbsp cream of tartar
1 cup of salt
Food colouring

Method:

Place all of the ingredients in a medium size or large pan. Cook slowly on medium-high and stir it until the playdough thickens.

Notes:

• If the playdough is sticky, cook it for a little bit longer.
• The colouring is easiest to mix through if you add it to the water before the rest of the ingrediants.
• Store in an airtight container (zip lock bags are perfect) and apparently it has a longer life it its stored in the fridge.

Best Ages

18 months - 2 years.
Little Miss started enjoying playdough at around the 18 month mark. I tried Mr Little at 12 months, but he just eats it and smears it into his hair. Yuk! I'll try him again in a few months.
As for an upper limit for ages, I've seen 10 year olds happily sit an play with playdough. Do older kids enjoy this too?

Read More

Homemade Bubbles

I've wanted to try homemade bubbles for a long time but hadn't gotten around to it for a while. Here is my trusty recipe that has been sitting in my recipe book for years!

Ingrediants:

1 part dishwashing detergent
8 parts water
1/4 part or less light corn syrup (you can experiment with how much to use to get the best bubbles)

Method:

Mix it all together!

Ages: 

All ages from about 6 months up (although babies enjoy bubbles as well!)

Read More

The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe

I love this cake mostly for its ease - just pop everything into a bowl and blend, which makes it really easy for little hands to get involved. Of course its also absolutely delicious and really moist, probably because it uses oil instead of butter.

Ingrediants

2 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1/3 cup melted chocolate (dark or milk chocolate, it doesn't matter)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarb soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking power

1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup oil (sunflower works best, but you can use whatever you have)

1 tablespoon decaf coffee disolved in 1 cup hot water

Method

Mix together all ingredients with electric beaters until its smooth and runny. Poor into a greased cake tin .  Bake at around 180 (celcius) for an hour. 

Icing

Melt 150 grams of chocolate (milk or dark) with 1/4 cup of cream in a saucepan. Take it off the heat and leave it to cool slightly and thicken up.  You can either cut your cake in half and spread ganache throughout the middle, or just ganache the outside.

Tips:

• Cooking temperature and time for this cake can depend on your oven, so if it starts to brown on top but is still runny in the middle, turn the temperature down and cook for longer. 
• Dipping a metal knife in a tall cup of boiling water will help you to get a nice smooth finish on the ganache.

Best ages:

18 months and up.
(My daugher got interested in helping to cook around the age of 18 months, but let your child help out whenever they show interest).

Read More

Go Kids At Play!

Welcome to Kids At Play!

This is a space where I archive all the things play related that I have tried with my kids that have been a success, things that I want to do in the future, and lessons I've learned.

I'm not sure where the journey of this blog will take me, but if all goes to plan it will lead to more fulfilling learning and play for both me and my precious kiddies. My goal in my role as a parent is to be mindful, intentional and actively involved, and hopefully this will help me to achieve that.

Read More