Mini Designer Bottle Top and Play Dough Cakes

Bottle tops + play dough = cakes...who would have thought?

These mini cakes were inspired by some very clever creations I saw at  Anne Farrell's blog. I thought of trying to make these with glue, but then realised that it would require some really fine precision gluing and both children wouldn't necessarily be in the mood for such sticky fingers. So play dough to the rescue :).

I have tried a few play dough recipes, but this is definitely one of my all time favourites. It is soooo easy to make and the best part - no stove required!

To create the soft icing colours, I added very little food colouring to the dough. The yellow was our "custard" filling and we used deep purple as our chocolate icing, because I (unfortunately) forgot to make some brown coloured dough. To make a soft chocolatey color, you can simply add a little bit of cocoa to the recipe.

The little beads make for pretty sprinkles to decorate the cakes - don't forget to also have some red ones to add as cherries or strawberries :). 

Wouldn't these make such a sweet addition to a small doll's tea party?

 

The play dough recipe, found via The Mother Lode. 

1 cup flour
2 Tbs cream of tarter
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1/2 cup of granulated salt
Add some essence for a nice aroma (orange, almond, peppermint)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then add a cup of boiling water. Stir until combined and turn it out onto a floured board and knead until smooth. Colour can be added to the boiling water or at the kneading stage. I divide the batch in half and add the colouring at the kneading stage. When you divide it in half, there is enough for two nice hand-sized balls of dough. Just a tip - wear gloves when kneading - the food colouring does stain your skin and it isn't very easy to clean off. Store your dough in an airtight container. 

If you have never made play dough before, I really want to encourage you to give it a go. For many years I used store-bought dough and I have always disliked the artificial and overpowering smell. This dough is really wonderful :). 

Till next time...have fun!

Sharing at:
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars 
Kid's Co-op 
Too Cute Tuesday @ Funky Polkadot Giraffe 

Play Dough Activities Link Up @ The Imagination Tree 

Recycled Robots

I have been collecting bits and bobs for our robots forever. At Christmas time, I kept all those little plastic and metal pieces that the toys were attached to in the boxes (you know those pieces - the ones that make it near impossible to detach the toy from the box!). Added to that, anything that looked like it could belong to a robot. 

Paper clips, keys, metal bottle tops, batteries (I'm careful that they are not leaking), empty tablet sheets, bobbins (think that's what you call them?), broken toys - it all came in handy.

Granny contributed some nice tins and I set out all the treasures and let the children explore and create.  I joined in too of course - I really can't help myself :)

Big One even decided to hammer a hole and attach the arms of one robot with some small nuts and bolts. He used glue and Prestik to stick down the rest.

Till next time - happy collecting and creating :)

PS. Sharing this at  

For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars

Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 

Fun Frugal Linky Party @ Fun Frugal Mommy 

Adam's Art Spot : Bendy Cardboard Characters

Adam's Art Spot is my oldest son's space here on the blog to share his often quirky art and craft ideas.

I haven't shared an Adam's Art Spot for ages, so I'm really happy to do so today.

Not much explanation is required. The cardboard used to create these little characters are from our recycling box - mainly empty biscuit, tea or cereal boxes. The best part is that after creating these, you can play with them :).

 Cool hey?

Hermie, a common caterpillar by Max Lucado

I review for Booksneeze - have you heard of them? They offer books to bloggers for free and in return they ask that you review the book for them. Today I'm sharing the story of Hermie, a common caterpillar.

I must say that after reading my very first (and absolutely wonderful) Max Lucado book last year, I was really thrilled to hear that he is also the author of many children's books. So I jumped at the chance to read this one and also to share it with my boys.

The story is about Hermie, and Wormie his best friend,  who meet a number of other insect friends during the course of their day. All of these friends however, have some very special and attractive qualities and as a result these two rather ordinary caterpillars feel quite inadequate in comparison. Hermie and Wormie decide to take their feelings to God, who constantly assures them that he is not done with them yet and that patience is required. Now I don't know about you, but I think that comparing ourselves to others certainly robs us of our joy and this story shares this idea very nicely. There is a lovely (albeit predictable) and inspiring ending and the overriding message that we are all unique and that God has a special plan for each of us is delivered beautifully. I also love the fact that the caterpillars talk to God about their concerns - I think that's a great message for children to hear too.

This book was unfortunately only available as an e-book and I would certainly not recommend this version. Big One (aged 9 at the time) and I read it together and were very puzzled by the lay-out. The images do not always match the text on the page and as a result the book doesn't flow easily and we both found the story to be confusing. I was lucky enough to recently find a soft copy of the book at the library, so I did a little comparison. This copy was far easier to read, in that the illustrations are complimentary to the text, and the illustrations were nicer.  All in all a huge improvement from the e-book version. 

I would definitely keep this one on my bookshelf as a regular read to my children, as I think the message it delivers is fantastic.

Thank you Booksneeze for the opportunity to review Hermie!

PS. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed here are my own.

Easy to make Hot Plate

If your little one doesn't have a play stove, this is the easiest and quickest little hot plate to make and it's a great substitute. All you need is a small fruit box like the one in the pic. This box was home to some naartjies. Turn it upside down (it's nice and sturdy) and add two CD discs with some glue or prestick.

Till next time, happy cooking :)

Dear Email Subscribers

To my very valued email subscribers,

Making the decision to change my blog address means in practice that you will no longer receive updates from Love and Lollipops, unless you re-subscribe to my new feed. 

You will see the "SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL" box to the right of your screen. I hope that you will rejoin me and subscribe again. I would be sad to lose you!! 

Remember that after filling in your email address in the box, Feedburner will send you a confirmation email. When you receive that mail, be sure to activate the link by clicking on it. It will then immediately confirm that you are subscribed. If you do not activate the link via that email, you will not be subscribed.

Thank you kindly in advance!

Georgia:)

PS. Don't you love the bottle tops? I have lots of great teaching ideas with bottle tops coming up soon.

Change of {Blog} Address

When I started blogging, just short of two years ago, I really didn't know much about website addresses, custom domains, search engine optimization and the like. So at the time, I simply chose a blog name (Love and Lollipops), added an address (allthingschildren.blogspot.com) and then proceeded to "watermark" my pictures with "Georgie Girl Photography". Confusing, right?

I won't go into the reasons behind those decisions, but today I would like to share the changes I've made. That is, I have changed my blog address to love-and-lollipops.blogspot.com and my photographs will also reflect my blog name from now on.

I hope that this doesn't inconvenience you all too much - if you happen to type in my old address, you will still find me, I promise. To those of you who have kindly linked to my blog or to a specific project at Love and Lollipops, I must apologise, as the link will no longer work. If there is a specific post you are looking for and you cannot find it, please contact me at gsetzer(at)telkomsa(dot)net and I will send it to you.

While I was at it, I changed my name at Pinterest too. You can find me here.

Thank you as always for reading, commenting and for your kind emails. I hope I will keep you reading and inspired!

Georgia :)

Mommy Made Gogo's/Marble Run Game

I've seen a variety of marble runs around the net - today I'm sharing our version.  

Instead of marbles, Big One suggested that we use Gogo's Crazy Bones - do you know them? - we have a small collection of these.

The game works like this. Each player picks five Gogo's (or marbles).   If a Gogo makes it through all the tubes and lands in the box, it scores full marks (6 points). If it doesn't land in the box, it is disqualified. If it lands in the box, but it misses a few tubes along the way (it happens), simply minus the number of tubes it missed off the total score of 6. Keep tally and the winner is the one with the most points at the end.

The little yellow Gogo (can you spot him?) was unfortunately disqualified for missing the box :(.

To make this, all you need are some different size cardboard tubes and sticky tape. Easy Peasy. 

Have fun!

PS. For a super alternative version, check out this one from Deborah at Teach Preschool. 

PPS. Sharing this at Show and Tell @ ABC and 123. 

You are the Apple of my eye {Cards}

Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings

Psalm 17:8

Bottle top apple of my eye cards - our Valentine's cards this year.

PS. Click here for more bottle top crafts.

PPS. Linking this to:
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 

Silly Valentines

Oh I can be silly - it's one of those things I like about myself - I think my children like it too. 

So I had great fun and giggles thinking up silly Valentines. The kiddos joined me. Big One with his own ideas (as always) and Little One enjoyed punching out little hearts... everywhere... he loves my punches.

Big One's... 

My Inspiration:  

My Heart Is Like a Zoo

A delightful book by Michael Hall - twenty animals all made from heart shapes. And the best part, twenty different emotions and behaviours for you to chat about with your child. It's a super book that can easily be used in play therapy too. Do click on the link above and grab the kids for a super little trailer of the book. Really cute.

Heart Zoo (from Katherine Marie's Happy Hearts Theme of the Week)

My dear friend Katherine inspires me so and makes me look at every piece of pretty or interesting paper in a new fun visually creative light. If you do go visit over there, I know I've probably lost you for now, but that's okay - I won't blame you. :)

Happy Valentine's day!