One of my favourite things to do is visit our local park. There is nothing better than a vast expanse of nature for little man to run around in with wild abandon.
Parks are also the perfect place to play with sticks or lightsabers without causing an damage!
Re-enacting Star Wars battles with Daddy are an essential part of any park trip.
But best of all are the puddles!
Nothing beats the pure exhilaration of jumping in a puddle!
Baking with little man is one of my favourite things to do. It is magic, messy and madness all at the same time.
My sister eats a gluten free diet, fed up with watching her bring out her packet of gluten free brownies every time the rest of us eat a dessert, I decided to bake my own gluten free cake.
I did have my doubts especially as the recipe called for 250g of mashed potato but I decided to go with it. You can find the recipe I used here
This was a day that little man decided he only wanted to wear trousers hence the apron and the guns out!
We tend to use an electric mixer as it is quicker and strangely mesmerising for a toddler.
Butter and sugar added first. I allow a very ‘hands-on’ approach for this. Then, it’s time to take a deep breath and go for the eggs. This recipe call for 4 eggs. We had a pack of 6 which was lucky as one ended up on the table and one on the floor!
Notice in the photo above little man’s hair has added flour. This is one of the messy moments I have come to expect along with the egg cracking!
The mixer provides a good distraction while prepping the rest of the ingredients.
The recipe itself is very straight forward to follow, even with a toddler. He did argue with me for a while about putting mashed potato into the mixture “You don’t put mashed potato into cakes mummy!”
Orange and Lemon rind and juice added to flavour the cake. The mixture ends up being very mousse like even after the mashed potato is added.
I did have concerns at this point that the mixture was far too wet and would not resemble a cake once baked!
I was pleasantly surprised once the cooking time was over. I did find when I checked it looked really soggy in the oven right up until the 45 minutes was done and then it suddenly seemed to come together right at the end.
The end result which was enjoyed by everyone including those of us who are used to more traditional cake with added gluten! The mashed potato does help to bind the cake and give it more of a firm structure so it avoids the sometimes crumbly nature of other gluten free cakes.
I would definitely make it again, it had a really good flavour to it enhanced by adding lemon juice to the icing sugar for the icing.
Despite flour everywhere and a couple of cracked eggs to clear up I won’t be put off baking with little man. It is great to see the joy on his face as we create. He also asks lots of questions about the ingredients and processes and is learning how to bake which is a great skill for him to have as he grows up!
Now that the weather has decided cheer up and we are beginning to see more of that delightful yellow stuff called sunshine, we are once again utilising the garden.
The great thing about patio doors leading straight form the kitchen to the garden is that we can make a cup of coffee and keep a close watch on the little man at the same time. It is also self contained, so no worries about having to run after him if he decided he is going to continue honing his sprinting skills!
First on our list of activities was helping Daddy clean the windows, water of course being an instant win with any toddler.
Then, it was time for bubbles another holy grail in the toddler world.
I loved the complete exhilaration on little man’s face as he dived into this activity with complete abandon.
There was something quite wonderful about the sunshine, cool breeze and bubbles floating in the air.
The garden is going to become one of our most frequented places whenever there is sunshine now.
Messy play is exactly as it says. There is no such thing as clean messy play but it can be contained messy play and it is one of the reasons we bought a tuff tray.
Today, I was feeling particularly brave and decided on shaving foam and paint.
This is a definite hands on, all in activity. The apron was never really going to cut it.
It’s quite simple to set up – spray shaving foam into a tray and spread it so it covers it.
Then add different coloured paint.
Mix together to give a marble effect. We used a chopstick.
Then add paper and you get a great marbled effect.
However, you have to be prepared to go off plan and embrace the sensory experience of this…
Foamy footprints were a favoured choice.
Along with hands in and foamy handprints.
After this, a free for all with foam and paint everywhere!
This was a lot of fun with shrieks of joy and sheer excitement throughout.
Clean up was simple, toddler in the shower first and then the tuff tray.
Oh and we even ended up with some art work too.
I would highly recommend this activity with a toddler it engages and provides a great opportunity for them to get messy and have a full on sensory experience.
Baking is one of my favourite things to do with little man. It isn’t for the faint hearted baking with a toddler but it is a massive amount of fun.
Apparently the mixer sounds like a Hoover.
We are perfecting the art of cracking eggs – practice makes perfect.
Cooking allows for lots of sensory experience which is great for a toddler.
Mixing has to be his favourite job at the moment.
Sharp implements require supervision but we don’t shy away from introducing them.
It’s inevitable that some will end up being eaten before it gets to the oven!
It completely engages and fascinates him every time and that simple fact makes all of the mess worth it…
The end result is always pretty tasty too!
After battling severe tonsillitis and then ending up in hospital on IV antibiotics to fight a suspected kidney infection, there haven’t been many adventures for us recently.
To cheer myself up I have decided to do a throwback post to a beach adventure we had during half term.
Enough stones to keep little man happy and all wrapped up in an all in one and wellies this was an opportunity to really explore, pause and take in our surroundings.
There’s something about the beach as a backdrop. The sea air, the exhilaration of nature at its finest.
At one point little man just wanted to sit down at one point and take a moment. It was a welcome pause, a chance to spark joy taking in the vastness of where we were.
And of course we had to spend some time throwing a few of those stones!
I am really looking forward to being back to full strength and able to get out and about again.
shemakesmoments 