Homemade Fossils.

Just in case it hasn't been apparent, my daughter Audrey is obsessed with Dinosaurs. So when my lovely new friend Laura (who stalks this blog, hi Laura!) suggested making clay dinosaur fossils, I jumped at the idea. This morning was the perfect time as Audrey had the day off kindy and as is my nature, I hadn't made a single plan for the day.

We didn't use clay though, as the nearest craft store is almost half an hour away, and instead we opted for the wonderful salt dough that only has three ingredients and can be made with basics from the pantry. After I'd cut off various pieces and rolled them out for Audrey, she got to work stomping her toy dinosaurs around and making her 'fossils'.

After we had a sufficient number of footprints, I left the tray in the sun to dry out for about half an hour, then put them in the oven. The half an hour outside helped the drying process, and meant they needed less time in the oven, in turn giving the oven less time to heat up my whole house. A large bonus for anyone already sweltering their way through the day in Queensland.

At the moment we don't have any decent painting materials, or sealing spray (which I highly recommend for any painted crafts) so they're only halfway done. I'm hoping that tomorrow we'll get to the shops and get a nice stock of sealer, brushes, and assorted paints, and get busy decorating. My inner child is busting out to decorate those babies.

Do you have any good craft ideas for toddlers? I'm always hunting for new ones!

Salt Dough Recipe

1 cup salt

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup water

-Put the flour and salt in a bowl and gradually add water, working it together to form a dough

-Knead roughly for around 2 mins, adding more flour if needed to reduce stickiness

-Roll dough out and have fun!

-Bake your creations in a 100 degree celcius oven for 3 hours, allow to cool then decorate.

Cheese Crackers, and a bottomless pit.

Like most other mamas out there, I had plenty of ideas for what I would and would not do when it came to my childs upbringing during my pregnancy. One of the biggest ideas I had was how I'd be a wonderful mum serving up amazing homemade treats everyday, baking bread from scratch, and essentially being a 1950's housewife, except with more rights.

Then I actually had a child and real life kicked in, and days dragged on where I felt so emotionally broken down and 'sure! take some hot chips while mum hides in the bathroom for a while'. Real life can suck sometimes, and I'm happy with anything that makes life easier food wise.

I love cooking. I love baking even more, but I also work full time and have a Dinosaur to chase after, So come forth my wonderful homemade Cheese Crackers. My daughter is esentially an extremely tall, and extremely loud, bottomless pit, cleverly disguised as a two year old, and I can actually get her to sit down for a few minutes while we make these together every week. I send these with her to kindy in her lunchbox and almost always have to send and extra batch to her dads house. If they're actually for our daughter, and who exactly devours them, I'm not entirely sure of.

Recipe;

1 cup Cheddar Cheese (grated)
1 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)
2 cups  all purpose wholemeal flour
6 tablespoons butter (chilled)

*Note that you can use 2 cups of either cheddar or parmesan, and the butter can be substituted with olive or soy spread

-Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius
-Throw all ingredients into a food processor and blitz until it forms a ball of dough.
-Roll out to roughly 1/4 inch thick
-Cut out shapes or slice into squares
-Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins depending on oven
-allow to cool on a wire rack for 5 mins, then devour

Enjoy!