Chocolate Christmas Biscuits



Today our girls did some Christmas baking. They made some yummy biscuits. Here's the recipe:

100g margarine
1 egg
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method
Using electric beaters, beat margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, then add egg and beat well.  Sift together flour, cocoa and baking powder, then add to the butter mixture. Mix to form a soft dough.

Roll out the dough and cut shapes from it. Place on trays and bake for 10-12 mins at 180C.  Cool.





The girls are getting good practice with their measuring, and also reading the instructions.  Both are learning fractions, so it's good for them to be reading and measuring in fractions of cups!






Of course choosing and cutting out lots of different shapes for the biscuits is always fun.




Every time they bake something, their confidence grows in mixing, measuring, cracking eggs etc.  Pretty soon they'll be able to bake by themselves and surprise us with tasty treats!!


Are your kids doing any Christmas baking?







Play Park Tour


The first week of the school holidays has now passed. Our girls have had a week of exploring their new Samsung tablets, and I've managed to get Christmas presents organised for the relatives and post school term things have begun to calm down!

We decided this morning that it was time to get out, get some fresh air and do something active together.

A while ago, the girls and I began to do our own play park tours in the school holidays.  They love going to simple play parks with swings and slides, and whenever we drive past one they ask if we can go there sometime.

Today we did about a 3km circuit around the streets near our house - taking in 4 different play parks.  We played I-spy, shops with twigs and stones for money, and also did some times tables while swinging (a habit we started when they first began learning their times tables, and they still enjoy now!).

We were out for almost 2 hours playing. Fortunately our play parks here all have water "bubblers" (drinking fountains), as it's pretty hot here now. (summer in Cairns!).

Once we got home, we were all so hot we jumped in our pool - where the girls stayed and played for another couple of hours!

What a great morning. So much fun, very active and we even squeezed in some maths practice too!!
We'll definitely be doing more of these play park tours - some on foot - and perhaps some further afield on our bikes!


Beach volleyball


Here in Cairns we have a beautiful Esplanade where the council provides several free fitness activities during the week.  I've started taking our girls along once a week to the free Beach Volleyball session on a Monday evening.  So for one hour, we get free coaching and games on the courts there.

It is generally only adults go to this, but when we turned up with the kids (a friend came with her two kids) we were warmly welcomed.

Although the kids, because they are physically much smaller than the adults, can't play full games with them, we can all join in the drills and practices, and the coach is great in taking time with the kids and helping them with easier moves and games at the side!

Tonight we went down and our two girls were the only kids there, so when we moved on from drills and practices to games, I stayed on the sidelines with them and we practised our passing.  We've been going for a couple of months now - and just that one hour a week is starting to pay off with their ball skills beginning to show a marked improvement.

Now just practising passing the volleyball is something we can do in our own garden at home, but having a set time to go somewhere to practise with others, get a little coaching, meet some other people - and all for free is a great opportunity.

If we didn't go to this organised free session, it is doubtful we could be motivated enough to practice and be this active at home where it is all too easy to stop when you get a little tired or never start in the first place when you have a comfortable sofa to sit on, and a book to read or tv to watch.  The girls also enjoy it as something that I do with them rather than just watch as with their after school sports.

Do you take advantage of any free activities your council offers?  Are kids welcomed there with the adults? Or do your stick to just taking your kids along to organised activities that are specifically for kids?