Bear Paw Print Biscuits

Today we made some bear paw biscuits, I had seen some lovely ideas on pin interest but they used flaked almonds as claws, looked brilliant but we have more than one child with a serious nut allergy so they were out of the question. Got thinking and decided if I could get hold of some of the plamil chocolate drops we could use those instead, we also have a serious dairy allergy and no soy or eggs, so baking is always interesting. We used my ginger biscuit recipe and then added the chocolate drops before we cooked them, I think they turned out very well.

Ginger Biscuits

70g margarine

70g brown sugar

80g golden syrup

225g plain flour

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1and 1/2tsps ground ginger

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Put margarine, sugar in a saucepan, place over a low heat until melted.
2. Put flour, mixed spice, ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl and then add the melted sugar/margarine mix to it, mix well
3. Roll into small balls and pat down.

Cook for 12 to 15 minutes at Gas 3

Rolling the biscuit mix into balls.

We then gently pressed the mixture down.

Then used chocolate chips to make the paw print pattern,

We Went On A Bear Hunt

We have been working on some more activities for the story We're Going On A Bear Hunt. As I had rather few extra ideas going round my head, I thought I would put them all down, so I've created a planning sheet for just this book, which you will find at the bottom of this post.
                                               
So we read through the story together with the children joining in all the bits they could remember. I then used these sequencing cards, to go through the order of the story with the children, asking them what happened first, afterwards, next etc.

Once we had sequenced the story cards, we used them as a reminder as they put together their maps.

We then made some binoculars out of some cardboard inner rolls, they used felt tip pens to decorate them

They wanted a photo taken through their binoculars, so here it is, they loved it.

So we were now prepared to go on our bear hunt.

Through the grass, could of used the lawn but it's rather dry and short so not the effect I wanted.

Tiptoeing through the river, they noticed that it made a very good mirror, they could see their reflection very clearly, so I've blurred the image, just in case you're wondering what the grey bit is!

Through the mud, some jelly, they did try it with their feet but didn't like the feel of it. I was undecided whether or not to dye the jelly brown or not, so did only a bit of it.

Through the wood.

Then through a snowstorm, all those nets I've been keeping came in very handy.
                                

Then of to find the bear in the bear cave.

Then running home when they found the bear, with lots of giggles.

They have been playing in the bear cave and taken their baby dolls to visit the bear and lots of tiptoeing through everything.

I didn't use these with mine but did come across these lovely colouring in pages to go with We're Going On A Bear Hunt.

We're Going On A Bear Hunt

Last night I put together a going on a bear hunt scene for the children to play with today. I used one of the houses we made last week for their home. We've read this story loads, so the children are very familiar with it and love to join in with story.

Through the swish, swashy grass, then splash, splosh through the river.

Squelch, squerch through the mud and stumble trip through the wood.

Through the snow storm hoo woo.

Tip toe into to the cave.

Loved the bit when they reached the bears cave, they greeted the bear very politely before running home.

At one point they gave each of their baby dolls a tree each and started to share out the glass pebbles.

Later on you could hear my children going squelch, swishy, splash as they ran around the garden at times acting out as if they were really struggling through some deep mud.

Teddy Bear's Picnic

I discovered this morning that today is national teddy bears picnic day. I had not heard of this before, yes to teddy bears picnics but not to a specific day but as we are in a middle of a bear theme, I thought it was rather apt, so quick change round of planned activities and today we had a teddy bears picnic.

As I've probably said before I love making bread and luckily the children love it too, we shaped our rolls into teddy bear faces and used raisins for their eyes and noses.

I used ham or cheese cut into shapes and raisins again for eyes and noses, to create teddy bear crackers, not too sure how teddy bear like they are but the children liked them.

We also made some gingerbread teddy bear biscuits,

I think the teddy bears enjoyed the picnic.

 Gingerbread Biscuit Recipe

                                                   120g plain flour
                                                   1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
                                                   20g brown sugar
                                                   50g margarine
                                                   70g golden syrup
                                                   1 tsp ground ginger
                                           
1 - Cream margarine and sugar together, add golden syrup and ground ginger.
2 - Sift in flour and bicarbonate of soda.
3 - At this stage it should form a nice dough that isn't sticky to touch, if it is really sticky then do add a little more flour.
4 - Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out and then cut out your shapes.
5 - Bake at Gas 5 for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden, when cool you can decorate if you wish.

We had a lovely sunny day to enjoy our picnic, the children helped to carry out, lay out all the food and set up the teddies. I loved the comment about our picnic blanket (an old duvet cover) "Helen, it's like having a picnic in a flower garden"

We have also been learning the Teddy Bears Picnic Song

If you go out in the woods today

You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go out into the woods today

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there for certain because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for teddy bears,

The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.

Watch them, catch them unawares.

And see them picnic on their holiday.

See them gaily dance about.

They love to play and shout.

And never have any cares.

At six o'clock their mummies and daddies

Will take them home to bed

because they're tired little teddy bears.

Every teddy bear, that has ever been good

Is sure of a treat today

There is lots of wonderful things to eat

And wonderful games to play.

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees

They'll hide and seek as long as they please

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Chorus

Goldilocks and The Three Bears Part 2

This morning we read lots of Lynley Dodd books the children love Hairy Mclary and Slinky Malinki, then we read Goldilocks and the Three Bears again. I had found our some cardboard boxes and asked if the children wanted to make houses out of them, the answer was a resounding yes! So I cut out some doors and windows.

I think we could of left them unpainted as they were enjoying themselves so much

but decided they would enjoy painting them too, which they did, choosing lots of different colours.

So while we waited for them to dry we took a trip to the allotment to pick some fruit for pudding, came back home with raspberries, loganberries, strawberries, one outdoor cucumber and some broccoli. So that was fruit for pudding, cucumber to go with lunch and broccoli to go with dinner.

They also spotted this caterpillar hiding under a raspberry leaf.

 After lunch, I set out the coloured oats, 3 bowls, spoons and the cooker set, to play with, we talked about the different sizes, which was the smallest, biggest, matching the big spoon to the big bowl. We also talked about how heavy the saucepan was after they filled it up with oats, was it as heavy as the bowl full of oats, which is the heavies, lightest etc. They had lots of fun, added some of the play food and cooked up an interesting dinner.

The rain eventually sent us indoors and the children spotted their houses and asked if they were dry, which they were They have been playing with them on and of all throughout the afternoon, they also went and found the Goldilocks story box and used all the bits with the houses. The Goldilocks story box has been a huge hit with the children.