Blogger Board Game Club: Codenames Pictures

I am part of the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club run by Playtime PR. Each month 50 bloggers are sent a board game to play and put to the test. This month we were sent Codenames Pictures card game to play.

Last month we struck Blogger Board Game Club gold with the Timeline British History Card Game. It was easy to set up, the rules were simple, everything fit into a little tin so you could take it anywhere easily. This month we were sent the much more complicated Codenames Pictures game which comes with a 12 page set of rules and instructions.

Ideally you need a minimum of four people to play this game, we tried with just two and it wasn’t as exciting as we suspect it could be. In teams of at least two people, one of you plays the role of Spy Master, the others, are Field Operatives. The spy master has to give cryptic clues and the field operatives have to guess the answer correctly. Innocent bystanders can get hurt or your rival spy team could get the upper hand. Either way, it’s complicated.

Blogger Board Game Club: Codenames Pictures

Codenames Pictures is described as a simple guessing game, but it’s harder than that. The spy master has to give the field operatives a codeword relating to one of more of the picture cards on the board. For example there might be a fish in a glass of water. The spy master might give the clue “gills”; the field operatives then have to touch the card or cards they think they relate to. If this is guessed correctly then the picture card is covered with a red or blue spy card. This depends on what the pattern on the key card is, see, it’s complicated.

I’m not even going to try to explain how the game fully works, there’s a 12 page booklet you can read if you want the full rundown.

Blogger Board Game Club: Codenames Pictures

Codenames Pictures is aimed at people aged 10+. I think once you’ve got a small group of players together and everyone has read the rule book several times, then it could be quite fun. But it is quite complicated and the kind of thing you need to absorb yourself in for a few hours. Each game is quite quick really, it should take around 15 minutes per game. But if you’re going to go to the trouble of mastering the rules, then it’s worth playing a few games in one sitting.

I probably sound quite down on Codenames Pictures, but I’m not really. It’s not the kind of game I would normally go for. I like quick to set up games with simple rules. This is fairly quick to set up, but all the rules are a bit much for me.

Would I play Codenames Pictures again? Probably, but only with a group of friends and with a bottle of wine.

Find Codename Pictures on Amazon today, rrp £15.99.

We were sent the Codenames Pictures card game for review for the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club. All images and opinions are our own.

Find other board game and toy reviews here.

How a chore chart motivated my son to help around the house

A few weeks ago I was having a look around The Works and stocking up on craft bits and pieces and interesting books. While I was in there I spotted a magnetic whiteboard chore chart for £1 and I thought it would be worth buying just to see if it encouraged my son to help out a little more.

My 7 year old son is fairly helpful. Admittedly he will never do anything without being asked, but we are trying to get him to take some responsibility for himself and get him to tackle a few basic chores around the house. He’s at that age where he’s started to ask for a little bit of pocket money to buy things, and it wouldn’t kill him to put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket each night.

My son is a busy boy, what with school and a few after-school activities, I don’t like to push him too hard. In many ways I just want him to chill out and be 7. But I’d also like him to not leave a trail of mess and chaos everywhere he went.

How a chore chart motivated my son to help around the house

His chore chart is fairly simple. It lists in general terms the homework he has to do each week –

Homework for school
Homework for his tutor
Learn his spellings
Read his school books

I also threw in “Get ready for Beavers”. He loves going to Beavers, it’s one of the highlights of his week, but every single week we have a battle to get him into his uniform. If rewarding him for getting ready with no fuss is the secret to a peaceful household, then it’s totally worth it.

I’ve also added the following chores –

Empty the dishwasher
Put your dirty clothes in the laundry basket
Do the recycling

The first two are things we think he needs to do to help out. They take a few minutes each day and he knows he will get some pocket money at the end of each week for doing it. The recycling is something he needs to do to work towards a badge for Beavers. It’s a chore my husband hates, but my son seems to love it. Recycling will stay on the chore chart until he gets his Beavers badge.

He does love helping out around the house. I think it’s important to get kids involved in looking after their home. He’s not great at keeping his room tidy; but he is only 7 and I’m absolutely delighted with the contributions he is already making around the house. I hope it will help him to have a little bit of pride in his surroundings.

I couldn’t find our chore chart online, but I’ve found something similar on Amazon.

How a chore chart motivated my son to help around the house

This post contains an affiliate link.

What’s on in Manchester this Easter?

The two week Easter break is looming ever closer and the “fancy a playdate?” texts are flying thick and fast. Two weeks is a lot of time to fill; my son needs to relax and chill out after a busy term, but he also wants and needs to do some fun things too. I’ve picked out some fun and interesting things to do in and around Manchester over Easter 2018.

Easter Egg Hunts

Local Easter Egg Hunts are being advertised all over Facebook. It’s well work keeping an eye out for what’s on local to you, but I’ve spotted they’re happening at Abney Hall in Cheadle, Didsbury Park, Wythenshawe Park, Heaton Park and lots more locations.

What's on in Manchester this Easter?

Elizabeth Gaskell House

Visit Elizabeth Gaskell House this Easter for some springtime fun. With Easter egg trails, Easter crafts, visits from our Victorian servants, and more throughout the Easter holidays.

The House is open from 11-3pm on Easter Sunday and on Wednesdays and Sundays throughout the Easter school holidays. For more information about what’s on and when, visit their website.

Museum of Science and Industry

There’s always so much going on at the Museum of Science and Industry, you could go at any time and find lots of things of interest. For space fans, they’ve got some real treats in store this Easter.

Space, the final frontier, is waiting to be explored this Easter holiday with activities and shows packed with more fun than an astronaut’s freeze-dried dinner. Families can make their own space mission patch, race DIY space rovers, and help decide which is the best space invention. Plus they can take a (virtual) trip from the International Space Station to Earth with everyone’s favourite spaceman, Tim Peake, in Space Descent VR. Then see his actual Soyuz capsule and spacesuit up close in the superstar display. And don’t miss the Soyuz demonstration to find out more about how Tim came home. With all this and more, any visit is bound to be ‘out of this world’.

Tim Peake science

Waterside Arts Centre, Sale

We always try to take a trip to the theatre during school holidays, so I’ve already booked tickets to go and see The Sagas of Noggin the Nog at Waterside Arts in Sale. They always have an interesting programme of shows and events on for all the family.

The Sagas of Noggin the Nog (on Tuesday 3 April at 14:30) is based on the original stories and films by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. A company of rather English Vikings tells a story in live action, with puppetry, live music and projection of clips from the original films in this delightfully different theatre show for families and Noggin the Nog fans. The show consists of two 35-minute stories with an interval in the middle.

On Easter Saturday catch a new spin on the classic tale – Red Riding Hood. Robyn starts to read the classic fairy tale and, frustrated with the story, she begins to tell her own version, featuring her beloved wolf at its heart and told from his perspective. He’s not big, bad or scary – he’s an all-round nice guy. And Red Riding Hood is not what she seems. The play is suitable for ages 7 and above and there are performances at 11:30 and 14:30.

intu Trafford Centre

The intu Trafford Centre has so much going on this Easter, it’s impossible to fit it all into a couple of paragraphs. As well as LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and SEA LIFE, there are lots of events for Easter 2018 in store.

There’s the Sylvanian Families Town Roadshow will take place at intu Trafford Centre from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 31st March. The character performances will be staged on lower Peel Avenue. Sylvanian Families fans and fashion lovers alike will love this free family event featuring the world’s smallest catwalk on Saturday 31 March. Throughout the day, children can watch their favourite characters singing and dancing or pose for photographs with them between the shows.

On Friday 30 and Saturday 31 March, Selfridge’s will be hosting an Easter Eggstravaganza for children ages 3 – 10 years old. There will be eggciting games, a delicious breakfast and the annual Selfridges’ Easter Egg Hunt. For more information and tickets visit – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/easter-eggstravaganza-selfridges-trafford-tickets-43445533761

Plus John Lewis have a whole range of events on in store. In the toy section on Friday 30th, Saturday 31st and Monday 2nd April you can join in with story time; colouring for fun and Easter card making.

What's on in Manchester this Easter? Easter Eggs

Dobbies Garden Centre

I love a nice family breakfast at Easter, just before the onslaught of chocolate eggs! Why not head down to your local Dobbies Garden Centre for a Family Easter Bunny Breakfast? Enjoy a delicious breakfast; then afterwards children will get to meet the Easter Bunny and receive a free Lindt chocolate bunny to take home and enjoy. These breakfasts are available from Friday 30th March until 2nd April and are £8.95 per child and £4.95 per adult. For more information, visit their website.

Have I missed anything? What will you be doing during Easter 2018?

Recipe: Easy Pesto Baked Fish – family meal favourite!

If you were to ask my family what their favourite meal is, it would be Pesto Baked Fish. If you were to ask me what the quickest, healthiest meal I make is, it would be Pesto Baked Fish. It takes me about 2 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook. The fish just seems to evaporate from their plates as soon as I put it in front of them. It’s a speedy-dinner winner!

We are very lucky to have a good traditional fishmonger in our village. I always try and buy my fish from there; it’s good to shop local when you can and the fish is incredible quality. It’s so fresh and they can bone it and prepare it any way I want. For this recipe I use one fillet of white fish per person. I was cooking for the boys so I needed two fillets of skin-on white fish. The sea bass looked great, so I opted for that. I have also bought some plaice fillets and put them in the freezer for another week.

Recipe: Easy Pesto Baked Fish - a family meal favourite!

If you don’t have a fishmonger local to you; you can buy packets of skin-on fillets of fish from the supermarket. You can choose any white fish you like the look of. I’ve made this with plaice, sole, cod, haddock or bass. If you’re cooking a thicker fillet of fish like cod, make sure you cook it for a bit longer to allow for the extra thickness of the fish.

The NHS recommends that we eat two portions of fish each week, with at least one portion being oily fish such as salmon. I’m sure this recipe would also work well with salmon, but my boys find it a bit boring and much prefer the white fish. The white fish I choose is low in fat, an excellent source of protein and contains some of those omega-3 fatty acids which are essential to our diet.

Pesto Baked Fish

Ingredients:
1 fillet of fish per person
Freshly ground pepper
1 heaped spoon of pesto, red or green pesto work equally well
1 teaspoon of breadcrumbs
A small knob of butter

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 200°.

Check your fish over for bones and remove any that you find. Put your fish skin side down on a baking tray which has been covered in baking parchment. Grind some black pepper over the top and put a dab of butter on the paper either side of the fish.

Spread a heaped teaspoon of pesto over the fish. You can use red or green pesto, whichever is your favourite, both work well. Scatter your breadcrumbs over the pesto. I have a tub of dried breadcrumbs in my cupboard, but I have used fresh breadcrumbs. Both kinds are fine, use whichever you have to hand.

Recipe: Easy Pesto Baked Fish - a family meal favourite!

Bake in your pre-heated oven for 15 minutes (or longer if your fish fillets are thick). Check they’re cooked through, they should be starting to brown slightly at the thin edges. Once they’re cooked, take them out of the oven and serve.

Recipe: Easy Pesto Baked Fish - a family meal favourite!

As you can see I’ve served my fish today with creamy mashed potato and vegetables. In the summer it is accompanied by new potatoes and a lovely fresh salad. It’s a flexible, simple summer which is guaranteed to be wolfed down every time by my hungry boys.

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also enjoy my 55 ideas for family meals your kids will actually eat. Recipe: Easy Pesto Baked Fish - a family meal favourite!

Crafts: How to make a Packing Peanut Flower Garland

These days we’re increasingly mindful of what we throw away. Disposing of plastic and packaging responsibly is something we’re really trying to do, although not always successfully. I often get boxes, packages and deliveries and where I can I recycle or re-use the packaging, but sometimes I need to get creative. When a box arrived filled with packing peanuts my heart sunk. What was I going to do with all these? The answer was simple, crafts. On this occasion I thought I’d make a Packing Peanut Flower Garland to pretty up my freshly painted living room.

Crafts: How to make a Packing Peanut Flower Garland

I hadn’t realised this until now, but most packing peanuts are made from cornstarch, so if you get them wet they just dissolve into a sticky mess. I thought they were made from a plastic foam which wouldn’t biodegrade, but I was wrong. If you can find no other use for them, you can happily throw them in your compost bin and think no more about it, but I had plans for my packing peanuts!

The Packing Peanut Flower Garland is a simple craft which I happily sat and sewed while I was watching my current guilty pleasure – Say Yes to the Dress! It doesn’t require any great skill with sewing – because I have none really, but it’s a lovely little garland which costs pennies to make and would brighten up any space!

make a Packing Peanut Flower Garland

You will need –
Packing peanuts – 5 or 6 per flower
Needle and thread
Buttons
A long piece of ribbon

Method –
Flatten your packing peanuts. I used a rolling pin but you can squash them flat with your hands if you want.

Take 5 or 6 flattened peanuts and arrange them in a flower shape. Using a needle and thread, sew them together in the centre of the flower. Once they’re secure, take your button and sew it on to the centre of the flower. Then place your flower where you want to sew it on the ribbon and stitch it in place through the button.

Crafts: How to make a Packing Peanut Flower Garland

Keep sewing flowers and adding them to the garland until you’re happy with how many flowers you’ve got. Tie a small loop at each end of your ribbon and hang up wherever you think best. It doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s dry!

I’m really quite pleased with my Packing Peanut Flower Garland. It’s so simple and costs very little to make, it’s the prefect frugal craft for those who hate waste!

If you enjoyed this, you might also like some of my other craft posts.

Crafts: How to make a Packing Peanut Flower Garland

Children’s Books: Five Brilliant Books About Spring

Believe it or not, it’s spring (as I type this there is snow on the ground and the heating is on full blast). Spring is one of our favourite seasons; with the first garden flowers of the year popping up; some blue skies, and the birth of new life. We always like to visit a local farm in spring, helping to feed the orphan lambs is a particular joy. As ever, we like to keep our reading seasonal too, so here are five sensational books about spring we love…

Five Sensational Books About Spring

Spring by Gerda Muller is one of a series of four books without words, which lead the young child through the seasons of the year. Full of fun and active illustrations, this chunky board book shows the joys of playing with lambs, sowing seeds, painting Easter eggs and watching baby birds. It’s the most wonderful book to share with little ones this spring!

Children's Books: Five Sensational Books About Spring

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. Join the tiny seed on an adventure as it becomes a giant flower! In autumn, a strong wind blows flower seeds high in the air and carries them far across the land. One by one, many of the seeds are lost. They are burned by the sun, fall into the ocean, or eaten by birds. But some seeds survive the long winter and, come spring, sprout into plants. The delicate plants face new dangers; being trampled by playing children or picked as a gift for a friend. Soon only the tiniest seed remains, growing into a giant flower and, when autumn returns, sending its own seeds into the wind to start the process over again.

Little Baa by Kim Lewis. For me, spring isn’t spring until I’ve seen and preferably snuggled a lamb. This book is perfect for lamb-lovers like me! One spring day, Little Baa jumps, skips and runs in the field. Soon he leaves his friends far behind – and his Ma too; but Little Baa’s Ma misses him and searches for him. Will she ever find her Little Baa?

Animal Seasons: Rabbit’s Spring Adventure by Anita Loughrey. Animal Seasons are a beautifully illustrated series of picture books for young children and emerging readers and they are great for learning a little more about the natural world. In this spring adventure, Rabbit leaves his warren and discovers that the woods are full of new life. There’s so much to discover that poor Rabbit loses his way, but who will help him find his way back home?

A Year in Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklam. When I was a child, I was completely enchanted by the Brambly Hedge stories. I still have my little collection of books today. The mice of Brambly Hedge have many beautifully illustrated adventures throughout the year. They mark the seasons with feasts and festivities and, of course, the mice never miss an opportunity to have a little party. This wonderful collection would make a great gift for any child and it really is a collection to treasure.

If you enjoyed these books about spring, you might also enjoy my five classic books about bears.

Children's Books: Five Sensational Books About Spring

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Chocolate-Free Alternative Easter Gifts for Kids

When I was a child (about a million years ago) we got one chocolate Easter Egg at Easter, if we were lucky. These days my son gets so many chocolate eggs that it takes him weeks to eat his way through them all. A couple of years ago we decided that we would just get him one egg and one or two little Easter Gifts on the side.

Don’t get me wrong, Easter in our house is mostly about giving, receiving and hunting for chocolate eggs. At Easter he gets more chocolate than he can cope with, so giving him something different as Easter gifts makes sense. I’ve picked out some simple and inexpensive ideas for alternative Easter gifts for kids.

What's on in Manchester this Easter?

Hatching Dinosaur Eggs

You can get these absolutely everywhere these days and they’re really fun to hatch. Soak your dino egg in water for 24-48 hours and the egg will crack open and a dinosaur will emerge. We’ve had cheap ones from the pound shop and more expensive ones for around £5. The quality of the dino figure was MUCH better in the £5 egg, so choose wisely. A cracking little Easter present!

LEGO Easter Bunny Hut 5005249

For LEGO fans, what better gift than the new LEGO Seasonal Iconic Easter Minifigure (5005249). Every Easter LEGO brings out a seasonal collectible minifigure and this year’s Easter Bunny is super-cute! This highly sought after LEGO collectible will probably be snapped up quickly, so if you see it, buy it. I believe it is currently available in Sainsbury’s for £4, but will probably sell out fast!

Easter Craft Kits

Easter is a time which is ripe for crafting. There are so many Easter and spring themed crafts you can do with the kids, but we like to buy a couple of Easter Craft Kits and do a few different crafty things over the Easter break. Baker Ross make lots of really colourful and fun craft kits, they usually contain everything you need to make the craft so they’re easy to throw on the table and do with no lengthy set up. We always add a craft kit or two to his Easter bag of goodies.

Tiddlytubbies Board Book

Say eh-oh to the Tiddlytubbies in this bright and colourful board storybook for toddlers! The Teletubbies love to visit their friends the Tiddlytubbies. Now you can visit them too in a storybook that’s ideal for reading and sharing together, not to mention, a really lovely chocolate-free gift for woddlers and toddlers!

Chocolate-Free Alternative Easter Gifts for Kids

The Teletubbies are a great way to introduce little ones to early learning concepts such as colours, counting and numbers. The colourful world of Teletubby land is especially designed to capture little imaginations. These books are perfect for babies and toddlers aged 1+, cost just £4.99 and are widely available.

Playmobil Easter Eggs

Playmobil have really upped their game this Easter. They’ve been making eggs for a number of years now, but this year the range seems to be bigger and brighter than ever. Choose from Dragon Warrior; Kite Surfer; Queen Moonbeam; Tightrope Walker; Vet with Foals; Fairies with Magic Cauldron; Girl with Dino Egg and many, many more! They cost around £6.99 and are a great alternative to standard Easter Eggs.

Easter Treats - Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads

Choc On Choc Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads kit

Ok, I did promise you a chocolate-free list of alternative Easter gifts, but I had to include this one. The Choc On Choc Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads kit contains everything you will need to make and decorate some chocolate eggs. We reviewed it a few weeks ago and whilst everything didn’t go entirely to plan, it was the most fun. It combined three of our favourite things – cooking, crafting and eating chocolate. The kit costs £12 and is a brilliant way to spend an afternoon with the kids. There may be fights over who gets to lick the spoon though!

Cool Customised T-Shirts?

What about a cool customised t-shirt? Printsome are a small company who specialise in printing t-shirts. You could get one of your child’s drawings printed onto a t-shirt, or a photo of their cat, or anything your wild and wonderful imagination can come up with. These t-shirts are also great for groups or to wear for parties. How about matching t-shirts for the whole family this Easter?

What do you think of my alternative Easter gifts? What, if anything will you be giving the kids this Easter?

This blog post contains affiliate links.

Recipe: Baked Russet Squire Crusty Bread Bowl

Cheese is an important part of my life. I eat a lot of it at an amateur level, but once a year I dust down my judging jacket and head off to the International Cheese Awards to do my bit for the dairy industry. It’s the most fun and each year I get to discover a new cheese or two that I just have to have. Just after the International Cheese Awards last year, I popped into one of my favourite delis – John’s of Instow in Devon and spied two of my favourite cheeses – Miss Wenna and Boy Laity, both from Cornish Cheesemakers Curds and Croust.

Recipe: Baked Russet Squire Crusty Bread Bowl

Curds and Croust have recently launched an interesting new cheese – Russet Squire, a cider washed cheese Cornish soft cheese. They sent me some to try out and I couldn’t resist making something incredibly delicious with it.

Russet Squire is bathed in Cornish cider seven or eight times which gives the soft rind a distinctive russet look. The cheese itself is rich and creamy with a sweet note. It’s unbelievably good on an oaty biscuit and really lends itself to lots of recipes. It has quite a low melting point which makes it wonderfully oozy very quickly.

If you’re a fan of brie, it’s well worth looking out for Russet Squire. It’s got all lovely oozy things you love about brie, but with the addition of the slightly sweet cider. It’s next level Cornish brie.

I often think with brie style cheeses, if you’re going to cook with them they best thing you can do it leave them whole and not mess about too much with other flavours. I wanted to bake a round of Russet Squire into a round loaf which you could tear apart and dip in the melted cheese.

Recipe: Baked Russet Squire Crusty Bread Bowl

The problem was I couldn’t find the kind of loaf I wanted locally, so I had to bake my own bread. All you want is a nice crusty round loaf, you should be able to find them at a good bakery or perhaps a supermarket. Or you could just bake your own. I baked a cheese and onion loaf and left it to cool for a bit before I made my baked Russet Squire Cheese in a crusty bread bowl.

Baked Russet Squire Crusty Bread Bowl

Ingredients:
1 Russet Squire Cheese
1 round loaf
2 tablespoons of Cider
1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary
A pinch of brown sugar
A twist or two of black pepper

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 220°. Take your round loaf and cut out a hole in the top to nestle your cheese. Scoop out some of the bread, save this for dipping and dunking later.

Skim the top off the cheese to help it melt a bit better. Place your cheese in the loaf. Spoon over your cider and scatter over your chopped rosemary, pinch of brown sugar and your black pepper.

Bake you loaf in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is going slightly brown on the top and is all oozy and melty inside.

Serve with chutney, sticks of celery or anything else you want to dip in this gorgeous cheese.

This Russet Squire Crusty Bread bowl is seriously, seriously good. It just works perfectly. It’s so easy to put together and looks really impressive too. Can you imagine putting one on the table next time friends come round for lunch?

Recipe: Baked Russet Squire Crusty Bread Bowl

We were sent some Russet Squire cheese to make something lovely with. I have not been paid for this post. All images and opinions are my own.

Recipe: Baked Russet Squire Crusty Bread Bowl

How to make a really easy Volcano Birthday Cake

For my son’s 7th birthday he wanted me to make him a Volcano Birthday Cake. I am by no means an expert cake decorator, so I knew whatever I made would need to be really simple to put together. The great thing about making a volcano cake if you’re not an expert cake decorator, is if it looks a bit rough and rustic when you’ve finished, it all adds to the rugged volcanic charm.

A few years of watching The Great British Bake Off has given me a few ideas, so I sketched the plan and set to work. You will need six round sponge cakes. I also used my favourite kind of shop bought frosting – Morrison’s Chocolate & Brazilian Orange Frosting. It’s the best shop bought frosting I’ve ever tried and it’s well worth searching out. If you can’t find it, use whatever chocolate frosting you can get your hands on.

How to make an easy Volcano Birthday Cake

Here’s how I made my pre-historic Volcano Cake.

How to make a Volcano Birthday Cake

You will need:

6 round sponge cakes (I used 9 inch tins)
2 tubs of Morrisons Chocolate & Brazilian Orange Frosting
Dr Oetker Regal Ice Ready to Roll Icing pack of multi-coloured icing
Wooden skewers or long straws
Selection of small plastic dinosaurs
Fountain Sparkler candle
One cupcake per letter of name (eg Ben = 3 cupcakes)
Birthday candles
Wooden letters spelling name

How to build your cake:

On a large clean tray or board put a dollop of Morrisons Chocolate & Brazilian Orange Frosting and start to build your volcano on top of this. The frosting will help to anchor the cake in place.

Sandwich your six layers of cake on top of each other with a layer of the Morrisons Chocolate & Brazilian Orange Frosting in between each cake. Take your skewers or straws and push then down from the top of your volcano structure down through the six layers to the bottom, this will make the cake more stable.

Carefully using a knife, carve your cake structure into a volcano shape. It doesn’t have to be perfect, remember if it’s rustic it all adds to the charm. Dust as many loose crumbs off your cake as you can and then start to plaster the whole cake in the Morrisons Chocolate & Brazilian Orange Frosting. Once it’s completely covered, leave it to harden a little for an hour or so.

How to make an easy Volcano Birthday Cake

Taking the red and yellow icing from the Dr Oetker Regal Ice Ready to Roll Icing pack, cut each pack of icing in half. Set aside half of each pack and with the other halves, knead them together to make an orange coloured icing.

Here’s where you can get artistic. Roll pieces of the red, yellow and orange icing into rivulets of lava and press them into your volcano. Make sure there’s plenty of lava coming out of the top and running down the sides. You might want to pool some lava at the bottom of the volcano.

How to make an easy Volcano Birthday Cake

Taking your dinosaurs and a little of the chocolate orange frosting (to stick the dinosaurs in place) add some dinos to the scene. Again be artistic; get them caught in the lava, running away from it, have them in little family groups, whatever you want.

Take your cupcakes and top with some frosting; wedge a letter on the top of each one and using the frosting on the bottom of the cupcakes, stick them in place to spell out the name. Again you can have dinosaurs around the cakes, or looking like they’re eating them maybe.

How to make an easy Volcano Birthday Cake

To finish your cake, put the fountain sparkler candle in the top (so when you light it, it should sparkle and flame like a volcano.

My son was absolutely delighted with his volcano birthday cake, and his friends were pretty impressed too. It’s surprisingly simple to put together and it doesn’t have be perfect in order for it to be impressive. I dread to think what he’s going to ask for next year!

How to make an easy Volcano Birthday Cake

How to make a really easy Volcano Birthday Cake

If a volcano cake doesn’t cut it, what about this super-simple train birthday cake?

Crafts: Simple Paper Plate Hot Air Balloons

This month Craft Merrily have set the Bostik Bloggers the task of creating a flying craft. I asked the boy what he wanted to make with his friends and he said hot air balloons. His wish is my command, and so I set to work gathering what we needed to make hot air balloons.

These hot air balloons are a really simple craft and a great excuse for the children to let their imaginations go wild and to decorate their balloons however they want. I did originally imagine that they would want to decorate the hot air balloons with pieces of coloured paper and sparkly embellishments, but on the day they were very keen to just draw pictures of the dog.

Crafts: Simple Paper Plate Hot Air Balloons

How to make Paper Plate Hot Air Balloons

You will need:
A paper plate
Some string or wool
A paper cup
Bostik White Glu
Scraps of colourful paper
Felt tips
Sparkly embellishments

How to make your hot air balloons:

Set up your craft table and set the kids to work decorating the back of the paper plates (this is so the balloon looks domed). I lay our Bostik White Glu, scraps of colourful paper, felt tips and some extra embellishments and let them get on with decorating their balloons how they wanted.

Crafts: Simple Paper Plate Hot Air Balloons

While they were busy decorating, I took the paper cups and made two small holes to thread the string through. I then cut a length of sting, threaded it through each hole and knotted it inside the cup.

Crafts: Simple Paper Plate Hot Air Balloons

Once they’d finished decorating their plates I sellotaped the loop of string to the back of the plate, making a loop at the top of the plate so it could be hung up. We then left them alone for a few hours for the glue to dry.

Crafts: Simple Paper Plate Hot Air Balloons

They were delighted with their hot air balloons and were really happy when we hung them up around the house. They filled the paper cup basket with all kinds of things too. Small teddies and little LEGO figures found themselves floating through the sky!

It’s such a simple craft, perfect for a rainy day and great for making use of any craft bits and pieces you’ve got in your craft box.

Check out my other craft tutorials here!

Crafts: Simple Paper Plate Hot Air Balloons