Autumn days are here.......
Although the days are a little cooler and the evenings getting dark a bit earlier, there is still plenty of opportunity to enjoy time outdoors with children this time of year. We are so lucky in Overton to have so many wonderful places for walking- Flashetts, David's Woods, Blackdown Forest and Micheldever woods are some of our favourites for crunching through leaves, spotting squirrels and generally enjoying the beauty of autumn. If your children like to accompany family walks with moans of “I’m boooooored/cold/tired”, then there are lots of ways to keep them occupied and burning off excess energy.
· Leaf collecting- with all the leaves on the ground, we are often amazed how many different shapes, sizes and colours there are. Why not encourage your children to find lots of different ones, and then when you’re home you can stick them into a collage, or paint and make leaf prints from them. Pine cones, conkers and bark also make interesting prints.
· Conker caterpillars- collect up conkers, nuts, acorns or pebbles, and then glue them together into caterpillars when you get home- don’t forget to give them a face!
· Hedgehog bread! Perfect for woodland picnics.
Ingredients: 500g pack of brown bread mix, 25g butter, plain flour for dusting, 12 raisins and 6 flaked almonds.Method: Make the bread mixture with the butter following pack instructions. It’s easiest to use a stand mixer but not difficult to do by hand. Leave the dough to rest for 5 mins, then knead for 5 mins.Cut the dough into six equal balls, and pinch at one end to make a snout. Put the hedgehogs on a baking sheet, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hr.Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Using kitchen scissors (supervise younger children), carefully snip into the dough to make the spikes on the backs of the hedgehogs. Press raisins in for the eyes and push a flaked almond or another raisin into the end of each snout.Bake for 15 mins or until the rolls are risen and golden. Enjoy!
