The End of Year Function

Are you in-charge of the school Social Club? Here is a good punch for the end of year staff function you may attend.  Keep in mind this is an alcoholic punch, so make sure you have a designated driver sorted or taxi chips to use....so everyone gets home safely. Also provide plenty of food to buffer the effects of alcohol  plus lots of non-alcoholic drinks for those who choose not to indulge.

I make this punch for summer, it's fresh, bright and cheerful.  The only changes I make to this recipe is that I use a full 750ml bottle of Midori.  I also use some of the pineapple juice (unsweetened is best) to make a pineapple ice ring full of fruit, or make fruit ice-cubes. I have also been known to use another bottle of sparkling wine to make the ice rings or fruity ice-cubes.  All variations are very nice and enjoyable...

How to make Ancient Egyptian Mummified Cats...

What do treasures tell us? During the immerison stage of their inquiry the children shared the things that they treasured.  They took photos and blogged about their treasures on the class blog.

After the immersion stage the children decided to look at treasures from Ancient Egypt.  They found out what was important to the people living in Ancient Egypt.  The children then decided they would like to re-create some of the treasures from Ancient Egypt - mummified cats and cartouches.  Parents and family members would then be invited to come and view these treasures, at the children's learning celebration. I had the idea to call the learning celebration 'Twilight at the Museum.'

One tip here, you need to make sure you class are very well trained in cleaning-up.  At times the class got messy, so it's best to use a workshop approach. I allowed one full day for the children to make the cat form and layer this with plaster.  The cats then need a few days to really dry hard. Then I set aside afternoons to paint and apply the finishing touches.

This is the process I took my class through to create their cats and these are my own original ideas.  The children were very excited and loved some of the techniques they learnt along the way, like dry brushing.  These children were 7 to 8 years old and worked in pairs, so at the end we had about thirteen cats.  The finished cats ranged in height from 30 cm to 50 cm.

There are many images of Ancient Egyptian mummified cats on google.  The children where shown a variety of these images.  Here's a couple of sites with basic information - British Museum and the Woodlands site.  You could even read the book 'Cat Mummies,' by Kelly Trumble.  

I now teach in a classroom that has a glass cabinet, what a coincidence!  These cats now actually live like they're in a museum.  They're now a bit battered due to the earthquakes, though this just adds to their character.

We started by rolling up newspaper, to form a rod.  This is a bit like making an armature, but made out of newspaper.  Then the children started to wrap newspaper around the armature.  This newspaper was lightly crunched and folded, then wrapped.  Tape around with masking tape.  You want to have a shape that's more narrow at the bottom and they did place some cardboard at the ends to give that authentic look.

For the final layer we used newsprint paper.  Balls of newspaper were rolled for the heads and were tapped on with masking tape.

These are the mummified cats now ready to have plaster of paris wrapped around them.

We used plaster of paris bandages.  These were briefly soaked in water then wrapped around the cat's form.  You only need a couple of layers of plaster.  The cats need to dry for about 2-3 days.

When the plaster was really hard the children painted two coats of white acrylic paint.  The next day they were ready for the fabric.  They ripped up pieces of calico (unbleached), cut bandages to glue with PVA onto the cat's body.  They tried to make patterns with the fabric.

After the glue had dried I mixed up weak solutions of brown and black dye.  The children applied the dye with bristle brushes.  The cats were then left for about a week to dry.

Clay was used to make the heads on the mummified cats.  Clay was flattened out like a pizza base and placed over the head of each cat.  Children used rulers and kebab sticks to make the impressions on the cat's faces.  

The children tried to make cat faces that had some kind of expression, as they had noticed that Ancient Egyptian mummified cats had expressions.  They cut some lines down the sides of each face, as when clay air dries it shrinks.  If some pieces break off, then they can easily be glued back together with a glue gun.  The cats were stored flat to dry.  When the clay was air dry the children painted the faces (using mostly metallic paint),  and added detail with black paint. See my next post for the finished cats.

Finished Ancient Egyptian Cats...

I put black material in a corner of the classroom and dimmed the lights because it was....'Twilight at the Museum!'  I had Egyptian music playing and a slideshow on that showed the visitors how the children  to  created these Egyptian treasures!  The Ancient Egyptian cats sat on a piece of wood with nails poking out. 

The finished treasures!

My Cat

This is the Ancient Egyptian cat I made alongside the children to demonstrate each step.  Unfortunately, he has now been hit by a series of earthquakes and now has a cracked head.  I just glued him back together, the cracks add a touch of mystery to my mummified cat.  To see how to make an Ancient Egyptian Cat click here.

 

This mummified cat lives at my house. My black cat died
last year so I tell everyone I mummified him. But seriously
I  didn't,  he is buried by his rat catching patch...

Classroom Playdough

Lets play with playdough, it's not only for little children, bigger children like to play with it too.....Here is the playdough recipe I use and it makes a good sized quantity of playdough.

• 6 cups of boiling water
• 5 1/2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of dye
• 2 cups of salt
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 3 Dessertspoons of Cream of Tarter

Put all your dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix the oil and dye together. I use liquid dye which is safe for children to use. Then add the oil and dye mix to the boiled water. Next pour your liquid into the dry ingredients, take care not to burn yourself. Mix all ingredients together with a large wooden spoon. When it has started to combine and come together to form a loose dough start using your hands to mix. Next tip the dough out on a floured board and knead until it is the right texture.

Celebrations and Cupcakes

Celebrations always need cupcakes.....well this is what this witch thinks! Children love them, adults are always in awe of them.....Well my little cupcake fans I am making cupcakes again. Come and join me on another cup cake indulgence....

These ones are plain madeira with butter frosting,
Did they taste good? Mmm......so yummy!

School Baking

Sometimes you need a really great recipe that is both versatile and reliable.  My class were selling cupcakes at their learning celebration to raise money for WSPA - Go Bananas for Orangutans.

This recipe is a light banana cake and tastes really nice with royal icing and butter cream frostings.  In the past I've also made this recipe into a giant banana cake. Try out my recipe...it's very tasty!

Banana cake
250g butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
2 cups of ripe mashed banana
3 1/2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup milk

* Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy
* Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one
* Add bananas and mix at low speed to combine
* Sift flour and baking powder together
* Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to bowl.
* Fold dry ingredients into creamed mixture
* Pour into a roasting dish lined well with baking paper
* Bake at 180 deg. Celsius for about 50 minutes
* The cake should spring back when lightly touched
* Allow cake to cool in tin, turn out then ice
* It makes about 18 cupcakes approximately

The big Banana Cake....oh so yummy!

Made into Banana Cup Cakes,  they all sold and were very tasty
we raised over $200.00 for the Orangutans