Blackberries

Today, we have celebrated Betty’s first day of not going to school/pre-school by doing lots of fun things. She has had a swimming lesson. We have been to Gladstone Pottery Museum where we learned about our local history, watched someone throw a pot and had a go at painting a pot ourselves. (EYFS: Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design) All this by lunch time!

After lunch, we went for a walk in the woods and picked blackberries. We didn’t find very many at first. They seem to have appeared really early this year and are now past their best. They’re also full of bugs – yuk! But we persevered and ended up finding enough.

Once we’d got them home and given them a really good wash, we decided to make something with them. I thought it would be better if they’d been cooked, less germy! We made a crumble topping. We separated the blackberries into paper cupcake holders and then topped them with the crumble. Then we baked them in the oven.

                            

They were yummy! But, if you have any plastic cupcake holders, use them. The paper ones go a bit soggy.

For our bedtime story, we read The Blackberry Mouse from a lovely book called Springtime Tales which is a story about a mouse who wouldn’t share his blackberries. This a good story to initiate discussions about friendship and sharing.

EYFS:

Working collaboratively to pick the berries and make the cakes supports the children’s personal social and emotional development.

Talking about the berries and the crumble cakes promotes communication and language development.

Reading The Blackberry Mouse and using recipe books develops literacy skills.

Betty helped me to measure out ingredients which supports her numeracy development.  

Physical development is helped by tackling different surfaces outdoors.