I disappeared on Saturday morning. Unfortunately this wasn't the result of me developing a rather useful super power. No, I actually went on a 14.5 mile walk.
Training for the Moonwalk has taken a worryingly serious turn. And whilst it might improve my fitness levels to complete a four hour stroll, it did leave Monkey Man (MM), my husband, with three children and a mild hangover.
I tried to make amends in the afternoon by going all Blue Peter and making some cress caterpillars. Anything involving cress is a winner with attention deficit offspring. You can sow in the morning and see germination before heads hit pillows.
Originally I was going to do cress heads with eggs or yogurt pots, but then ambition took over. Also, caterpillars take longer and thus gave MM more time with his beloved Radio 5 Live.
So here's what we did.
Cut an egg box base lengthways and trim the sides - this gives you two caterpillar bodies.
Colour the egg boxes green - you could paint them but we used thick felt pens
Dye three egg shelf halves per caterpillar - we did this by placing the broken halves in a bowl of water and adding a few drops of green food colouring
Use three pipe cleaners for legs and one for antennae - my 5-year-old was able to thread these in herself once I made the holes with a skewer - and then glue on googly eyes
Put the eggshell halves into the spaces along the caterpillar's back and then fill with damp cotton wool before sowing the cress seeds on top
Put on the kettle for a cup of tea and survey the devastation with a sense of smugness, because, even if your children do go off the rails in years to come, no-one can blame you. After all, you did make cress caterpillars with them. What more can they ask?
was the mild hangover from childcare or an interesting evening?
Posted by: jonquil | March 30, 2009 at 01:59 PM
Bloody Hell, Woman. Stop being so irrepressibly energetic. All these long walks, charitable endeavours, child friendly gardening and handicrafts make those of us who are less hearty feel wan and exhausted!
A little consideration, please....
Posted by: JamesA-S | March 30, 2009 at 02:51 PM
This took me back about 12 years - mine are 16 and 18 now. Very inventive and great fun too.
Posted by: Helen/patientgardener | March 30, 2009 at 03:56 PM
love the caterpillars might have to give it a go - much more impressive than cress heads
Posted by: Rhiannon | March 30, 2009 at 10:42 PM
Jonquil - probably a bit of both.
James - I did spend the other half of the weekend sitting down and drinking wine, but thought that might not be so appropriate as a post...
Helen - I've just had a scary vision of my three as teenagers - thanks for that!
Rhiannon - thank you for that - impressive was what I was going for (basically I'm all about the showing off)
Posted by: Dawn Isaac | March 31, 2009 at 10:56 AM
I'm sure the children were extra enthusiastic once they realise they were featuring in the blog. Very cute caterpillars!
Posted by: easygardener | April 02, 2009 at 11:52 AM