Spring fun things to do at home

Bird Food Cups

This is a really easy bird cake to make and you can hang these from your bird table or in the branches of your trees, from the top of a fence. The birds love them. For more ideas the RSPB have lots of information on feeding birds.

You will need some beef dripping
Bird seed you can get all kinds of good quality bird food
Suet or lard
Mixing bowl
Old cups or yogurt pots
Tree twig for a perch
Garden string

Important notes: Not suitable for children with nut allergies. Note that bird seed, including peanuts bought for birds, is not suitable for human consumption

Directions

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl
Ask your parent to help you melt the lard or beef dripping
Mix all together
Put the mixture in your old cup or yogurt pots
Push your twig into the mixture
Leave to set, you can put in the fridge or in a cold room overnight
Hang from a tree with string or a hook

Bird Watching

This is a fun activity for all the family which you may have not considered before. As we are all at home more through the lockdown this might be an interesting activity to get into. You will be surprised by the variety of birds that visit your garden.

The RSPB hosted the Big Garden Birdwatch 29-31 January. If you missed out you can still enjoy the birds and why not create your own Garden Birdwatch? Count the birds in your garden, your balcony or local park. How many can you see and identify? The RSPB have a wonderful tool on their website to help you to Identify birds RSPB Bird Identifier. Visit the RSPB for more information at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

Pancake Day 16 February

Easiest pancake recipe ever so suitable for young people of all ages to get involved with.

This recipe is based on equal volumes of eggs, milk and flour so they can easily measure out the ingredients for themselves, and there is no need for scales. It also produces thick, beautiful pancakes that the kids can quickly get busy filling with all kinds of delicious things. Try laying out pots of treats so little hands can have free reign – though it’s always worth keeping an eye on those sprinkles to make sure they don’t end up in their bellies first!

Ingrediants

140g Plain Flour (this is approx 200ml/7fl oz)

4 eggs (200ml/7fl oz)

200ml milk

50g melted butter

Oil for cooking

Method

STEP 1
To make the batter, tip the flour into a bowl and beat in the eggs until smooth. Gradually add the milk and carry on beating until the mix is completely lump-free.
STEP 2
Now whisk in the melted butter. Place a pancake pan over a medium heat and wipe with oiled kitchen paper. Ladle some batter into the pan, tilting the pan to move the mix around the pan and pour off any excess. Cook for about 30 secs until golden, then flip over and cook on the other side. Pile the pancakes up and serve with your favourite filling.
You can see in the photograph above some ideas for fillings, nutella, lemon and sugar, marshmallows, icecream, squirty cream, sprinkles, treacle, caramel