Paddington Bear and the Queen, what a remarkable and unlikely friendship that was! One of my all time favourite Queen Elizabeth II sketches was the Paddington and Queen Elizabeth afternoon tea sketch for the platinum jubilee.
As a fully functioning adult (ish) afternoon tea is one of my most favourite things! Is it the carbs? The caffeine? The cake? Dressing up and going somewhere fancy? Who knows! But you know what - i just LOVE IT! I think the queen really did too! So as a memorial of as a sign of respect in your settings, why not hold a Paddington and the queen afternoon tea at your setting?
There is such richness in the experiences you can offer with having an "afternoon tea day" at your setting. It might be a nice idea to hold the afternoon tea after the state funeral and you may even like to invite some parents in too?
Let me share my thinking with you, it will be great - and if anyone fancies inviting us at EYL to share your afternoon tea with you, we'd love to!
So, activities that you can have out all day...
How about an invent a sandwich collage activity? the children can cut out food and non-food items from the free magazines and recipe card you can get from your local super market - maybe the children will invent the most exciting sandwich that will give our old pal Heston a run for his money? The queen, much like Paddington, was a big fan of marmalade sandwiches, but which sandwich will King Charles III like best?
How about setting up a "brew bar" in your garden? Dig out all the old herbal or fruity teas you have stashed at the back of your cupboard that nobody drinks, put them out in a water tray, or tuff tray with mugs, teapots, a French press, tea spoons, water, and let the children make their own (cold) tea and coffee for you! Hopefully, the children will learn to pour the tea for you first, before drinking it straight from the teapot like Paddington did!
Making playdough cakes? The children i have worked with over the years have absolutely loved having cup cake cases and birthday candles to play with at the playdough table, and well as various different interesting "toppers" - some examples are different shape pasta, spaghetti with cheerios, pipe cleaners, sequins and pom poms, anything a bit interesting and out of the ordinary really! We sometimes moved our home corner around to incorporate our playdough table - it was great to see how differently they played with the area! I wonder if the children will manage to get squirty cream all over the palace staff, just like Paddington did!
it goes without saying that a DIY sandwich bar is a MUST! allow the children to experiment with a range of savoury spreads and fillings to create the most delicious sandwich that they can!
You could even make a little bit of cake! I tend to use the same base healthy cake recipe and mix it up a bit. I aim for 50% fruit and minimal added sugar.
its pretty easy - and can be adapted to make varying amounts of cakes - it works as a cupcake recipe, or as a whole cake.
all you need for the base recipe is:
300g softened unsalted butter or margarine
300g Self raising flour
3 eggs
100g sugar
I find this is the easiest, fool proof recipe for in a setting! If i can do it, anyone can!
As you can see, its following the rule of 3, so to make less, you follow the rule of 2, and for more, you follow the rule of 5, 6, 7 or whatever you need! Just don't forget to keep the sugar to 1/3 of the rest of the ingredients at your settings!
I tend to beat the butter/margarine together with the little bit of sugar, then add the eggs, beat that all together then add the flour and beat that all together - then you add the "flavour"
some delicious healthy ideas include:
-grated apples and mixed spice
-apple and pear chunks
-grated carrots, dried fruit and mixed spice
-lemon zest, lemon juice and grated courgette
-mashed ripe bananas
-blueberries
-orange zest, juice and low sugar drinking chocolate powder
-cold brew coffee, chocolate chips and walnuts (for the adults only!)
-raspberries and white chocolate chips or buttons
-boiled rhubarb with ginger
you can experiment with different flavours too - just try to keep the added sugar content down, and make your cakes with around 50% fruit or veg!
it would be a great way to revamp your dressing up area too - lots of fancy hats, cloaks, dresses, shirts etc. You can ask for donations from your local community!
The children can make bunting, use doyleys to create art, or make their own! They can decorate their own cups! lay the table! And of course, take part in the age-old debate of the correct way to say "scone" (there are some great savoury scone recipes online too!)
Why not think about throwing a " Queen and Paddington memorial afternoon tea" day at your setting - and share some pictures with us!
Watch the sketch of Paddington and the queen having afternoon tea here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfiCa244XE