Put oven on to pre-heat to 180’C / 375’F. Grease your muffin tray or springform mini-tins.
Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and sugar into a bowl. Add hemp seed protein powder (if using). Whisk.
Add the grated beetroot, eggs, and rice bran oil. Mix to combine. It will still look a little dry. Add the water / milk and it should look just right once mixed in.
Divide the mix amongst your muffin cases etc.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (or until a toothpick / sharp knife comes out cleanly from the centre).
These are the kind of light, fluffy, round scones that one imagines having with berry jam, clotted cream, and china cups of tea. They are made with flour and baked in the oven and rather different from the large, quartered, barley flour or oatmeal griddle scones from which they are descended.
My childhood has many pleasant memories of making scones in sunlit kitchens and they are wonderfully versatile as they can be served with everything from sweet honey to umami Marmite and cheese.
If you make kefir at home keep in mind that you can use it in baking! Although the probiotics will die in the heat, they will leave behind an enriched milk with little lactose and will add a lightness to your baking.
1 to 1/2 cups milk (or 3/4 cup milk kefir + 3/4 cup milk)
Directions
Start oven pre-heating to 220’C / 428’F. Grease a baking tray or line with baking paper.
Measure and cut butter into a mixing bowl.
Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt. Add wheat germ and sugar.
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles golden breadcrumbs.
Add 3/4 cup of milk (or kefir). Mix to combine.
Slowly add up to 3/4 cup of additional milk; stop to knead as you add the extra liquid. You want to draw all the dry ingredients into the mix without it getting too wet and sticky.
Pull off the dough into approximately 12 pieces. Roll into rough balls in your hand and then flatten slightly. Place on prepared baking tray.
Bake at 220’C / 428’F for 10 minutes. The scones should rise a great deal. Check if they are cooking evenly (and adjust their placement in the oven if not). Reduce the heat to approximately 180’C / 350’F and bake for another 5-6 minutes until golden.
WHAT IS IN THE EXPERISENSE NZ BIOLOGY HOMESCHOOL BOX?
I purchased the ExperiSense NZ Biology Box for NZD$25 to add a kinaesthetic dimension to our learning about the human body. The box provides fun learning crafts to do that are fully aligned with the NZ Curriculum and are highly adaptable to age, interest, and special needs.
This is a great way for kids to ask questions like ‘What is in the human body?’ and ‘How does my body work?’. The kit proved to be fantastic value as the book alone retails for around NZD$20. It’s a well laid out hardback book, aimed at primary school aged children (KS1/KS2), with heaps of colour photos (as well as cool radiology and specialist pictures from hospital imaging).
What are the organs of the human body?
Miss 6 loves the Tinybop Human Body app so was keen to jump straight into having a life-size drawing of herself made on the paper provided. She then did a pretty good job of guessing where the internal organs (supplied) should get blu-tacked on and discussing what human organs do. Honestly, the two she wasn’t sure of (pancreas and gallbladder) I had to google myself to check where to place them. She’s pretty stoked that it’s hanging in the hallway along with other artwork from this box.
We also did reading about human organs in the book provided and did activities about them in our Factivity book. She also made up some pretty cool song and dance routines to demonstrate how organs like the human heart work.
The optional extension activity is to draw an additional system (such as the circulatory system or the nervous system) on the human body and talk about what organ systems these link to and how they support their function.
What does my skeleton look like?
We read about bones in the Human Body book and then did an x-ray activity in our Factivity book. One of the x-ray stickers was of a human hand – which perfectly tied in with our next craft.
The kit provides black paper, white paint, and instructions on creating your own radiology x-ray of a human hand; you will need to supply cotton bud sticks and strong craft glue. Tip: if you add water to the paint you will only need a little amount! Our first learning-by-doing part of the morning was realizing that thinning the paint too much simply has it oozing beneath the placed hand! Our second attempt went much better and we decided that using a smaller brush for flicking the paint also works better than a large brush.
There are lots of ways that kids can approach this activity. Miss 6 decided to have our ‘hand x-ray’ sticker in front of us and count how many bones should get placed for each finger. She was also fascinated by the negative space that our art created and we went on to create more body themed art along this theme.
We also used our poseable mannequin to explore the interplay between bones, joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. We had fun taking turns posing the figure while the other person tried to replicate it in real life. We also used it when looking at how to draw a person.
What is in human blood?
Human blood is made up of several components: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. We’d already had fun learning about blood in our Factivity book – including exciting face-offs between red and white blood cells in a Tic Tac Toe championship.
The kit provided us with the materials needed to make our own sensory exploration of the human blood stream. We were supplied with both red and white water beads (Orbeez) which we used as red blood cells (pretending these were a mix of ones carrying oygen outward to the body, and depleted ones returning to get pumped to the lungs); red foam platelets for clotting, and wooden white cells for fighting infection. You’ll also need a container for soaking them in water; we had fun using our test tubes but as they grow dramatically we had most of them in a plastic tub.
We had lots of fun making this up and playing with it in the garden. We found the water beads were also useful for exploring other scientific principles such as: refraction of light; gravity, momentum, and incline surfaces; and applications of force. The last one included everything from experimenting with how much weight the water beads could support (i.e. like lily pads), the best way to crush them, how many could fit into various containers, and what size funnel they would fit through!
How to perform a simple magic trick
Squawking chicken magic trick!
Miss 6 enjoyed watching Disney’s Magic Camp so she was excited that the final activity in the box was a simple magic trick to help us explore amplification and hearing. We did a series of experiments to explore how the cup helped to amplify sound and really did get a chicken like sound (the secret being to have a highly waxed flattened strip at the end of the string and using a damp bamboo cloth). We also talked about natural environments we have visited the shape of the land has created a natural amphitheatre that amplifies sound.
Wondering what to do with those candles afterwards? We lit ours (parental supervision required) and discussed how the candle demonstrated changes to states of matter and what the causal factor was (heat). We also toasted marshmellows and created another magic trick – using paper, the melting candle wax, and dye to create simple batik art on paper!
Each Atlas crate includes a new sticker and country map for your Adventure Passport
There are all kinds of fun activities to do in the Japan Crate including making a game, a craft, cooking, drawing, and learning a little about Japan!
You begin by opening your travel mail from Milo and Anya to find out about their latest travel adventures! Miss 6 enjoys seeing them posing for selfies in the photos of Japan.
There is a passport sticker to add to our Adventure Passport and various cards about Japan to add to it as well. These range from a country map and cultural information, to activity cards with things to do. You can learn some karate, find out about cultural festivals, do some cooking, and learn to draw in kawaii (super cute) style. We did all of the activities in the box and had a lot of fun with them! We enjoyed learning how to make onigiri. Miss 6 loved the kawaii style so much that we picked up a copy of Mini Kawaii Doodle Cuties: Sketching Super-Cute Stuff from Around the World. It’s a handy addition to our World Studies library as it features food and monuments from around the world; i.e. for France you can learn to draw a kawii-style Eiffel Tower, macaron, and beret.
Our Deluxe Box Book was “I am Tama, Lucky Cat” by Wendy Henrichs. It’s a lovely picture book and we found the Afterword with it’s historical information and photographs really interesting for helping us learn more about why Maneki–neko (招き猫, lit. ‘beckoning cat’) are popular.
How to make your own koinobori
How to make your own koinobori
These carp streamers (or windsocks) are hung to celebrate Children’s Day (こどもの日 or Kodomo no Hi), this is celebrated annually on the 5th of May. The carp represent courage and strength and this is reflected as well by the popular Japanese saying “koi no taki-nobori” (“koi climbing the rapids”). “The carp, evoking images of energy, power and courage, is a worthy symbol for overcoming life’s difficulties and achieving ultimate success.” [Mark Brazil].
I love how the everything is provided for the craft and, in true KiwiCo style, it is well thought out so that it appeals to a range of ages / abilities and no fiddly glue is provided. Children can customise their beautiful koinobori choosing from a colourful array of fabric ‘scales’ that are laid in an overlapping pattern over strips of special double-sided ‘tape’. There are many more scales than required to ensure plenty of choice and children are encouraged to explore their creativity by making each side of their carp different. Miss 6 finished one side of ‘Mr Carp’ then made him a bed, played with him, and added a row of scales each day to the second side so that he could slowly ‘grow’ and become older.
How to make your own Daruma Otoshi
Make your own Daruma Otoshi だるま落としゲーム
Daruma Otoshi is a traditional game played in Japan. ‘Daruma’ is the name of the doll and ‘otoshi’ means ‘to drop’. Taking the wooden mallet, you need to try and knock out the bottom wooden circle in such a way that everything above it falls straight down. If you can continue until Daruma drops, without it toppling over, then you win! The game can be played solo or with friends and is harder than it looks!
The crate comes with everything you need for the game. You get to design your own face from the range of stickers provided and there are plenty of spares 🙂
This is not a paid review. I spent a lot of time searching the internet to find out more information about the Kiwi Crate and Atlas Crate boxes before deciding to try them and found the blog posts / photos that people shared were really useful!
If you would like to try Atlas Crate (or one of their other lines), you can receive 50% off your first box by clicking here.
What I like about the Atlas Crate kits is that they provide a colourful and imaginative way of exploring the world through hands-on activities. I like that they use a mix of STEM and art to explore different concepts and ideas. Their products are also very well made, with clear instructions, and kids feel a real sense of pride in what they accomplish with each box.
There’s no obligation to sign-up in an on-going capacity so it’s easy to tie them in with birthdays / Christmas; the boxes are quite compact so they also store easily in a cupboard for bringing them out on a rainy day. Other families will choose to sign up for a longer period (like a 3, 6, or 12 month cycle).
WHAT IS IN AN ATLAS CRATE?
Each Atlas Crate comes with a special airmail envelope from Anya the Cricket and Milo the Sandpiper revealing where they’ve been on their latest adventure. There is a special passport sticker for your child’s Atlas Adventure Book plus seven new pages to add about a new country (highlighting geography, customs, landmarks, history, and foods).
There are supplies for two activities (which might be a mix of art, STEM, and games) as well as suggestions for more DIY activities to try at home – from things to make, to things to bake!
If you choose the Deluxe option, then you will also receive a book that helps you explore that month’s destination. This upgrade is an additional USD$9.95 (approx. $15 NZD) and can impact shipping costs as well. Since we’re homeschooling, I decided that we’d try the Deluxe option for 6 months to see how useful we find it.
Flying Solo 