Mother’s Day Gifts

Barbara Reid is one of my favourite Canadian artists and authors.  Even if you don’t know her name, you’re sure to know work which looks like this:

I was fortunate to meet her and, even better, my kids got to do a workshop with her at our local library.

The plasticine picture project she made with the kids was so fun and so easy, I thought it would be perfect for Mother’s Day.  (Meaning you can kick back & relax while the wee ones make a craft for Grandma!)

You’ll need:
1 cd case with all the inserts removed
Plasticine
Your imagination

Step 1: Open the CD case and make a base layer of plasticine (sky, grass, land, favourite colour etc.) Then, build up your image with textures, colours and pictures.
Step 2: Close the case.
Step 3: Wrap.
Step 4: Give to gran.

As Barbara says, just let them create and see where it takes them.

Now for her, it’s not quite so easy.  It generally takes a full day to create and build one picture.  She first sketches out the image she want to make then, like the kids, she starts with a base and slowly works her way up.  In her case that includes smoothing, rolling out, lengthening, sculpting and sometimes painting.  She also says that a sharp pencil is her favourite tool!

It’s up to your kids to see what they’ll create and how much time they’ll spend with it, but I can say my kids had so much fun they didn’t want to go home. 

While we’re talking about getting kids creating, Tenderflake, who let me into their test kitchens yesterday, also have a fun way to get your kids expressing  themselves. We were making and decorating mini pocket pies and my kids love them.

It’s actually not that different from creating the plasticine pictures.

Ingredients:
2 Frozen Deep Dish Pie Shells (or you can make them from scratch)
1/2 cup (125 mL) Chopped banana
1/2 cup (125 mL) Chocolate chips
1 tbsp (15 mL) Milk

• PREHEAT oven to 400°F (200°C).
• REMOVE pie shells from freezer and allow to thaw at room temperature for 10 – 15 minutes.
• COMBINE bananas and chocolate chips in a small bowl. Set aside.
• REMOVE pie shells from foil onto a clean, flat, lightly floured work surface.  (If cracks appear in pastry, press together and repair using fingers moistened with water.)
• CUT out six shapes from each pie shell using a medium or large sized cookie cutter. Set any leftover dough aside.
• DIVIDE filling mixture evenly between 6 cut outs, mounding in centre and leaving a ¼-inch (5 mm) border. Top with remaining cut outs. Gently press edges together, and crimp with a fork.
• BRUSH tops lightly with milk and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until pastry is golden. Allow pies to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
  

Tips:

• If dough gets too warm while preparing pies, refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before baking.
• Use any leftover dough to cut out shapes to decorate top. Brush back with milk or egg wash to affix to pie and bake as directed above.
• Decorate your pies with sprinkles by brushing top with milk or egg wash, adding your favourite sprinkles and bake as directed above.
• Allow pies to cool completely if using decorative icing.

These chocolate chip & banana pies will certainly be a treat for us this Sunday, and I know Grandma will love her new works of art!